I was surprised a week or so ago to begin seeing color-tipped feathers, not yet realizing that the colors for which Gouldians are so famous exists only on their feather tips, and not the entire feather. Then for several days last week I found several of the largest feathers yet -- I suspect they are primary flight feathers -- gray/brown, about 2.25 inches long and with larger, sharper shafts.
Over the past 2-3 days, however, the molting seems to have begun slowing down significantly. I'm no longer finding any of the largest feathers, only a few color-tipped feathers, and mostly just small gray/brown/white feathers of an inch or less...similar to those at the beginning of the molt. I'd finding no more than about 10 lost feathers per day now -- at most.
The birds also have stopped spending most of their day preening, as they were doing for a couple of weeks....their preening is back to almost normal levels again.
Both birds' plumage still appears just slightly disheveled, however, with a few interruptions in their coloring (notably a couple of white feathers poking out of the male's otherwise purple breast, and some visibly ragged edges to one of the hen's wings).
My concern is with a couple of behavioral changes I've noticed over the past week or so:
1) EGGFOOD: For the past 8-10 days they no longer touch their eggfood I provide each morning-- and will not even fly over to inspect it now. They previously used to eagerly attack it the second I closed the cage door -- sometimes before. I know they need extra protein to produce feathers, so I'm concerned that their sudden distaste for eggfood will inhibit their molting success, or possibly harm their health. Can they get all the protein they need during molting from seed?
2) BATHING: They've also stopped bathing -- something they both had always seemed to enjoy, particularly the male. The male used to bathe almost every day, with a few rare exceptions, and sometimes even would bathe 3-4 times over a period of 1-2 hours. The hen typically would follow him immediately into the bath, after he had soaked her already. Now both seem to ignore the bath completely. It's been almost 2 weeks since either has bathed, and they're beginning to smell....well, a bit funky.
I'm quite certain that neither bird is sick or stressed. Both seem very alert, active, happy, and with a fairly healthy appetite (for anything but eggfood). They may perhaps be spending slightly more of their day sitting than in the past, but no real sizable change in activity. The male sings more than ever (he sang 10 hours almost non-stop yesterday), does his courtship dance (which she occasionally joins), and both frequently stand on one leg (a sign of a happy bird as I understand?). They also seem more closely bonded than ever -- spending almost their entire days side by side. The hen has even stopped most of her aggressive behavior at roosting time, and each night they roost cuddled closely together side by side.
I know they're still wanting to nest, but I'm not sure what's happening with them at this point. Should I be concerned about either of these sudden behavioral changes? Is it safe to assume that they are nearing the end of their molt? How can I tell when it's over -- when they are no longer losing any feathers at all?
