time to start moult, and length?

[Raseni]

A bit confused here....

My mentor put his male harris in aviary for moult around the fist week of january, and does not take him out for training before august or so.
That is a period of about 7 months. I find that quite long, but after a good hard season my mentor says his birds feathers are all pretty banged up.
He put him in a aviary with the measurewment of 5 meters long x 3 meters highx 3 meters wide.
He still feeds him of the fist while he is in moult.

thoughts?

regards
Rasmus

[Mary Quite Contrary]

Whats your question or confusion.

Yes what your mentor is doing is quite normal, a bit early in the year but that's up to him.

[Raseni]

I just also thought it was a bit early in the year to put the bird up for molt, when do you put your up for molting.?

regards
Rasmus

[Hawkmaster]

The best moult I have had was 4 and half months starting in April.

[Mary Quite Contrary]

30 march

[Jastreb]

When you put your bird in the aviary for moulting, is she all the time inside or you put her out on the perch when you are at home and then again inside. Does she have contacts with out aviary world in moulting time?

[Darren]

when I am at home I put my bird out on the lawn while moulting & sit with him to make sure he is still use to me

[Coedhirion]

The birds we have are put in to chambers that have three sides closed in, the fourth side either has bars (which are best option), or aviary wire with 'netlon' inside to protect the feathers. The chamber is mostly roofed, but the front has a small area that is mesh or bars. This allows the birds to move around freely, sit in the rain or sun, watch the view or there is a 'box' at the back where they can perch in extreme weather. They stay in there all the time. They are given a bath which is kept clean for water. They are mostly fed through a tube or trap door, so they are not handled at all. Some chambers are fitted with a camera so the bird can be watched. The other birds can be seen through the front of the moult chamber so they can be checked regularly without too much disturbance.
These birds are not breeding. There is often a different arrangement for breeding birds.