Grey Feathers - - Advice?

Well, Green Bean is starting to show just a few patches of grey feathers underneath her wings, on her body.

Again; these are under her wings. Her visible feathers look good; good color, 3D visual effect and nice colors all over. About a month ago, I began seeing her stretch her wings alot and yawn. It was really no different than how we stretch and yawn as humans. But what is noticeable is the feathers underneath her wings, on her body... they're solid grey color.

Obviously; I guess the only thing to do is head back to the vet. The frustrating part is that I'm not really happy with the vet we currently use and of course, the costs are astronomical every time we go through this.

Is this normal for this to happen from time to time or is an immediate visit to an avian vet necessary right away? Anyone with experience like this ???

Hi, not many lorikeet owners on here that i have seen, but i would ask on a few other parrot boards to find a consensus with other owners before rushing off to the vet for just this grey feather thing. good luck to you.

is this a normal thing... to see patches of grey feathers underneath her wings?

I don't know normal coloring of lorikeets, but if pigment is coming off the feathers, this happens from too much rubbing or scratching. This IS a problem and can be caused by an infection of some sort.

Attached a photo of what this looks like from my own parrot. The normal color are the green/blue feathers, then the dark grey where she has preened and scratched the color off. You need a competent vet to help with this, so if you're not happy with your current one, you should try someone else.

If it was me I wouldn't worry about the grey feathers Birds are like us they all have their genetics that differ from time to time. As for heading to the vet I've had no training and looked after birds for years treating them myself. Most of it is just common sense For me vet's fees are very high I would never go unless it was really necessary.
I was called The Bird Lady in my last home at Kilburn near Adelaide. People sent their sick birds round to me. Like us, bird usually recover from infections themselves
Someone here posted that their Lorri had something stuck in it's throat and was advised to go straight to the vet.... not necessary! I have always treated them like this.. Get a teaspoon and put on olive oil - feed it to them they usually like it. This lubricates their throat and it can pass through.
Broken legs I fixed with tooth-picks and cello- tape. I put them in a basket for a week-10 days giving them lots of fussing and they would be released fine staying around for their feed from me. The sick birds used to come to my door and sit themselves against my fly-screen - they knew!

malvina said:

If it was me I wouldn't worry about the grey feathers Birds are like us they all have their genetics that differ from time to time. As for heading to the vet I've had no training and looked after birds for years treating them myself. Most of it is just common sense For me vet's fees are very high I would never go unless it was really necessary.
I was called The Bird Lady in my last home at Kilburn near Adelaide. People sent their sick birds round to me. Like us, bird usually recover from infections themselves
Someone here posted that their Lorri had something stuck in it's throat and was advised to go straight to the vet.... not necessary! I have always treated them like this.. Get a teaspoon and put on olive oil - feed it to them they usually like it. This lubricates their throat and it can pass through.
Broken legs I fixed with tooth-picks and cello- tape. I put them in a basket for a week-10 days giving them lots of fussing and they would be released fine staying around for their feed from me. The sick birds used to come to my door and sit themselves against my fly-screen - they knew!

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If you do do these things, keep it to yourself. This is a recipe for disaster and by writing this you may be costing birds their lives because even if you are doing things that work - most people will not correctly diagnose amd fix the problem, and that is totally wrong about infections.. birds can die from the simplest of infections if not treated. Wellness checks catch so many little things that would normally be missed and could cause death. Most birds dont even show signs until the end, so this is total BS.
Bird lady I dont know, more like voodoo doctor.
This is the worst advice I have ever read and to anyone reading - do not do any of this. If you actually care about your bird, spend the money on a real vet and not some backroom operation that might work if the stars align. And if you dont want to spend the money on a vet, then dont get a bird, and consider rehoming the ones you have.

I think mods should delete this post really.


-- to OP.

It doesnt seem like something so serious, but what tou can do is call your vet and they will triage the situation and tell you if it is urgent, somewhat urgent, or not to worry.

Are you a vet or in the pet business?

