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Moulting

Posted: 23 Aug 2011, 09:21
by lardles
An odd thing has happened with my pair of normal stars (which bred 6 young last season), after moulting it is difficult to tell them apart!, except for the different coloured leg rings.

The male seems to have lost most of the red on the face to look like a hen, still has spots under chin though and sings all the time. He would be 3-4 years old I guess.

They are looking to build nest again now.
I sold young last year before fully coloured up, although a couple were singing at the time. Would have been intereting to see how they coulored up?

Has this happened to any one elses stars?

Re: Moulting

Posted: 23 Aug 2011, 09:32
by Tiaris
This sometimes happens when my Stars moult before the end of the breeding season when it is not warm and when they are a bit run down following a few clutches of young. In my experience the best way to overcome this is to take them out of the breeding aviary in Summer for a break, put them onto a basic diet & this almost invariably results in a Summer moult which restores them to their proper glory.