Post by siobhan on Jul 29, 2017 15:18:31 GMT -5
I've had Ringo Starling (or she's had me) since she was three weeks old. She turned 5 in May. She has never yet gone into breeding mode (a starling's beak turns yellow when they do that, so there's no doubt). Every molt, with the exception of her baby molt into adult feathers, has been weird. She'd have giant bare spots. Some feathers would lay every which way or stick straight up. And the molts took MONTHS to complete, not just days or a week or two. Starling folk told me I was feeding her all wrong and it was my fault. I tried changing her food and she wouldn't eat it, even if I only gave her the new stuff. I can't starve a bird into submission, so after a day or two, I'd give up and give back the food she WILL eat.
Finally, this year she's having a normal molt, compared to the way the parrots molt. She's lost a lot of feathers, whole feathers that I find in her cage and on the floor in her room, but no bare spots. No wonky feathers sticking every which way. In fact, the only way I even know she's molting is finding the feathers. And I'm still feeding her exactly the same stuff I always have. So it wasn't the food. I don't know what it was unless it was something to do with being raised and living with humans under conditions that are foreign to a wild bird's usual experience. She's definitely healthy. The inside of her beak is pink, her feathers and eyes are bright and shiny, she has lots of energy and a good appetite and her poops are totally normal for her. It's only the weird molts that have always worried me. So much for the starling "experts." My personal expert, the wildlife rehabber who gave her to me, assured me that I could give her cat food and the brand didn't matter as long as she liked it. She likes Purina Cat Chow for indoor cats. She likes ONLY Purina Cat Chow for indoor cats. LOL Anything else is met with a suspicious look and an exclamation of "IKE," which is her way of expressing disapproval in all circumstances. For treats, she gets dried mealworms from the wild bird food section of Wal-Mart and that is the only treat she wants.
Finally, this year she's having a normal molt, compared to the way the parrots molt. She's lost a lot of feathers, whole feathers that I find in her cage and on the floor in her room, but no bare spots. No wonky feathers sticking every which way. In fact, the only way I even know she's molting is finding the feathers. And I'm still feeding her exactly the same stuff I always have. So it wasn't the food. I don't know what it was unless it was something to do with being raised and living with humans under conditions that are foreign to a wild bird's usual experience. She's definitely healthy. The inside of her beak is pink, her feathers and eyes are bright and shiny, she has lots of energy and a good appetite and her poops are totally normal for her. It's only the weird molts that have always worried me. So much for the starling "experts." My personal expert, the wildlife rehabber who gave her to me, assured me that I could give her cat food and the brand didn't matter as long as she liked it. She likes Purina Cat Chow for indoor cats. She likes ONLY Purina Cat Chow for indoor cats. LOL Anything else is met with a suspicious look and an exclamation of "IKE," which is her way of expressing disapproval in all circumstances. For treats, she gets dried mealworms from the wild bird food section of Wal-Mart and that is the only treat she wants.
I have a strong suspicion that the temperature of a bird's environment influences the bird's molt. It's always seemed to work that way with my indoor parrots. Since Ringo isn't exposed to the range of temperatures that a starling in the wild would experience, that may have contributed to her peculiar molts in the past; now that she's adapted, maybe her molts have too. 