Color Mutation? Or something else.

[Mom2Rain]

Last week, a young female Eclectus was rehomed to our family. Previous diet was mainly seed and pellets with some nuts and a supplement. Cataract is present in one eye. Previous family is extremely loving and followed feeding directions from original owner. They were under the impression diet was complete, and sought help once they realized otherwise. They really do love her, and there is zero judgement here.


Previous owners took her in for a vet check and beak trim. Vet gave her a clean bill of health despite the cataract in one eye.

In addition to the red/blue/purple coloration, this little one has green feathers mixed with the blue. She also has a yellow and black beak. I was not present for the vet visit, so I thought I would ask here: Is this a color mutation, or is this due to previous diet?

*She is now eating fresh vegetables and fruits with chop and cooked legumes. Follow up visit with Vet for additional beak care in a month.

Any advice regarding her coloring would be most welcome. I could wait for the upcoming visit with Vet, but I'm curious. Thank you!

*She's doing very well with new diet and is extremely sweet.

 

[Rozalka]

I'd say it's not a mutation because it would be impossible to get green feathers in female eclectus. Maybe somebody with bigger diet/health knowledge will say what it may be.

 

[LoveOfallAnimals]

I have no idea on the feathers, but am interested to see what others have to say. I was told when I purchased my eclectus that Roudybush was a complete diet. They told me that I didn't have to feed fruit or vegetables as anything other than a treat. It makes me sad that so many people are given the wrong information on the proper care for their specific parrots.

 

[Owlet]

It's not uncommon for female eclectus to have male feathers and vise versa. It's seen mostly in adolescents and they usually grow out of it. It is possible her feathers will go to the classic red with a better diet and it is possible that shes a hemaphrodite and will retrain these characteristics

 

[HeatherG]

That’s what I was thinking, some mixed male-type feathering. Explained by adolescence; if she were an older adult I would wonder about extra hormone secretion.

I thought the darker beak was a baby eclectus thing, too.

 

[Mom2Rain]

I have no idea on the feathers, but am interested to see what others have to say. I was told when I purchased my eclectus that Roudybush was a complete diet. They told me that I didn't have to feed fruit or vegetables as anything other than a treat. It makes me sad that so many people are given the wrong information on the proper care for their specific parrots.

My understanding is that the previous family followed the dietary advice from the pet store. It is sad.

 

[Mom2Rain]

It's not uncommon for female eclectus to have male feathers and vise versa. It's seen mostly in adolescents and they usually grow out of it. It is possible her feathers will go to the classic red with a better diet and it is possible that shes a hemaphrodite and will retrain these characteristics

Interesting! Thank you so much. Will definitely keep people posted as we continue to monitor her progress.

 

[Mom2Rain]

That’s what I was thinking, some mixed male-type feathering. Explained by adolescence; if she were an older adult I would wonder about extra hormone secretion.

I thought the darker beak was a baby eclectus thing, too.

I have never seen a beak like this. She's around three years old. Is that still considered adolescence?

 

[HeatherG]

I’m sorry. Somehow I thought she was younger. I think she should be fully adult at three years. (Me and my big mouth!)
Also, cataracts are unusual in a young adult bird. You’d expect them in a senior bird.

In that case, I do wonder if there could be some hormonal issue. But I have also been hearing and reading about how pellets are not a good diet for eclectus so I wonder if these colors might change with a more appropriate diet. ???

I would ask for the vet records, or perhaps take her to another vet. Just because I worry why a female bird would have enough extra testosterone to alter beak color.

I will see if I can find any information about this.

 

[Mom2Rain]

I’m sorry. Somehow I thought she was younger. I think she should be fully adult at three years. (Me and my big mouth!)

In that case, I do wonder if there could be some hormonal issue. But I have also been hearing and reading about how pellets are not a good diet for eclectus so I wonder if these colors might change with a more appropriate diet. ???

I would ask for the vet records, or perhaps take her to another vet. Just because I worry why a female bird would have enough extra testosterone to alter beak color.

I will see if I can find any information about this.

Thank you so much. We are working with one of the most respected Avian Vets in the state, so I will definitely update this thread. She's eating well, (although it has been a unique challenge to wean her off seed) is active and friendly. I have been googling "Female Eclectus with Green feathers", and it results in tons of pictures of a male.

 

[HeatherG]

I’m glad you are working with a respected avian vet. In that case, my opinion is not very useful.

