Molting - now??

[Hop-Sing]

I brought Hop-Sing home about a month ago, and have been careful to cover his cage with a black fleece cloth to match the sunrise and sunset. But when I came home today, several feathers fluttered down from his cage. Should he be molting now? I thought it was supposed to be late summer. Am I doing something wrong, and is molting at the wrong time bad for him? I'm really new to canaries.

[Dave]

It may not be a molt, it may just be some feathers worked loose.

Can you find out if your bird's previous home followed the light routine?

I've bought several birds in the last few years. One of the hens took almost a year before she fell into the proper seasonal rhythm.

[canary3000]

Hop sing, I know exactly what your going through. Some of my fife canaries are showing signs of molting. Grey feathers, a bit disheveled, grey feathers on floor. Ofcourse I made the mistake of having lights on for 24 hours a few times. My bad!!! My hens then stopped being interested in breeding. I stopped using my light bulb and will go with my windows. Seem to be a lot of variables. This morning one of my hens finally laid an egg. It is rather confusing, disheartening and frustrating. If your room gets good window sunlight, I wouldn't bother with the blanket unless there are other lights in he room---tv, computer screen... I'm going to use my window lights as my timer. Room doesn't have any other lights or distractions. Might be just a matter of getting a pattern down for the birds, which can take a while. I thought maybe a light system is the answer, but birds outside nature rely on the sun. I'm still not 100% sure I know what I'm doing. I've had my fifes for a year. 3 batches of chicks. And that's with not doing the lights correctly. Go figure.

[Flight Feathers]

I guess I’m lucky I don’t have this problem then as I house my canaries in an outdoor aviary. What is the normal time for a canary to moult?