TAG moult

Question
Hi Jenn,
I have a 15-month-old Timney African Grey who's having her first moult. As I've never seen her go through a moult before I was wondering if you could answer a few questions. First, she's been losing feathers for about 7 weeks now (more so lately), just how long does a normal moult last for a TAG? (Her new feathers are in great shape but of a darker grey shade than the ones shed.)Second, I've noticed that she doesn't pick up new words as quickly as she did before the moult started, though she has recently improved in this regard. Does moulting affect a parrot's speaking ability?
Lastly, I've been giving her more protein rich foods (hard boiled eggs, cooked chicken, peanut treats) to help her get through the process but is there anything more I can do?
Thanks for any help,
Gus

Answer
Hi Gus -

Great questions.  I love seeing fellow "parronts" researching and asking questions!

Moulting can take 4 - 8 weeks, give or take, once or twice a year, just depending on the birds genetic make up.  Each bird varies and each moult will vary, depending on what's going on around them.  As long as she is not losing bunches of feathers at one time - she will be ok.  Moulting is designed to assure that the bird can still fly, so it happens over time (except some waterfowl and sea birds).  If she seems to be losing many feathers at one time, then a trip to a good avian vet is highly recommended.  

Feather color will change from time to time.  Timnehs have the darker shades of grey so she may darken up as she ages.  This is ok.  As long as you don't see any horizontal black stress bars on her feathers, this is ok.  

All birds in the moulting process can get a little crabby.  It can be a fairly taxing process on the bird.  This could be the reason your girl doesn't seem to be vocalizing as much, and that's ok.  Grey's never stop learning so she's got plenty of time for that!  Give your girl a little extra space if she seems grumpy... I like to think that this process might be a little comparable to PMS in women.  haha.  That's just my personal opinion, however.  

You're doing good by her to give her extra nutrients and calcium in her diet at this time as new feather growth quickly sucks up those nutrients.  Egg is excellent!  Is she also on a good pelleted diet (Roudybush/Harrisons)?  You can also give her fresh carrots, kale, broccoli, cooked sweet potato which all are very nutritious for them.  Brown rice with steamed carrots, broccoli and perhaps a little mashed sweet potato is a favorite around here.  Served warm, my birds are in heaven.  :-)

Something else you can do for her is bath her often.  Even when she's not moulting, Greys benefit from frequent bathing.  3 times a week is a reasonable amount, however you can do it more often, provided it's not too chilly where you live.  Be sure to do this early in the day so she does not go to bed wet at all.  Something that will help her particularly during moulting is Aloe Vera Juice (from health food store or online - I used "George's") and water spray bath.  1 part aloe vera juice to 3 parts water in a spray bottle.  I usually put rather warm water in with the aloe vera juice as when it comes out of the bottle it's more of a fine mist and is quite cool.

Full spectrum lighting may help as well, as there is much debate about this subject.  I did lots of research and came to find that there are really only one or two lamps/bulbs that give both the necessary/beneficial UVB & UVA light.  One of which being the ZooMed Avian Sun lamp and bulb.  I have three of them and they are kept on for a couple hours at a time.  Some say, however, in order for full spectrum lighting to be helpful, the bird must be within 12 - 18 inches.  I usually turn the lamps on, adjust them about 18 inches over the top of the highest perching area on the cage and my birds will go and bask underneath them eventually.  :-)  They were terrified of them at first, but like with many things, it took some time of them being in the room for them to get used to them.  

Something else I would urge you do to is to join a parrot forum and talk with other parrot owners about their experiences with moulting.  A great forum is www.theperch.net - there are nearly 5000 members who are extremely nice and helpful people with an unbelievable amount of combine experience and knowledge.  If you decide to join - please send me a PM there and say hi.  My username there is WonderMomma.  :-)

Best of luck to you and let me know if you need anything further!