Parakeet/Budgie losing its feathers

Question
Hi.  I have an parakeet, about 6 months old.  I have him trained to fly around the living room by hisself.  I was getting my bath ready, I added tea to my bath. Long story short, I heard it helps sun burns.  Anyways, not but 2 minutes later, the parakeet flew in the bathroom, probably flying towards the light, and landed in the bathtub!  I quickly grabbed him and ran warm water over him in the sink incase he got some of the tea on him! 3 days later, I'm noticing his feathers all over, falling here and there.  Do you think this is from the tea? Will his feathers grow back? Do you think it caused harm? Please let me know your advice! Thanks!!!

Answer
Hi, Cassandra.

Falling into the tub isn't making the feathers fall out.  Birds normally love water and tea isn't going to hurt your bird.  At 6 months of age, your budgie is most likely molting for the first time.  However, during molting, your bird should be losing feathers gradually, not a bunch all at the same time.  Yes, feathers grow back, but it takes a little bit of time for them to grow back.

This incident where your bird flew into the water is a good reason why it's not good to allow birds to have free-flight in our homes.  There are many dangers for them in our homes.  The next time, your bird could fly into a hot pan on the stove, in the fire on the stove, or something worse.  Keeping flight feathers trimmed helps to keep birds in/around their cages so they won't become harmed by something in the home.

Chrys