FINCHforum

This is my first molt and I bet I am just as stressed as the poor birds are. I'm kinda sure that is what is going on, but not having been thru this before, I'm just not sure. I have two that are going thru this, one is white head yellow back, lilac breast male who has the pin feathers. That one sent me into shock, but its better now. And my normal he is older and I guess not going to go thru it as fast as the other. He is a red head and has tiny pin feathers on his head and splotches of brown. I have them on feather fast. Am I an overly concerned parent?

Lol, this my first molt with my pair and im very concerned to but from what i heard that is how it usually is and that they will be fine just as long as you have the right diet to help speed the process of the molt.

Gouldians do this huge hard molt, and they look awful while they are going thru it, with pinfeathers sticking out in every direction! You are doing good giving them Feather Fast. You can also make your own eggfood to give them. Fairestfinches has a good recipe on their website:

www.fairestfinches.com

It takes a lot of protein to make new feathers, so that is why the Feather Fast and eggfood are so important right now. If you use another recipe for eggfood (you can just hardboil an egg and mash it up shell and all, but Gouldians usually like a drier food), be sure and add just a pinch of garlic powder. For some reason or other, LGs like garlic!

FYI, Gouldians can drag on forever with their molt, so don't let that worry you. I've also had them look almost finished, and then pop out a whole new round of pinfeathers.

Thank you for the peace of mind and same goes to the careing folks that created this forum.