Jerry, we had parakeets when I was growing up, and they always looked terrible
when they were moulting. I don't think they feel great, either, or maybe
they're just putting so much energy into feather construction that they
seem so out of sorts, but our birds would always want to be left alone
for the week or so when their cage looked like a pillow fight had 
just finished.

--Pat

Pat Valdata, Elkton, MD | 
"The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards
and carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods.
More than any other thing that pertains to the body
it partakes of the nature of the divine." --Plato