What is moulting and why do birds have it?

Question

What is moulting and why do birds have it?

Answer 1

When the bird sheds its feathers.

Answer 2

Moulting is when the old feathers are replaced with new feathers. They do it because they typically moult after raising a clutch, so their feathers get quite dirty from sitting in that nest, plus, perfect feather condition is so essential for proper flight, that if they didn't grow new feathers every year, they would be in a lot of danger.

A broken feather is a life or death matter for a bird.  In addition, many species grow their adult plumage with each moult. So without moulting, they'd all look like juviniles. =)

Answer 3

Moulting is when birds lose a small amount of their feathers so the new feathers can grown out. It happens to many birds and is nothing to worry about.

Answer 4

its just shedding old feathers. cats and dogs do it too.

Answer 5

Moulting is when a birds feathers fall out, and new undamaged feathers grow in to replace the old.

Answer 6

Molting is when your bird will loose it's feathers, and grow new ones in the place she or he lost them.

There is molting food at Walmart[$3.00] if you have a bird that is Molting and you want the process to go smoothly.

Answer 7

birds grow new feathers all the time to replace the worn old ones. it's similar to snakes and humans, though we just don't notice ours. i've read that 70% of all the dust in an average household is shed human skin.   with the birds, it's normal and it's part of their nature.

Answer 8

It is like how we shed little bits of skin all the time, when birds lose old feathers and grow in new ones that are not all beat up and worn out.  Your hair falls out and new hair grows.  Same basic concept.