Green Cheek Conure Swollen Nare

Hello everyone.. yesterday me and Elijah my Gcc went for a drive to my other house. When we arrived at the other house, I noticed that one of Elijah's nare's was bigger than the other. It looks swollen. I immediately brought him back home in hopes that he would settle down, however this moring it's still swollen. There is no discharge coming from the nares, no sneezing more than usual and overall he was acting normal last night, eating, drinking, & bobbing his head. I am a new conure mommy and I am really worried. I called a vet and he told me not to bring him right away, just to watch him and make sure everything remains normal and to come in for our appointmnet on saturday. I had to come to work today and there will be no one there to watch him. I will go at lunch and straight to him after work, but I am still extremely worried. can anyone offer any advice?

Hey!

Never had to deal with this before, but I did some googling and it came up that it might be mites or could be due to an all seed diet.

Other possible ones were an infected scratch in the area or signs of a tumor.

Is the nare a different color than usual? What about his poop? Has that changed at all? What kind of diet is he on?

hey kellie,

thanks for answering.. his nare is it's usual color, just slightly larger. His poop has remained the same as well. His diet consist of seeds, dried fruit, some veggies and little to no nuts. I also give him millet seed as a snack.

So the seed diet might be the problem! That's an easy fix! Seed diets are recommended for hardly any birds right now. You should switch him from seeds to pellets.
Some good brands are Lafebers and Roudybush. I have Lukah on Roudybush Maintenance and he LOVES them Just grabbed the bag and I have the small size ones right now but I've also given him medium size. It kind of depends on which ones are at petsmart the day I buy them.

Seeds are extremely high in fat content and don't give your little guy all the nutrition he needs.

This site has a lot of information on diet for your birdy Feeding and Nutrition

The best rule of thumb is to have pellets be his main meal supplemented with a cup of fresh fruits and veggies each day, mostly veggies as fruits are high in sugar.

Lukah was on a seed diet when I got him and to switch him over I just took out his seeds and put pellets in. Hand fed him a few of them and he was hooked. Pretending to eat the pellet and then giving it to them is a good method usually. And for getting him to eat veggies if he's not a veggie fanatic you can put your veggies with a little bit of his favorite fruits in the food processor. This will make them more appetizing to him. You can freeze the extras in little ice cube trays. Just pop out some of the fruit/veggie mix each day, thaw it (either leave it out or pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds) and voila!

That's just a quick diet overview. If you want more info I can give you more

I read online that all seed diets can increase the chance of tumor in birds and that a sign of tumor can be a swollen nare. So that could possibly be it? But they also said their poop and other things usually change when they have a tumor so maybe not. My grandma's canaries each have one swollen nare (its huge) and they're on an all seed diet. So maybe there's some kind of connection.

Thank You very much, I'll definitely be changing his diet, if only to increase his health. I'll wait to see what the vet says regarding the swollen nare and keep you updated. thanks again

It looks normal to me.

hello, yes I apologize the picture is of him before the problem. I didnt realize it was uploaded on this post

I would not switch your bird completely over to a pelleted diet. A healthy variety of foods
is best. My birds all get pellets as well as some seeds, as well as their veggies, fruit, birdie bread, bean mix, etc.

Terry57 said:

I would not switch your bird completely over to a pelleted diet. A healthy variety of foods
is best. My birds all get pellets as well as some seeds, as well as their veggies, fruit, birdie bread, bean mix, etc.

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Definitely didn't recommend all pellet! Sorry if it sounded like that. Terry is right- variety is key. That's why I mentioned the veggie/fruit mix to start. Also good is whole grains (I give Lukah little pieces of whole grain bread mixed with cooked quinoa). Sprouts are a great idea too. As are a variety of beans- but make sure they're cooked well. Lukah likes lentils and chickpeas. I also give lukah nuts (especially almonds) and millet as treats. Didn't mean to say your little guy's diet should be all pellet, just much more pellet based than seed based. Try to keep seeds to a special daily treat etc.

hey guys, thanks for all your help. I will keep Elijah on a healthy diet. as for his swollen nare....