hello

my budgie is 5 and a half months old, he seems reasonable happy and is very talktive and loves to talk to the birds outside. however, he hasn't got feathers underneath his wings. This afternoon i found three feathers all about 1.5 inches in the cage, ive heard that they pick their feathers when they are boerd.

is this molting natural or do i have to do something?

( hes got lots of toys, biggest cage i could find, i leave the radio on when im not there and i talk to him a lot)

 

any advice acepted gratefully

If you could post a picture that'd be great But I would say that it was just part of the natural moulting cycle. In my experience birds make a bit of a mess of their feathers if they start feather picking. If the feathers are all the same length and look in good condition I wouldn't be too concerned. Put a photograph up though and we can check it out further

Feather picking is rare in budgies ....its more of a parrot thing. At the age your budgie is right now he would be moulting, so chances are he is. A photo will help.

getting pictures of his underwing is hard

any idea how i could get him to lift his wing?

getting pictures of his underwing is hard

any idea how i could get him to lift his wing?

Aska friend to hold the bird and you take the picture or vice versa....I dont think asking the bird to lift his wing will help much

getting pictures of his underwing is hardany idea how i could get him to lift his wing?

Aska friend to hold the bird and you take the picture or vice versa....I dont think asking the bird to lift his wing will help much

wont that hurt him?

getting pictures of his underwing is hardany idea how i could get him to lift his wing?

also i saw a lovely yellow budgie in my local pet shop around the same agewould it be okay for them to live together . the cage is 60cm long-70cm tall-30cm wide

I would let your bird go through his molt this is a stressful period of time, if you decide to get the other budgie you will need to quarantine for 30 days, please read over how to Introduce a New Bird in the FAQ and Quarantine in there too.

 

All molts are different some are heavy where they loose a lot of their longer feathers as well as the little ones and others are lighter where they will just loose the downy ones. Everything sounds find to be honest and be prepared to see spikes on his head where the new feather grown comes in but the feather coating has not come off yet making it look like spikes.