Parakeet losing TONS of feathers....allergy?

[Corkysgirl]

My blue/grey parakeet just got a new batch of California golden spray millet. He ate it for the first time yesterday. I left a good amount in there as I was out...for the first time all day yesterday so I was unable to observe what happened. (I never give a large amount to my birds but because I was going far, wanted to make sure if I had an accident, my birds had a back up until someone could get to them). He hadn't been molting, just losing two or three feathers per day. When I came home and looked in his cage, it was virtually covered with feathers, large/medium and hundreds of small feathers. It looked like a cat slaughter house! This is not a normal molt incident. He had to be rubbing all day to produce this many feathers. Could this have been an allergic reaction to the millet? He's had this millet before but only one spray a long time ago. He's had a bad experience with millet before, nearly choking to death on a piece of it, gasping for 5 minutes afterwards. I am going to skip the millet from now on no matter what but has anyone had this experience before? I'm happy I bought one lb. and not the 5lbs. I planned to buy.

[delray]

Sorry this happened!!!! i really cant help you but to say good luck and hopefully someone can answer your question. My societies love their millet. dont know why your bird would have a reaction. Maybe it is an allergy. Or maybe he is scared because of the past time he had it?? Good luck!!

[Corkysgirl]

Thanks Brian! It's funny...after the incident with the millet, he wouldn't go near it! The millet he choked on was small and dark colored. The new millet sprays were golden and large, (the one piece he ate months ago) and it took him a LONG time to warm up to it. He LOVED his millet up until that time but was so scared of choking again. I did think the same thing about the scared...or psychological effect, but he did eat it so I would think it would just prevent him from eating it. I guess I need a bird shrink. He's also sleeping a lot today. He NEVER naps! I never had a parakeet that didn't nap. This bird is hyperactive from dawn till very late. We put him to bed, lights out, double maroon thick towels over his cage and he plays for hours afterwards in the dark, chirping, bells, etc.. He's a crazy bird!!!

[delray]

Lol he seems very active!!!! So maybe this is all in his head. Maybe he is doing it himself?!?! Just a thought about it.

[Corkysgirl]

I wish I was here to see it yesterday. He's absolutely fine now. Pretty active tonight. I just told him it's time for bed and you should see him panic. He actually starts running back and forth and looks like he's saying NO...NO!!!! It's late but there's no sense putting him to bed earlier because he won't sleep anyway. Yeah...it may just be in his head. He's a little neurotic!