# Question about feather colour and molt



## Lore (Dec 5, 2016)

Hey all,

So, Puck is now definitely in his first molt. There's feathers everywhere :lol:
I've kept the tailfeathers he's lost so far (2 of the upper ones and one of his bottom feathers) and was wondering....

I heard that in male tiels, the barring on the tailfeathers wil disappear after the first molt, usually. But puck has 2 feathers on the underside of his tail (not the very short ones but the shortest of his 'big' tailfeathers) that are yellow with black bars.
Will yellow feathers grow back in place of the yellow-with-black-bars ones he's now molting? Or will he grow back all gray feathers?

The feathers that are growing new in his neck and back, seem to be slightly darker than the old ones. Is this because these feathers are newer? Or is he really getting darker feathers all over?

Sorry for all these questions! Puck's 'look' seems to change a little every day, and it's very interesting to see! His face is definitely slowly getting yellower, and his cheeks are turning a much brighter orange! He's going to be even more handsome than he was as a baby!


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

If he's truly a male, the feathers that had markings as a baby should grow in solid grey. If he's actually a she, the new feathers will look like the old ones. They might be darker, since older feathers may be kind of faded, but the markings will basically be the same. Not just the tailfeathers, but also the spots on the flight feathers and the thin stripes on the rump.


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## Lore (Dec 5, 2016)

So his feathers will be replaced by solid ones, good to know!

I wonder if his 2 yellow tail feathers will grow back all yellow. Maybe they will get replaced with gray ones too? This is what the tailfeathers look like, all yellow, with dark bars along it.









Puck is supposed to be a male, he was DNA-tested  (though those are never 100% certain of course) With how much singing he does already, at just 6 months old, I would be surprised if he'd turn out to be a female after all! 
According to his breeder he's normal/wild colour. His face used to be almost all gray 'washed' (it had a yellowish glow) but is definitely turning a bright yellow now, slowly! And his cheeks used to look a bit gray, too, but are turning a brighter orange colour now.

I guess patience is the only way I'll know for sure what he'll look like :lol:


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

If his face is turning yellow then he's definitely a boy. His tailfeathers should grow in all grey, not yellow or black and yellow. 

When a male who is too young for the first molt loses a tailfeather accidentally, it will sometimes grow back with juvenile/hen markings, because his hormones aren't at the right level yet to produce adult male plumage. But it would be unusual to not grow in the plain-grey feathers during the normal first molt.


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