It has always been a mystery to me why vets who love pets so much -charge such high fees to treat them thus making it impossible for the likes of pensioners to use them. In a lot of ways they are like a lot of the medical professionals - in it for the money and sometimes just rackets
I aaw a dog suffering on the road once near a vet I hurried in and told them about it. They said, Oh we will go and pick it up' I hung around for some time before the dog died they didn't arrive. probably because I didn''t land $100 in their pocket. I have proved it - in a lot of cases they don't love animals at all.

malvina said:

If it was me I wouldn't worry about the grey feathers Birds are like us they all have their genetics that differ from time to time. As for heading to the vet I've had no training and looked after birds for years treating them myself. Most of it is just common sense For me vet's fees are very high I would never go unless it was really necessary.
I was called The Bird Lady in my last home at Kilburn near Adelaide. People sent their sick birds round to me. Like us, bird usually recover from infections themselves
Someone here posted that their Lorri had something stuck in it's throat and was advised to go straight to the vet.... not necessary! I have always treated them like this.. Get a teaspoon and put on olive oil - feed it to them they usually like it. This lubricates their throat and it can pass through.
Broken legs I fixed with tooth-picks and cello- tape. I put them in a basket for a week-10 days giving them lots of fussing and they would be released fine staying around for their feed from me. The sick birds used to come to my door and sit themselves against my fly-screen - they knew!

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I will always recommend taking your bird to an avian vet if you think something could be wrong. They can go downhill way too fast to try to diagnose at home.
Birds with broken legs, wings, etc. ALWAYS need to see a vet. They need pain management at the very least to alleviate their suffering, and infection that needs antibiotics is always a very real possibility.
Let's take this back to the original topic.

To the OP:
Are you sure it isn't just down feathers? I'm not familiar with Lorikeets so just a guess.

Avian vets where I'm at, at least the best one around so they say asks for a 500.00 deposit before they see you're bird. procedures are also high. so if ya can't afford it you really don't need it. a bird that is. also if ya have no idea what to do with when ya die ya don't need it either.

malvina said:

Are you a vet or in the pet business?

It has always been a mystery to me why vets who love pets so much -charge such high fees to treat them thus making it impossible for the likes of pensioners to use them. In a lot of ways they are like a lot of the medical professionals - in it for the money and sometimes just rackets
I aaw a dog suffering on the road once near a vet I hurried in and told them about it. They said, Oh we will go and pick it up' I hung around for some time before the dog died they didn't arrive. probably because I didn''t land $100 in their pocket. I have proved it - in a lot of cases they don't love animals at all.

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No Im a university student who can barely afford rent. Like I said, if you do these things, thats up to you, but I say dont recommend them over a qualified medical professional because MOST people are not as bright or as experienced as you probably are, and while you may have the experience and get it right many times, 98% of people wouldnt and the bird would die. Im aware that there are alternatives, and i dont think all are bad, but I never advocate for them on a forum where I have no idea the knowledge/experience/background of who Im giving the info to.
If thats the attitude of vets in your area, then I agree it is disgusting. You also habe to remember though that it is a business, and vets are the most underpaid medical professions around. They need to pay pverhead and feed their families, and there is not much that can be done for a stray dog because it would get euthanized after being turned over to animal control anyway. Its sad, I totally agree, but its reality. Just like hospitals wont treat those withput insurance. Im lucky to have one of the best avian vets in the world near me, and the one I use is good too. The costs are pretty high but $500 deposit is insane, as I see someone said. The most for a full wellness check and blood CBC, beak and nail trim should be $275. It is much better to just bring the bird to someone who spent years studying it who can properly fix the issue, as a minor infection, illness or issue can result in death if not treated or treated improperly. That is why I always say, go to vet - why take the chance. I have no idea who you are and wont doubt your ability, but most people would probably screw it up or complicate it even further.

I agree that there would be a few that are different but that has been my experience and the story of those that I know of - they just get seen off as I was the last time I used one The fees are huge I took 3 feral cats to be de-sexed (one after the other) I was given medicine for that - that I HAD to use.... that cost me more then the de-sexing which later I found I could have bought locally for a quarter of the price.. It was all wasted anyway as it was impossible to give to a feral cat!. I was so traumatised seeing these balls of fluff (the babies sometimes) go away to be gassed I decided to feed and look after some. ALL of them did well - were well in a day or so and didn't need the medicine that broke my bank at the time.
As for birds getting infection - they may do! - but in all my years as a child especially where my dad used to breed canaries I never heard of one get infection! I'm not saying they don't but I've never seen it and I'm just an 82 year old uni student... I am self-educated and have studied online since I retired from my business having left school 2 years after the war where I spent all my school time in the London air-raid shelters. I just learned myself and had 4 public service jobs and 5 businesses so I know a few things Loko. It concerns me that you are advising people here to run to the vet ad lib when I know a lot of the time it's unnecessary and will take a lump out of their finances. Sometimes pets die - we die... that's life, we enjoy our pets while they are here - but we don't throw all our money away to see that they don't.
(By the way... feral cats make beautiful pets it broke my heart when I had to leave them a few months ago to move to my retirement home 100 ks away)

