Molting and color changes to my Indian Ringneck

I’m not sure I’m in the right spot for this post. I am a new IRN mom. His name is Sage. He recently went through a molt and now his wing tip are turning black and I’ve noticed what seems to be bronzing. Does anyone agree with this and what should I do? I can’t get him to the vet until October. Other than his coloring he seems to be fine and active. He is not tame but we are working on that. Have finally gotten him to accept food from the hand outside his cage.
I have read about lighting and will be getting a bird light for him soon. I have finally gotten him to eat pellets but he will only eat them if they are soft so I soak them in some water (which he loves drinking). I only leave those in there for a few hours.
Please any advice or opinions would be great. I’ve only ever had cockatiels and I was unaware of the necessity for specific lighting when it comes to IRNs.

Re: Feather bronzing and stress bars on my Indian ringneck.

It may be a good idea to make your own post in the IRN forum, but I'll comment what I can here anyway...

First of all, since your bird isn't "tame" and you haven't had him all that long, he could be under a bit of stress, but just because he has black tips on the ends of his feathers doesn't mean they are "stress bars". A lot of the time people think this immediately, and it's just not the case. A lot of species, like Quakers for instance, naturally have black marking throughout their feathers that are often mistaken for stress bars. But there are some changes you should make that could help his overall health.

I would not worry at all about buying a "bird light". They are totally unnecessary and in my opinion do nothing at all but actually add stress to the bird because they are made to be under an artificial light all day long, looking right at it. Those bulbs are the equivalent to buying a UVA or even a UVB bulb for a Reptile or Amphibian, but the difference is that birds don't require UVB light to manufacture vitamin D3, nor does this effect their calcium or other mineral/vitamin absorption. Obviously the best thing you can do to benefit your bird is to get him under NATURAL SUNLIGHT as much as possible...If he's flighted, then you just need to take him outside in a cage, either the cage he's in if it's on wheels or mobile, and if not then just buy a smaller cage for outside. This is the only type of light that is going to benefit your bird's health. Don't waste your money on an artificial bird light, it needs to be spend on other things, like a visit to a Certified Avian Vet for a wellness exam.

As soon as you can, get your bird to either a Ceritifed Avian Vet or an Avian Specialist that only sees birds (no "Exotics" Vets) for a full wellness-exam that includes routine, baseline blood-work and a Fecal Culture. You need to do this once a year at the least, and this way you'll have baseline blood levels to compare to every year to gauge his health.

****Stop putting vitamins in his water!!!! This is a very, very bad idea. First of all, you can't gauge the amount of each vitamin and mineral that he's getting at all by putting it in his water. Usually they aren't getting anywhere near the amount of vitamins or minerals that they need to do any good, as they don't drink nearly enough water for it to make a difference....Secondly, this is EXTREMELY BAD for his drinking water!!! Anything that you put in his drinking water, whether it be vitamins and minerals, medications, supplements, etc. is actually contaminating his water and can make it toxic to drink in a short amount of time...So not only is it not doing him any good, but it could make him very ill. So please, just give him clean drinking water with nothing in it every day.

***As far as him getting the proper vitamins and minerals that he needs, he should be getting them from his regular, daily diet, and he shouldn't need any extra vitamin supplement...The only time they require an extra vitamin supplement is when they are malnourished, undernourished, or suffering from some kind of deficiency-disease, and only an Avian vet can determine this by blood-work. And if an Avian Vet were to determine this, they would give your bird a prescription vitamin injection...Any Vet that gives you anything at all to put in your bird's water dish is not a qualified Avian Vet and it's better to find a new vet; you cannot properly dose anything in their water dish!

It's good that you have him on Zupreem pellets as his regular, daily staple...Have you ever tried slowly switching him over from the Zupreem Fruit pellets to the Zupreem Natural pellets? I highly suggest that you start doing this ASAP, as the Fruit pellets, any brand of fruit pellets, contain way too much sugar content for them, and this can make them very sick over time with Fatty Liver Disease, Diabetes, etc. So buy a bag of Zupreem Natural Pellets (not the Peanut ones either, just the Natural ones) and slowly mix the Natural pellets in with the Fruit pellets, and slowly eliminate the Fruit pellets, until he's only eating the Natural ones.