I find at first look that cataracts can be caused by nutritional problems as well as injury. We know she had an inappropriate diet so that might well explain the cataract(though 3 yrs is young, and present in only one eye?). I wonder if she flew into a window or wall and damaged one eye?

I’m glad she’s seeing a good avian vet. I was afraid she had a historical vet appointment with info to which you weren’t privy.

 

[Mom2Rain]

I’m glad you are working with a respected avian vet. In that case, my opinion is not very useful.

I find at first look that cataracts can be caused by nutritional problems as well as injury. We know she had an inappropriate diet so that might well explain the cataract(though 3 yrs is young, and present in only one eye?). I wonder if she flew into a window or wall and damaged one eye?

She could have been injured. Previous owners never mentioned such incident. I will update after her appointment in August. I started this thread in hopes that someone would chime in and say, "My Ekkie looks similar to this..." or something. Thank you for you contribution.

 

[HeatherG]

I found a photo of a female eclectus with similar beak but much more green feather coloration on Reddit. There was speculation about what might cause this issue but no conclusive answers. I’m not very familiar with eclectus but would also want to find out if there could be any androgen producing growth in this bird? And would want to check liver function and cholesterol/lipids in this bird.

Your vet should be looking into this. All these problems can be caused or worsened by a poor diet. So maybe you and she are on the road to wellness already.

 

[Mom2Rain]

I found a photo of a female eclectus with similar beak but much more green feather coloration on Reddit. There was speculation about what might cause this issue but no conclusive answers. I’m not very familiar with eclectus but would also want to find out if there could be any androgen producing growth in this bird? And would want to check liver function and cholesterol/lipids in this bird.

Your vet should be looking into this. All these problems can be caused or worsened by a poor diet. So maybe you and she are on the road to wellness already.

I'm pretty impressed with your sleuthing! I couldn't find anything online. We will continue to work with her on the diet. I have had to get creative, such as cramming broccoli and such in between the bars of her cage. She treats these 'cage bar veggies' as an annoyance, but then will tend to eat most of them to remove said offending vegetables. Thank you again.

 

[SailBoat]

It is very possible that any Parrot will push an odd feather(s) from time to time and depending on what feather (location) it will be replaced with a correct color at sometime in the future. Although the color green is common with males and not females, having a female push one or more green feathers can happen. Diet does play a part, but is not the only reason. IMHO, it is likely a combination of diet, hormones, stress, etc..
Remember that Breeders will look for this kind of color occurrences and begin to selectivity change the color of the species.

 

[Mom2Rain]

It is very possible that any Parrot will push an odd feather(s) from time to time and depending on what feather (location) it will be replaced with a correct color at sometime in the future. Although the color green is common with males and not females, having a female push one of more green feathers can happen. Diet does play a part, but is not the only reason. IMHO, it is likely a combination of diet, hormones, stress, etc..
Remember that Breeders will look for this kind of color occurrences and begin to selectivity change the color of the species.

I truly hope that with time she will become the vibrant red/blue. Thank you.

 

[HeatherG]

Feather color AND beak color change makes me wonder more than a few odd or less pigmented feathers. But we also know this bird wasn’t fed a good diet for an eclectus.

Would be interesting if there’s any extra scaliness on the feet and legs. I saw that years ago in a rescued conure who had been (literally) starved. The foot crud slowly flaked off to reveal normal, though old and scaly, bird feet within the year.

 

[Mom2Rain]

Feather color AND beak color change makes me wonder more than a few odd or less pigmented feathers. But we also know this bird wasn’t fed a good diet for an eclectus.

Would be interesting if there’s any extra scaliness on the feet and legs. I saw that years ago in a rescued conure who had been (literally) starved. The foot crud slowly flaked off to reveal normal, though old and scaly, bird feet within the year.

Foot and leg condition is normal. Her nails were on the longer side, but that has been addressed. She's a sweet little oddity, but obviously we're following up with the specialist.

 

[Owlet]

Heres an example of an adolescent male eclectus expressing large amounts of female characteristics. His name is Atlas and I followed his story in one of the eclectus Facebook groups. We weren't sure were he was gonna go but as you can see he eventually took on mostly green feathers. I believe he is around 2 and a half in the largest picture but I could be wrong. You girl could be in the process of going through the changes like he did if shes only 3.

 

[HeatherG]

Parrot androgen insensitivity?

I think the color changes are related to having testosterone. Maybe this young male, Atlas, simply didn’t have much testosterone expressed in his body.

Did they explain why Atlas has these different feathers?