Retorical question but come on. For reals guys. Give me a break.

I bought Volkman's feather glow egg food for the molting supplement when I ran out of the Kaytee molting supplement that comes in those little jars at Petsmart. I ordered the Volkman's featherglow stuff from Amazon. It smells weird and it needs to be moistened a bit, which works well when I mix it with some birdy bread because the bread has so many veggies in it, it's always a bit moist.

Also, I'm noticing that Coyote's feathers are looking sorta raggety at the ends. Like the little strands have been chewed on and instead of the feather having the correct shape, the ends look... frayed or something. Could this be feather mites or is this just what older feathers do? None of his new flight feathers look like this and the feathers in question are the other ones on his wings, not the ones for flying, but more like on his back and further down the top of his wings. Little feathers. Whatever they're called. Maybe they're just called feathers, I dunno.

Anyways, I haven't ever noticed this with the budgies but it seems they molt every 3 months so they never seem to get the opportunity to have "old" feathers and theirs are so much smaller and harder to see each defined feather like I can on Coyote. Should I just buy one of those feather mite sprays and say to heck with it? The info on the spray bottles don't make them sound like a harsh treatment, but then again, I don't necessarily trust labels for stuff to treat pets since they don't have all the regulations like they do for people stuff.

I'm going to say no. We never stop shedding our skin or hair, so I think the same goes with birds and feathers.

I always wonder why people talk so much about molting and I have no clue what they are talking about?
So... are all the tiny and not so tiny feathers I find all around my place is result of molting? I never really thought about it, for me it's natural to have feathers everywhere when you have birds
Is supplement optional?

Bryni seems to be moulting a
lot of the time.. I don't use anything,
only a water spray..
(A bit off the topic but.... I had a Labrador dog,
for 15 years I swear he moulted everyday of
his life!)
so I'm guessing a lot depends on the weather,
temperature etc. I wouldn't worry Bryni looks
a bit rough around his feathers, it will pass.

Stay away from mite sprays. Indoor birds are highly unlikely to get mites, and if they do then you need prescription medication from the vet. Over the counter mite treatments don't work and could be harmful to the bird. Feathers can get a little ragged with age and it's not likely that there's a problem.

Thank you! Yeah, the mite sprays seemed sketchy to me, either the ingredients seemed useless or questionable safety wise. Will not use!

Also, I think Coyote gets some of his feathers messed up when he's messing around in the budgies' cage because he's way too big for the width of the cage. So he's always bumping his feathers into stuff as he stumbles around, eating their food and messing with their toys.

Rubbing against things will wear down feathers over time, and if they're pied (yellow/white) feathers they'll be more prone to wear than grey feathers. Melanin helps add strength to feathers so the grey feathers are sturdier.