two questions.

[Tinker2]

This poor little cinnamon greencheek Tinker I adopted on Friday is in a heavy molt.She has pinfeathers everywhere.Plus no tail feathers, Im really worried about that.Also her last owner chopped her wings down to nothing..She is just awful looking.About how long will it take for her to get her wing and tail feathers back in assuming she isnt a plucker???

Also she(Tinker) is a confirmed seed eater.I have the zupreem natural I feed my other greenie Gabby but although she also was a seed eater when I got her,she ate pellets in the mix as well so I just reduced the seeds till she didnt get any..Im not sure how to go about switching this new guy over to pellets???.I put some in her seed mix and she promptly dug them out and threw them on the ground.

[Kathleen]

This molt could take a few months. Some problems you may have are future developing primary wing feathers which will grow in, "stick out" and may accidentally break. So you'll need to watch out for blood feathers.

Just a seed mix is unhealthy for this bird. But be careful because if you try to switch the bird over now to pellets, the bird may eat less which may interfere with feather growth and the molt. The bird may not recognize or realize that the pellets are food. Then again, why would it want to eat something healthy and bland when it could eat a tasty, fatty snack food all the time?

Here's an old topic on the forum discussing food conversions with parrots: http://www.theparrotforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5

[Tinker2]

I hate those blood feathers.ITs so scary.I had the tiel break a blood feather.Luckily it happened like the same week I had read an article about them so I knew how to pull out the stub.
I really am worried about this little guy.It sure looks like he has been plucking to me and Ive not dealt with this before..I hope the change of situation will make everything all right again for him..

[ptuga72]

If he is in a really heavy molt and been on a really bad diet, then his feathers will look very scraggely. Hopefully he is not a plucker; green cheeks are not known for that, so I would hate to think what would make him start

Good luck with this little guy!

[Tinker2]

I am hoping it may be just a really heavy molt.I was just reading something about when a bird is kept outside which I think this one was for the summer that they can have one heavy molt instead of a steady molt all year like indoor birds.IDK sound reasonable and she does have alot of pin feathers...My main concern is the wing feathers although cut short some have ragged edges like she has been chewing them.I going to get her to a vet here in a week or two..I cant take her to my regular vet, she doesnt do birds or exotics.So I have to go out of town and they dont let me make payments there so I need to have a couple hundred up front.
I hate that it costs more to go to the vet then my own human doctor.

[Mr.Darcy]

Someone else was asking about molting and this link has been around here for a while. It is pretty good take a read....

http://www.2ndchance.info/molt.htm

good luck!

[entrancedbymyGCC]

That article is OK... but it doesn't really cite sources and it mostly gives a lot of detail about the endocrine system without really getting it to a level of explaining which influences, in practice, dominate. It also focuses on the circadian clock, which, I believe, refers to the "day" clock, not the annual THe answer may be "we don't know". It's not a bad article, but I'm not sure it really helps much... at least the author seems to be knowledgeable. I wonder what birdvet thinks of it.