Very concerned about GCC feathers!

[mallinds]

Okay, my GCC Ruby is about 7.5 months old, but I'm really not 100% sure of her age. When I brought her home on October 6th, she had beautiful green feathers. About a month after I got her, I started noticing that they were looking rather drab... just not quite as vibrant, and the edges of a lot of them were turning black. I don't know for sure what's causing this, so I will provide some information...

• She is now eating a healthier diet than she was in the pet store. In the pet store they were feeding her a diet that contained quite a few seeds. I got her on pellets, along with fruits and veggies. Now, the fruits and veggies are usually frozen, could that be a problem? A made a huge batch of "mash" containing yams, carrots, peas, corn, peppers, rapsberries, blueberries, rice, and beans (which were cooked), and froze it in an ice cube tray. Every day she gets 1-2 cubes. The pellets I'm feeding her might not be the best option, considering there's a very crappy selection at the pet store, but I do plan on ordering her Harrisons. Could something be missing from her diet? Anything I should add or remove? I just have trouble believing that her pet store diet could have been any healthier....

• She plays a lot in her cage. I put quite a few toys in there for her, and she seems to do a great job keeping herself entertained. When she is out of the cage, she loves to be with me. She's very very cuddy. She isn't stuck to me the whole time, she does a bit of exploring, but most of the "playing" takes place in her cage. Since we do cuddle a lot, I was thinking that maybe this is just feather bronzing due to the oils on my hands/face (yes, she loves cuddling into my face). I do tend to have very oily skin, and she is handled by me a LOT. Also she likes to rub up against stuff (her cage, mirrors, etc)

• A few days after I brought her home, she was bitten by my ferret. Terrifying experience for both of us. She was immediately taken to the vet and put on an intense round of antibiotics, and she got through it just fine. Also, I didn't notice the feather discoloration until after the antibiotics were stopped, so I'm not sure if they could be related.

• Her cage is kept in the basement. I'm not sure if that is effecting her or not. There is a small window, but it's up near the ceiling and I'm not sure if it's providing her with enough sunlight. Could that be what's causing this? I do plan on buying a UV lamp for her.

• Stress bars. I've read so many times that stress bars happen while the feather is developing... well, Ruby has a few, and these aren't new feathers. She is currently molting, which is somethig I almost forgot to mention, and I see some discoloration on some of the new feathers coming in, which really scares me. But the feathers with the stress bars, they are not new. Is it possible they aren't stress bars and are just more bronzing?
  
  Here are some recent pics:

P.S. I can't afford to take her to the vet until the end of the month, and I definitely will be taking her then! But for the time being, she seems healthy in every other way besides the feathers, so I don't think it's an emergency.

 

[patch]

I see what you mean by the feathers. My bird had that exact issue when I first got him. After a year of pellets, baths, the UV lamp and molting, all of his popped out and were replaced with new feathers. He had a little but of banding when they came out, but I attribute it to still being in a new place since it's been three years and I haven't seen a stress bar since. My bird still gets some ratty-looking feathers but they're usually older feathers that are almost ready to go. I think you're on the right track but if you think a vet visit is necessary it might be good for calming your nerves.

 

[MarciaLove]

My Blue Crown Conure had those drab colored and black edged feathers when I first got him and he was on an almost all seed diet took about 8 months for them to molt and change to healthy feathers. What pellets are you feeding? Avoid dyed ones they are almost as bad as a seed diet for your bird I suggest feeding Harrisons or Roudybush along with some nuts fresh fruits and mash sounds like you feed a great mash. I think sunlight could definitely be a factor birds need sunlight its very important to them and I try to get mine outside as much as possible (either in cage or harness) and almost their whole room is half windows so they can get lots of light UV light and full spectrum lighting help a lot but its not the same as natural sunlight if there is no way you can move her cage to a sunnier room id try to get her out of the cage and into the sunlight for as much as possible a day.

 

[lquan]

Feather quality has a lot to do with food, sunlight, and enough sleep. My Lily gets at least 1 hour of sunlight in her daytime cage near a large window. Her daytime cage is in the family where she can be with at least one person at all time. She gets 4 to 5 hours of outside time on the weekdays. She is outside her cage all day on the weekends. Her sleeping cage is in the upstairs loft where it's dark and quiet. Conures must get 11 or 12 hours of sleep everyday or they will get black spots on their feathers. They will have psychological problem if they don't get enough sleep. Also, frequent bathing helps improve feather quality, too. My Lily bath every other day. Their feathers look torn at the edges because they bite on them to remove remnant of food and their own droppings that stuck there.

 

[Kalidasa]

His shoulders look like he's been barbering, that is, heavily grooming certain areas until they fray and break.

 

[lquan]

Some parrots will over groom themselves when they get bore locking up in the cage all day. Or if they feel dirty, they will over groom, too. The over grooming will definite tather their feathers.