Continuous molting?

[entrancedbymyGCC]

So... the big Gallerstein book on pet birds (and also the various other books I have) suggest that birds in natural environments molt once or twice a year in a more-or-less orderly and complete fashion. Gallerstein does go on to state that pet birds often molt more or less continuously, probably due to the fact that our homes lack seasons in the same way a natural environment has them.

Scooter has been molting on and off ever since we got him in February. Should I worry about this? Do your birds molt in a more concentrated way? Every time I think he'd done, I find a new crop of feathers in his cage. He's probably been through all his tail feathers by now, but I've yet to see a primary flight feather shed.

I want to adjust the lighting in his area anyway -- I do have a full spectrum fluorescent that I try to turn off manually when the sun is going down (it goes on when we get up which is typically rather later than natural sunrise). I may put that on a timer so it is consistent, and then increase the incandescent lighting. The room has a window and we do open the blinds for him, but it just isn't a very bright room and the ceiling fan that provides most of the light takes only 40watt bulbs. So I'd like to give him more light in general in the room where he spends the most time.

[ptuga72]

Jake molts a few feathers continuously, but about 2x a year he gets "exploding parrot" syndrome and molts his feathers and his beak really bad. I don't worry too much about it. The first year we had him (we got him as a baby) he was always molting, but after he got through that first round, it has been more regular. But I don't know if this is normal or not. I also wonder what/if they have additional nutritional needs during a "hard" molt.

Like you I worry about lighting. Currently we have 3 CFL full spectrum lights (one for each cage) that I keep about 2-3 feet away from the cage (nearest the food dish). I'm not very good at remembering to turn it off on time so they're on a timer (on 8am-8pm) and I keep the blinds open so they can see the sun go down and come up. I try to stay away from incandescent bulbs as they have very dim light and the color of the light tends to be very red.