Feathers failure Blue Naped Parrot

[Valentina]

Our Blue Naped Parrot is a girl, 5 yo. Always had good feathers and vivid colors. She is not in molting period yet. Around two moths ago, on top of her head started to appear a greyish spot which, at this moment, looks a bit bigger and even darker, as you can see in the pictures. She also has some breast feathers that changed their color (or maybe lost its color) a bit, becoming brownish and thinner as well. They look like dirty, but, in fact they are not (please check the pictures).
Maybe someone had some similar experiences with his/her birds and knows what this could be about?
We would greatly appreciate any help!
Thank you in advance.

[Pajarita]

Hi and welcome to the forum! A Luzon, how wonderful! We've never had one here before! Now, I can't see her chest very well and what I can see does not show any 'brown, dirty-looking feathers that are not dirty' but what's happening at the top of her head is that feathers are missing and the grey you see is the down showing through -which never does unless there are contours (the little round feathers that cover the body) missing. Is she scratching her head or rubbing it against the bars of her cage (this happens when the bird spends too many hours in it) or is there anything in her cage that would rub against it? Like, for example, a very small opening in the food bowl would end up rubbing the top of her head every time she sticks it in - see what I mean? It could also be a foraging toy. Or does she maybe have a mate that overpreens her? Because the only way a bird loses feathers on top of its head is from rubbing or scratching or another bird plucking them as the bird itself cannot pluck them.

Now, I couldn't see the 'brown and dirty-looking feathers' on the chest (although it does look a bit 'choppy' on the front) so I am guessing here but, normally, what you describe is discoloration from a bad diet. Amazons and ekkies get them all the time when they have liver damage from a diet too high in protein. Is it possible you are free-feeding protein food? Has she had a complete physical in the last six months?

[Valentina]

Dear Pojarita,
Thank you for your reply. She doesn't seem to be bothered by the missing feathers on top of her head. Never scratching or touching the spot. I checked through several parrot forums and it looks like a Mojo Molting that can regularly happen to Eclectus parrots. They also get the bold spots on top of the head and a ring of thin feathers on the chest area. Comparing the pictures we incline to believe it is what is happening in our case too.

Thanks again and all the best to you!

[GreenWing]

Hi Valentina - love your name, tu sei Italiana?

Your bird! What a beauty. It looks -- and this is just a guess -- that she's been rubbing her head against bars or scratching, as Pajarita said. It looks like there are some new feathers coming in and those should be itchy for her... make sure you're misting her with water or ensuring a bath to help relieve her.

It could be mojo molting, see pics here.http://web.archive.org/web/200610231940 ... _Picts.htm

[Pajarita]

Personally, I do not believe that mojo molting is normal. I think it is the consequence of a bad diet which, unfortunately for them, ekkies normally get (and the reason why they die so very young). I am observing my IRNs, another species that people claim to normally have a mojo molting, for signs of it because I also believe that IRNs are normally fed wrong.