Is he grumpy because he's moulting?

[ArticunoGail]

A few days ago, I went to handle Lawrence as I usually do at least once a day (althouh it was later than usual) and he hit his beak against my finger, which was not exactly a bite but gave me the impression he didn't want to step up or be interacted with. So I said "Who's got off their perch the wrong side today?" and left him to it.

The next day, he was a little less ornery, but I spotted that he'd lost two of his flights. I checked to see which wing they'd come from, and he'd lost a leading flight from each wing so I didn't have to worry about him being imbalanced for flying.

Yesterday and today he's been digging about in his chest feathers and on his back, pulling out fluffy white and small blue and barred feathers, and even as he was flying today, little feathers of the kind mentioned above were beung shed as he flew around. He didn't seem to want out of his cage much, kept flying into it so after 5 minutes I let him stay in and closed the cage door. He's looking really rather tatty and rumpled, poor thing, he's usually so sleek and pristine!

Approximately a week ago, we had a cold snap. Although I have no heating in my flat, the double glazing and flats above and around it mean that the room never gets below 18C. During the cold snap the room temp plummeted from 26C to 21C overnight, and so when I saw the temp the next day, I covered him with a light quilt, and have now done so every night. I'm assuming that this temperature drop is causing his molt? Would moulting also explain his foul temper and less willingness for out-of-cage time?

Any ideas about what might help? My Aloe Vera plant was stolen, but I can get another mister.

Thanks,
ArticunoGail

[Frieda]

Hello, Gail! I had all kinds of similar concerns when my budgies went through their first moulting period. Instead of sleek colored chests they all featured the 'polka dot look' and the room they occupied needed vaccuuming 3 times a day if you didn't want to be wading through knee deep fluffies. I'm happy to say that it all worked itself out and there was no reason to be worried. They've gone through several moults in the meantime, no trouble at all. With 10 it's hard to tell whether one was grouchy or not ... they all are very busy and not exactly comfortable at this time, I wouldn't worry about it.

[Kiwimommy]

Molting can and sometimes does cause a bird to get grumpy. Any feathers coming in, called pin feathers, are covered in a "plastic" covering so they can poke through the skin. Yep, they poke through the skin. I can only imagine this hurts or is in the least a bit sore. I put it this way to my partner when I explained the pin feathers.. When a baby/child is teething, it hurts because the tooth is coming through the gums.. The baby is cranky and grumpy because their mouth is sore.. it's pretty much the same with birds in the sense that something is poking through the skin and is sore, making them grumpy and irritable. I believe birds that have a big molt also don't fly as well, so they're more alert and grumpy because they have to defend themselves more. It's instinct to be snippy when they can't fly as well as normal.
My birds used to get nippy with eachother during molts because of those reasons. It's perfectly normal and once he's grown in his feathers and is feeling better, he should be back to his normal happy self.