Starting her first molt

[Robyn]

At 4 months old Riley is heading into her first molt. Yesterday a found one of her small body feathers on the bottom of her cage. I didn't think to much of it but keeping in mind she is 4 months old I have decided to be extra aware of her feathers as she could either be molting or starting to pluck (yes I am paranoid about her becoming a plucker). Today she lost two feathers one of them was a small tail feather. You could tell it was a tail feather because it was barred. Which I think is a pretty clear indicator that she is heading into her first molt as I have never heard of a bird plucking it's tail. So in a few weeks we will know for sure if she is infact a she as some of her behaviors suggest otherwise.

[Lady]

Oooh, this is a good time to save some of those feathers, like when a child looses their first tooth :).

[Robyn]

I am excited about finally having a definitative answer as to if she is actually a girl or not because from what I understand she has a lot more white on her face than most female tiels plus she whistles and does heartwings. But at the same time she also doesn't bite hard is relatively quite and very snuggly so he behavior is just as unclear.

[Lady]

Oh I hear ya, I tell Lady if she is a he, then he needs to help me come up with a new name :hehe2:, Lad just won't working for me.

[Robyn]

lol thats why I made sure to chose a gender neutral name it works with a boy or girl.

[Lady]

Yup, I guess that's the price I pay for getting one already named~

[Robyn]

I guess it helps when you get a handfed baby. lol The tiel I am considering getting if we can work out the transportation issues is about 2 years old and already named piggy and I hate that name it's horrible so it will be renamed right now the strongest named I feel a pull to is Amy (this tiel is a cinnimon peral so I know for sure it's a female) which is probably because of Brantley Gilberts song Saving Amy. I love that song and in a way I would be saving her.

[Mare]

Hi, Robyn :). Did you have Riley DNA tested? Just wondering because you say in a few weeks you will know? My Chip is going through a heavy molt right now. He looks a wreck, I moved his cage two days ago, to vacume under, and lots of small feathers! He's done this twice since I've had him, so I know it's a molt. He always comes back more beautiful than before! I notice during Chip's molts, he seems a bit under the weather but then he's back to his happy, chipper, self after about a week :)

[Robyn]

No I didn't but if she is a male her face will go entirely white and she will lose the bars on her tail feathers after she molts.

[Robyn]

Basically if she is a male she will come out looking like this [Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]
and if she is infact a female she will come out looking like the second to the left on top in this pic [Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]