Moulting?

[carrie]

My six month old has begun to shed a lot of feathers while preening himself. He used to lose a couple of downy feathers every time he cleaned but now he is losing a dozen or so - there are little feathers all over the house! I was just wondering if he is starting to moult or is there something more to this. He has a little "dandruff" as well - but he doesn't seem to be plucking the feathers out. He hasn't lost any wing or tail feathers yet - that I can see anyway. It is autumn here - do they moult any time of year?