A story for Loco. (I have many more)

When we came to Australia we had a house built at West Lakes - a new upmarket area built on... SWAMPS.
Ours was built with an unusual shape garage (my design) that brought surveyors to look.
One day a puppy labrador came to my window determined to come in. He clung to me with no intention of leaving. Just about 4 months old that hungry pup wouldn't touch her food until I gave her permission she was trained. For days I advertised and sought her owner but nothing at all but she was determined to have ME..
So I made her my pet - and what a pet she was! - looking after me all the time especially in the sea. We gave her the garage to sleep in she loved the place. One day she vomited and was obviously ill. She had a nasty sore developing on her shoulder.. I took her to the vet and he gave me antibiotics... it was a red-back spider bite. Seems they were bountiful in the swamps! and in the new houses which they seemed to love.
I returned 3 times as her green sore grew larger to size of a grapefruit each time I got a different antibiotic until eventually he sat shaking his head.. 'We've tried it all there's nothing left... make her comfortable she is dying.'
As I walked out of the surgery - I turned and said to him. 'Years ago we could buy penicilin in powder form.... can you still get it?' He said, 'I'll try and get it' which he did. I got that powder and poured the lot into that hole - she lived - a long healthy life.

Im not saying you dont know a few things, Im sure you do; the simple fact is that most people who have parrots cannot correctly diagnose and treat a bird. Whether you can or cant is irrelevant, and its dangerous to tell someone not to get professional medical help when it is needed. A simple infection in a bird may not do much, but then the immune system is compromised which causes a more serious ailment to establish itself in the body and the bird ends up fluffed up on the bottom of the cage and on deaths door. I have seen it myself with people cutting corners, and again, regardless of your success, it is never right to advise someone against proper treatment; there may be 50 dead birds on you but you have no idea. I am not saying you dont know what youre talking about - I just want whats best for the health of this communities birds and if you ask anyone here they will tell you to ask a vet because if you stick around a while you will see the endless posts about people trying to home medicate their birds and then they come post about it crying, and always say, "I should have just gone to the vet". So its not an argument over who knows more - we dont do that here - and I dont care. Some of the people here are highly experienced breeders who may do some things at home, but they dont recommend it to the average person, because the average person doesnt know what to look for or do. You may, and thats great - but for so many people, that has ended in heartbreak. That is all Im saying.

It seems like youve had bad experiences with vets, or medical professionals in general, which is ovviously not your fault and I would feel the same way you did if I was in your shoes. I do agree a lot of things are simple, and many have simple remedies - the problem is that most people dont know how to correctly identify things and therefore dont use the right treatment. I would never tell you to stop what youre doing if it works for you - everyone has their own ideas and ways and thats the beauty of life really, but like I said earlier, no one has walked in your shoes and has the experiences youve had, so they probably cant do the same things.

Anyways enough of this.. and welcome to the forums!

@OP - Have you noticed anything else?

I don't get the last bit ..
Do you know who set this forum up for parrots? was it vets and parrot food manufacturers? where's the smilies?

malvina said:

I don't get the last bit ..
Do you know who set this forum up for parrots? was it vets and parrot food manufacturers? where's the smilies?

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This forum was founded by people who love birds, and is run and maintained by people who love birds. Smilies are available at the bottom in the box where you post.

This thread has been hijacked enough, so a warning that any posts hereafter that don't have to do with the OP's question will be deleted.

Hi OP, back to your grey feather problemo! Like most, I don't know a lot about lorikeets (not to mention my bird is half grey naturally!), but I do know that grey feathers can be a sign of infection or of needing more vitamins. I would definitely do the vet thing first (usually it's not THAT expensive for a general checkup--here in Texas it's anywhere between $50-$150 depending on what they do in that checkup, and they may be able to easily diagnose the problem), then if all is well on that end, you might want to look at what your baby is getting vitamin-wise. I know my bird tends to throw her veggies out and my dogs usually get to them, so if I wasn't home all the time I might think she was eating them. They also love to eat her pellets if she tosses them (because their food isn't as yummy as bird food, apparently!). Keeps my house clean, but if I didn't actually work ten feet from her cage, I wouldn't know this was happening. I would look into that once you've ruled out infection.

holy cow; this thread went downhill since last posting. I simply asked for input on grey feathers. Anyway; update on Green Bean... she is doing great. Nothing was ever determined; other than they (the vet clinic) think it's normal under-feathers under her wings. She seems to be doing really well. And "she" is actually a "he," as we determined through the bloodwork. All other bloodwork came back normal.