strange moult.

[Graham C]

i thought my fhh harris was close to finishing her moult. All her new feathers are in tail feathers are fully down as well. But recently all her new tail feathers are starting to drop with new ones coming in so she has moulted twice in the one year. Has anyone ever known this to happen. Looks like the flying won't be happening for a while yet.:confused:

[Coedhirion]

How old is the bird, and how long have you had her?? Loss of the odd new feather can happen, but this sounds a bit odd.

[Turumti]

I have had this happen with a lugger and a shaheen that were overdosed with a regular diet of specially fattened quail. I adressed the problem by gradually reducing the birds rations and switching them over to lean pigeon meat.

My own perception is that the fat laden quail meat caused hormonal and phsiological changs in the birds which led to the second moult. Reducing the ambient light, and "shortening the days", by means of artificial lighting, or rather "lengthening the night" might also help you counter this problem.

[Altai]

It could be a thyriod problem. Perhaps the vets on here could comment.

[GregMik]

I would not worry about it. It seems to be quite common over here. My HH is on his second set this yr also. But I started him under lights the first of Feb tho. I am flying him even tho he is growing in feathers, and it didn't hurt him last yr when I did it. Just go slow with the weight reduction, and try to keep them at the top of thier hunting weight.

Greg

[Graham C]

I have had this happen with a lugger and a shaheen that were overdosed with a regular diet of specially fattened quail. I adressed the problem by gradually reducing the birds rations and switching them over to lean pigeon meat.

My own perception is that the fat laden quail meat caused hormonal and phsiological changs in the birds which led to the second moult. Reducing the ambient light, and "shortening the days", by means of artificial lighting, or rather "lengthening the night" might also help you counter this problem.

i think you could be spot on there as her diet was mostly quail thankyou.

[Kevin Massey]

Mine are dropping a few of there new feathers again...yes i have given quail,rat pidgeon in moderation.....at very least i have some spares if need to imp any this hunting season:roll:

[Accipiter3]

i thought my fhh harris was close to finishing her moult. All her new feathers are in tail feathers are fully down as well. But recently all her new tail feathers are starting to drop with new ones coming in so she has moulted twice in the one year. Has anyone ever known this to happen. Looks like the flying won't be happening for a while yet.:confused:

This seems to be pretty common with Harris's hawks that are kept too fat towards the end of the molt. The only way to stop it is to cut back on the food and bring the weight down; or it could last forever! You need to keep track of when they drop their last tail feathers and start cutting back then to avoid this problem. Cutting her back now should stop her from dropping any more.