Herman's feathers

[Loz]

I see this morning that Herman has lost his last primary flight. I am now formally concerned.

He still has a long tailfeather and he is able to perform short flighted hops from perch to perch and from one cage to the other. I don't yet see definite signs of replacement feathers coming through. So I am stuck between the thought that I am worrying over my first instance of a wildly over-enthusiastic moult and that I have a problem along the lines of FM. I am still hopeful it is the former rather than the latter.

It's never smooth sailing for very long.

[Ira]

Fingers crossed it's just a one-off moult where he accidentally shed most of his flights at once.

[Loz]

Sept 23, 2023 8:50:23 GMT Ira said:

Fingers crossed it's just a one-off moult where he accidentally shed most of his flights at once.

That's my fervent hope. The alternatives to FM are not attractive at all.

[Loz]

Progress check 25.9.23
Re-growing flights. It looks like there might be two new ones peeking out today, one on each wing:



Little burbler, such a rough moult though!

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[Marianne Marlow]

Let's hope they grow back and it's just a rough moult.

[criswell]

I'm glad he's got some feathers coming through.

[Loz]

I can't get a good look at Herman yet as he is skulking in the Nighttime cage, with Loric keeping him company.
Uncertain impressions are: longer flight feathers this morning and worse moulting on the face but this will need confirmation in better light, assuming I get any today.

[Loz]

Update 26/9/23:

Definite growth! But his poor, poor face

[Loz]

Update 27/9/23:

More flight feathers showing but what isn't obvious in this pic is poor Herman's face. Such a miserable moult!

[ariella]

Otis went through the same in the summer. It looked a miserable thing to go through. Hope Herman soon grows back his feathers but I don’t blame him for feeling sorry for himself, poor lad.

[Loz]

Update 28/9/23:

Herman is a lot more lively today. He moved from the Nighttime cage to the Daytime cage first thing and has been bouncing from bowl to perch to toy and back, chattering as he goes.







Poor Finrod is looking rough too! As is Mr Hibs. Some unhappy moults going on at the moment.

[ariella]

Great to see Herman is almost through his moult. Poor Mr Hibs and Finrod, but hopefully they’ll pick up quickly.
I have Jasper moulting right now. She’s a pretty hardcore hen though and doesn’t make the same fuss as the boys.

[Loz]

It's a good point about the Stoicism of hens compared to boys.
My lads, when a budgie, usually a hen, has grabbed their tail, shriek as loud as they can, 'Help! Help! An axe-murderer has got me!' What a fuss.

Of course, there's a discussion to be had over the extremely poor social habits of hens ...

[Loz]

Herman has had a bit of a fraught morning.
It's big clean day today when the cages get a thorough going over and unfortunately, Herman didn't manage to move from the cage I chose to start off with to the other one. He ended up on the floor and then, somehow, he'd wondered off into the kitchen where his was on the floor, breathing heavily and looking panicked. As usual, he didn't want anything to do with the dowel (even with its built-in millet bribe) so I had to grab him.
Well, he didn't want to be grabbed when I had succeeded in corning him but he was prepared to hop onto my thumb and accept a taxi ride to the safety of the daytime cage.



Herman had himself a little nap and then the last thing I saw, Loric was feeding him. I love Loric.

I have to clean the Daytime cage now so Herman is going to be unhappy again shortly

[criswell]

Aww, poor little Herman. Hope he's not too upset when you move him again.