Any Avian experts out there? Can U Help?

Question

I have a 9 month old rainbow lorikeet. He lives in the house and is in excellent health.
However, his feathers on his body are starting to look straggly and tatty.
His head, neck, wing and tail feathers have recently fallen out and been replaced by beautiful intact feathers, but his body ones are quite tatty.
I have looked carefully at him and he doesn't appear to have any lice or mites. He has lived the past 9 months alone in the house, although he was born in an outside aviary (but that was 9 months ago when he was born - he came to me at 9 weeks old)

Is it simple moulting?

He flies perfectly well and doesn't appear to be in distress or excessively grooming.

Any advice?

Thanks.

When I say "he's alone in the house" I don't literally mean he's all on his own - I mean he's not with other birds.
He's certainly not alone as he is constantly on my head/shoulder or on another family member. He is alone as in "not in a cage with other birds" but he is not lonley, he gets 24/7 stimulation as I am home all day, too.
Sorry if I caused any confusing there.

(He even showers with me!)

Answer 1

Could you give us some details about his diet? Poor feather condition is frequently tied to a nutritional deficiency. It's encouraging that intact feathers are appearing on his head and neck.The head is usually the last area to feather in after a moult though so it is still somewhat odd that his body feathers are ratty. Although you may not see him grooming excessively (he would be more likely to do this when he is alone) try to assess whether it is only the feathers he has access to that are ratty. If his head and neck feathers are always pristine, I would suspect "over grooming". The chest is a favourite area for that and I have found that birds that indulge in this behaviour are often smart enough to leave their flight and tail feathers alone so as to not render themselves flightless!

Answer 2

yes, it sounds like molting. My parrot has lots of straggly feathers and down but that because it's loose but hasn't fallen off/out yet. Preen your bird... pet it, and comb out loose feathers from it's body with your fingers. Your bird should look better soon. If not, then a visit to a good bird pet store (where they sell the bird food) and ask them, and if that's not enough, then an offical avian vet would be your last stop for this answer.

Answer 3

Maybe it needs another mate? Or it needs to be in its natural habitat? I have heard of problems like this even though I am not an avian expert.