During first the moult they might show up naked skin (see photo on the right) which is not serious if it disappears again after a few days. A typical sign of the first moult is the childlike cere, which means their gender is not visible yet. Only few chicks already have a completely coloured cere (shiny blue or brown) when they pass the first moult. The photo shows a young female strongly casting its feathers.

Typical progression of the first moult of a male young budgie

Usually the first moult takes place between the third and seventh month of life, but every bird moults individually so the start of the first moult can not be predicted precisely.

Depending on the colour variety the bird's appearance can change enormously. So-called European Yellowfaces mutation II show an amazing change: After the first moult, all feathers grow again with a strong shade of yellow after the first plumage is gone. My budgie hen Sirius showed this colour variety and the described changes in colour as you can see in the photos next to this paragraph. The left photo was taken when she was a chick and the right one when she was mature (adult).

German version of this text: Gaby Schulemann-Maier,
translation of this chapter: Isolde Aufschläger .

Link tip: Do you want to discuss with experts and other bird owners about your bird's health? Then please feel free to visit the English forum of . Of course you will meet me there, too. My nickname is "Feenseeschwalbe".

This chapter in Turkish on muhabbetkusu.org