Also, you need to be supplementing his daily pellets with a healthy, low-fat, varied Seed-Mix every day as well...A "healthy" seed-mix needs to also be a part of his daily diet. Birds GI Tracts are designed to digest seeds, nuts, legumes, grain, etc. And as such, they need seeds every single day to keep their GI Tracts healthy, as well as their psychological health in-check. Pellets are not found in nature, lol, and they absolutely need to be going through the act of shelling and eating seeds every single day. The key to this is choosing a healthy, low-fat Seed Mix that doesn't contain any sunflower seeds, first of all, and then you also want one that is varied, meaning it contains lots of different types of seeds, grains, legumes, dried veggies, and dried fruits. There are several that are very good, such as Sunseed Vita Seed without sunflower seeds, Vita Prima without sunflower seeds, Tropimix, etc. The Vita Prima California Blend is a great one for medium size parrots, as is the medium/Conure blend of Tropimix. He should get a small dish of a healthy seed mix with no sunflower seeds every day with his Natural Pellets.

He should also be getting fresh veggies every single day in a separate bowl. A lot of people will give their birds their pellets and seed mix in the morning, so they have them all day long to munch on, and then in the late afternoon/early evening when they get home and eat their dinner, this is the time when they will give their birds their fresh veggies or "Chop" recipes. Making different "chop" recipes is the best way to find out what he likes and also providing him lots of variety. There are a ton of great Chop recipes in the food forum. Just make sure they contain no onions at all, and no avocado, as these are toxic to birds. Pretty much any other fresh veggie or greens are great to try, and they usually love all types of peppers, squashes, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, peas and pea pods, carrots, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, okra, and then all the greens like mustard, turnip, collard, dandelion, romaine and dark green lettuces (never iceberg lettuce, it's just water, no nutrition), spinach, bok choy and pak choy, etc. Again, avoid all iceberg lettuces, as well as all celery, as they are nothing but water and contain little nutrition, but all of the dark green, leafy greens are great.

Fresh Fruit should not be given every day, but rather 3-4 days a week at most, and in small portions. Just like the fruit-flavored pellets are full of sugar, so are all natural fruits. They are full of natural sugars (Fructose and Sucrose mostly), and this is just as bad as feeding them sunflower seeds or candy every day; the sugar from the fruit is turned into fat that accumulates in their livers, causing Fatty Liver Disease over time, and even Diabetes. Diabetic Parrots are on the rise, and the main reason for this is due to their owners over-feeding them fresh fruit, feeding them only fruit-flavored pellets, and feeding them an all-seed diet that contains sunflower seeds. As far as people-food goes, again, this should only be an occasional treat, not every day, and things like pasta, breads, white rice, white potatoes, and other foods high in bland carbs are also a cause of liver disease and diabetes. If you want to feed them pasta or rice, make it whole-wheat pasta only, not regular pasta, and only brown rice or multi-grain rice, not white rice. And little to no breads. Try to limit or eliminate any meat, especially red meat and pork, as they are very fatty. Giving them a small piece of chicken, turkey, or fish is fine once in a while, but make sure it's skinless, has no fat on it, and is either broiled, boiled, or baked, never fried in any oils, fats, or butter...And never feed your bird any of your food that has butter, oil, or salt on it. Feed them their portion before you put any of that stuff on it for yourself...

***Besides these diet and lifestyle changes, just get him to the closest Certified Avian Vet or Avian Specialist Vet as soon as you possibly can for a complete wellness-exam, and remember to request a full, routine blood panel that includes his Cell Counts, as well as his Liver and Kidney Function tests...Any good Avian Specialist will know what yearly blood-work to run. And a Fecal Culture is also a very good test to get done at least once a year, as you can catch any bacterial or fungal infections early this way.

Thank you so much for the information. I had bought the natural zupreem to start and I will definitely buy one of the seed mixtures you suggested. He doesn’t like his veggies but he is starting to get a taste for them if I hand feed it to him so fingers crossed he develops a taste. I do plan on getting to a vet and thank you for letting me know what to look for in one. You have eased my mind and I will take the proper steps to ensuring his health. You are much appreciated, again Thank You

Also, unfortunately I can’t get him that sun year round. I live in Alaska so more than half the year is very dark. Should I get a light for the winter months and do as you suggested in the summer?

One more thing, can I feed him organic frozen veggies?