Do these feathers look unhealthy? Turning my BFA to a pellet diet...

[Starwing]

Hello everyone!
My Kobus still seems to be moulting, and I still have some concerns
where it comes to her plumage.

I have changed her diet quite rigurously
since the last time I posted for some dietary tips, so she is now getting
plenty of fresh fruits and veggies on a daily basis, along with (less) seeds
which she has exclusively been getting when we just got her.

She has been losing about a feather or two a day for the past few weeks,
which seems perfectly fine, and I have discovered no bald spots and her
ability to fly hasn't been in any sense compromised.

I do however feel that a lot of her current plumage seems raffled at best,
there seems to be quite a bit of greyish/darkish down visible on her back and I am (hopefully irrationally) somewhat concerned for her new feathers (especially the ones on top of her head).

I will post some photo's here so you can have a look for yourselves;

Some feathers on her back seem to show a lot of down. Is this normal, or are there simply some "new" feathers missing that will eventually cover the down? Or are these feathers that are likely to still come out during her moult?

Same as above, there is a lot of darkish down showing, and I think I even see some off-colour here and there. There also seem to be some feathers that appear flimsy and somewhat "puffy". Is this a new flimsy feather or could this be a feather thats prone to drop out soon?

Downish "edges" along the larger feathers. Just insulation that's showing because there's some new feathers coming soon?

"Flimsy" feathers on the outerside of her wings, she preens them, but when she flies, they puff "outward"
and make her look like she's having a bad "feather day". New feathers that are flimsy due to disease or dietary deficiencies or old feathers that are about to drop out?

This is a drawing I made of the little new feathers on her head.
I know that pin- or bloodfeathers have their own bloodsupply initially, but
later when they mature this ends and the keratin cover will be preened off
eventually.

However, Kobus does preen a lot, and even though I find a lot of little
keratin sheath dust/chips after she's been preening, whenever she lets me
stroke her head, I feel a lot of "spikies" even among her seemingly adult
feathers. I took a careful look, and some of the feathers that seem "adult"ish still have a bit of "sheath" covering them. The little feathers, please don't mind my poorly drawn example, kinda resemble a fan in shape.

I keep finding a lot of keratin dust, so I don't think something is intrinsically with her new feathers, but how long does it usually take for a pinfeather to become an adult feather? And how long should it take for a keratin sheath to be "removed"? Is this initial "fanshape" normal when the feather is already becoming a bit larger?

Anyways, I am switching her to harrison pellets since I have heard many an advantage over fruit/veggie-fortified seed diet, but I am wondering how many I should give an adult , once I have succesfully transferred her from seeds to pellets in the first place. Better yet, what does your amazon's daily diet look like?

And what do you think of these photo's?

Thanks to all of you in advance for your advice!

Sorry for the somewhat long post, I'll make it up to you guys by posting pics of the AWESOME playstand I'm building for Kobus! It's part-done and she's already even stopped being afraid of it!

 

[weco]

The feathers look like a normal molt & the fluffies that are viewable when she flies, are probably feathers that should be covered by primaries or secondaries that have just not molted back in yet.....once she has finished feathering up, all will look right.....

Your little drawing depicts a feather that has grown past the sheath, that Kobus has not gotten to yet, as are all the little pinnies you're feeling on her head.....she can't get to those himself & they will stay that way, after they have grown in, until they fall apart on their own or, if she will let you, unless you gently pinch them between you finger nails.....some birds will not let we humans help them, while others will bow their heads for help.....

Other than that, all looks normal with her feathers.....

 

[Starwing]

The feathers look like a normal molt & the fluffies that are viewable when she flies, are probably feathers that should be covered by primaries or secondaries that have just not molted back in yet.....once she has finished feathering up, all will look right.....

Your little drawing depicts a feather that has grown past the sheath, that Kobus has not gotten to yet, as are all the little pinnies you're feeling on her head.....she can't get to those himself & they will stay that way, after they have grown in, until they fall apart on their own or, if she will let you, unless you gently pinch them between you finger nails.....some birds will not let we humans help them, while others will bow their heads for help.....

Other than that, all looks normal with her feathers.....

Thanks, it's so great to hear everything seems to be normal.
I tend to see a lot of little "quirks" which I immediately consider abnormal,
to only shortly realize how little I sometimes know about what is normal!

Is it by the way unusual for a to grow blue in other places than her head?
Her belly sometimes seems to refract with a blue/azurish hue,
and there are actually a couple of feathers forming a full ring around her cloaca that are just as blue as her forehead!
I have never seen that before, but they seem like perfectly normal
feathers otherwise...

 

[weco]

No, there really are no sureties in parrot coloring because those are controlled by genetics and since we humans have gotten involved in parrot breeding, there are only a few closed gene pools around the world, to protect species and the several here in the states are closely protected, with none being offered to the general public.....too many people have adulterated the various open gene pools, not keeping proper records & allowing casual breeding to try to create hybrid colors to command higher prices...usually to the detriment of the created specie from some type of defect or abnormality, so while one description might read one way, another might read another, with neither being the right one.....but there a lot of birds whose feathers may molt out a little differently than it's previous feathers.....hope this helps.....

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

Hi Starwing. Along the line of what Weco wrote, here's a short video I came across that shows how to help with the head pinfeathers, since a solo parrot can't reach his own. It shows differences between new pin feathers, blood feathers, ready for help pins, etc.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1cW_6iu47k"]Santina Green-Winged Macaw - Opening Parrot Pin Feathers - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Kiwibird]

[
Is it by the way unusual for a to grow blue in other places than her head?
Her belly sometimes seems to refract with a blue/azurish hue,
and there are actually a couple of feathers forming a full ring around her cloaca that are just as blue as her forehead!
I have never seen that before, but they seem like perfectly normal
feathers otherwise...

It's either perfectly normal or my blue FRONT amazon should be reclassified as a blue RUMPED amazon:20: He has little blue on his front, but a whole lot on the opposite end of his body. We suspect he has grown his blue "down there" to impress the ladies He also has a lone yellow feather that sometimes appears in the center of his chest. It's like he can bring it out and tuck it away on a whim:11:

Also, keep in mind parrot see more of the spectrum than we do. They've done tests and their plumage actually is sexually dimorphic, only we can't see it. I'm sure theres also other things about the plumage we can't see. I haven't spent much time looking at the undersides of other BFAs, but I'd imagine blue down there would probably be pretty common. Maybe something of a glowing beacon of birdie lingerie or something in their special vision?

 

[ImmunoGoblin]

Our Amazons always have pellets (we started with Fruity Zupreem and we're trying to transition over to Roudybush to avoid all the colors). Right now they get a mix of both. We add a mix of "random dried stuff" we assemble from bulk foods available at our bird store mixed with dried fruit, dried pasta, sparing amounts of nuts, etc. Usually a couple of Nutriberries are tossed in, and then a generous helping of whatever fresh fruits and vegetables we have around. They are big fans of raw green beans, apples, mini sweet peppers, grapes, sweet potatoes, and the "bottoms" of big stalks of Romaine lettuce (mainly just to destroy and fling).

 

[faeryphoebe1]

Hi Starwing. Along the line of what Weco wrote, here's a short video I came across that shows how to help with the head pinfeathers, since a solo parrot can't reach his own. It shows differences between new pin feathers, blood feathers, ready for help pins, etc.

Santina Green-Winged Macaw - Opening Parrot Pin Feathers - YouTube

Good video, thanks Kacee. What a beautiful Mac he has.