Zeb finch molting cycle

[anma]

Oh my, my finches are molting again.
I was wondering, what controls the molting cycles? I thought they are like cats for example, molting twice a year, but they had a week of molting in September, and now, again.(no health problems, just normal molting) I have two females, and they both started molting a day apart. So doesn't seem random. (A lot of tiny feathers on my desk this morning. and 3 bigger feathers in 3 days so yeah...)

[lovezebs]

anma

Hello,

Our darling Zebras tend to molt all year around, a little bit here, a little bit there, so you will see fluffies appearing here there, and everywhere.

However if you are seeing massive feather loss and bald spots , there might be something else going on. They may be plucking themselves or each other for whatever the reason. They may be stressing, which may lead to feather loss. Also there might be nutritional issues going on.

Personally, I would add a little more protein to their diet, an iodine block, and if you can get your hands on some Feather Fast, it does wonderf for molting birds.

Good luck.

[anma]

hmm.This molt started 3-4 days ago, and I had a lot of flufff feathers all around. plus 4-5 bigger wing or tail feathers. But they don't seem to be stressed- also no reason for that. Their feathers look nice, they are energetic, they get hard boiled eggs with crushed eggshells all the time, with cucumbers(their favourite) different types of seed mixes, cuttlefish bone, etc. It just looks like more feathers are coming out when they're preening. But definitely more than usual.It happened before, lot's of feathers on the floor every 3-4 months for a week.

[Dave]

When I hear about molting problems, I always wonder about seasonality. That is, a change in temperature and day length from season to season.

I looked up the Zebra Finch's natural range, central Australia. Taking Alice Springs as an example, that is at 23° latitude, similar to central Mexico.

The day length there (Alice Springs, Australia) can be as long as 13.5 hours (late December), and as short as 10.75 hours (late June)

Temperatures for Alice Springs, Australia: Average temperatures range from 12 - 27°C (53.6 - 80.6°F). During winter, average temperatures fall between 4.8 - 20°C (40.6 - 68°F).

Does anyone here know if Zebra Finches in more natural conditions have irregular molting periods, or if they molt once per year?

[anma]

When I hear about molting problems, I always wonder about seasonality. That is, a change in temperature and day length from season to season.

I looked up the Zebra Finch's natural range, central Australia. Taking Alice Springs as an example, that is at 23° latitude, similar to central Mexico.

The day length there (Alice Springs, Australia) can be as long as 13.5 hours (late December), and as short as 10.75 hours (late June)

Temperatures for Alice Springs, Australia: Average temperatures range from 12 - 27°C (53.6 - 80.6°F). During winter, average temperatures fall between 4.8 - 20°C (40.6 - 68°F).

Does anyone here know if Zebra Finches in more natural conditions have irregular molting periods, or if they molt once per year?

Been especially cold in the last few days, had to close the winter curtains as well. It probably has an impact on them. And as it's kind of predictable- molting every 3 months, both birds at the same time- I'm almost entirely sure it's a seasonal molting thing. Though with the artificial lights , etc I'm wondering how can day actually keep track of time and seasons .

[lovezebs]

Dave

Because they haven't been in their natural habitat for a million generations I don't think that it really applies to our guys that much, especially at our corner of the world where the seasons and the weather conditions are so different from Australia.

I mean we can try as much as we want to duplicate the seasons or conditions of Australia, but in all honesty I don't think we can . Everything is just too different, and these birdies having been born and bred here, and would have adapted a long time ago (just my humble opinion ).