Feather question

[BirdieBirdie]

Hello, new member here. My name is Katie and I grew up around cockatiels but somehow ended up having a petty strong fear of birds as I got older. My family and I recently took in a young GCC and my fear has gotten much better, I'm not nervous around her at all anymore and we spend a lot of time together as I'm a stay at home mom. I will admit that I don't have much knowledge on birds so I joined here hoping to read up on them. I also have a question about her feathers.

She has a lot of pokey feathers, the small ones that seem to be encased? I'm not sure if she's not grooming properly or if those are normal. Also she has dark "spot" like areas that I don't see in pictures of other GCC. I'm going to try to attach a picture of her.

I know her diet isn't great since she refuses to eat pellets and mostly plays with fruits and veggies rather than consuming them. She does like strawberries and raspberries but hasn't shown much interest in other fruits and veggies we've offered. A work in progress I'm hoping! Any tips or tricks in that area is appreciated as well.

Any links or book recommendations on all things conures would be very helpful. I want her to be as healthy and happy as possible. Thanks!

 

[BirdieBirdie]

Trying again with a pic lol please excuse my lack of technological knowledge

 

[BirdieBirdie]

One more with better lighting. Oh, we did not cut her feathers this way, I've since learned that there is a better technique.

 

[Flboy]

Welcome, beautiful baby!
The black marks are called stress bars and can be diet related. I do know they take a very long time to grow out! My JoJo still has them after 18 months!!
There are several methods to slowly get her to a better diet!
The poky feathers are called pin feathers, she may let you help with them, but be forewarned, they can be painful for her and she will let you know! You are in for a world of discovery with how amazing these little ones are!

FYI, even clipped, you can loose her in a heartbeat outside! Be so so careful!

 

[Marileen]

Trying again with a pic lol please excuse my lack of technological knowledge

I don't think you need to worry. .... not about the dark specks and the pockey feathers.
Give her a shower every day, so she is going to preen here feathers.
You can help her by try to delete the tubes..... by gently squeeze them.....as Flboy also said.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Welcome! I'm so glad you found us.
Lots of GCC owners and lovers here... I know you'll get great advice from those folks and others! This is a wonderful community...
Also, congratulations on overcoming your fear in order to do a great deed for a bird in need.

 

[janquito]

Hi & welcome!
If you put some tepid water in your bathtub, she may love taking a bath. The water softens the casings around the feathers making it easier to come off. I rescued a sun conure back in Feb/Mar which had stress marks. He'd been in a terrible situation but as time went on, those stress marks went away. My sun's stress marks were like lines across the feathers. If you do try to help her by rubbing the feathers, do know that she may bite. You get used to it after awhile.

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

 

[CherylCali]

A great way to get her to eat healthy foods is for her to share them with you and to get her to eat them while you are. I consume the new foods in front of my GCC to show her that it's something edible, they usually will follow suit.

CherylCali

 

[BirdieBirdie]

Thank you for the help and advice! I will give all of your suggestions a try. Everyone who meets her (previous owner said she was a girl but hadn't done DNA so that's not a definite thing) loves her, she is friendly and cuddley. She is very special

She hasn't taken a real bath but she gets in her water bowl a lot. I've given her a large flat dish of shallow warm water, offered her a sink bath, and tried the bath tub but she hasn't willingly gone into water that I've offered her.

She gives me "birdatude" when I try to touch the pin feathers so I figured she didn't need any assistance with them. They're mostly around her face and neck.

Are bird vitamins a thing? If she eats fruits and veggies are the pellets stilll required? I've tried Nutri berries, Zupreem and Harrison's pellets with out any luck but I haven't tried eating them with her so I will definitely do that. Is there other ways to hide the pellets in anything? Mix them with something irresistible maybe?

 

[Piasa]

There are bird vitamins, but they're kind of a scam and can be dangerous if overdosed. Give vitamins through real food. If there's a true vitamin deficiency, this is something you would need to work with a vet on to correct.

You can try grinding the pellets to dust and coating it on the foods she eats. Getting the right amounts of nutrients for a balanced diet can be complicated, but lots of people have done it. Many wonderful posts here in the diet section to help with this! Check out people's chops and mashes.

Also you can try sprouting seeds and beans, very palatable and can be a complete diet if supplemented with quinoa or rice (think beans and rice ethnic diets -- they feed a complete protein profile).

What does she eat now? It may not be as bad as you think - just add to it until she is getting the things she needs. Then phase out the unhealthies (if any). Especially a seed diet - if you overnight soak the seeds or sprout them, it improves the nutrition. Also there are super healthy seeds like chia you can sneak in the mix.

Keep offering healthy foods every day. Same with bath, keep offering. she WILL try in time. Once you get her started, each next thing will be easier and easier.

 

[Anansi]

Hello, and welcome to the Parrot Forums family!

She doesn't actually need your assistance with her new pin feathers. It becomes something of a bonding ritual between some people and their birds, but not all birds welcome it. If it turns out she doesn't like that, no need to push. Know what I mean?

Baths, however, will be a huge help. They will serve to soften the feather sheathings so that they can be more easily removed. This will cut down significantly on any itchiness or irritation those pin feathers may cause.

If she isn't a fan of baths, you can try showers. A water mister might do the trick.

As for the stress bars, improving her diet will likely take care of that. Though keep in mind that they don't fade or anything. A stress bar simply means that at the point of development of that particular part of the feather, the body was under stress. The stress could be psychological, diet-related, or due to illness. But given what you've said about her diet, I'm betting that's it.

Yes, bird vitamins are a thing. You should only use them, however, if directed to do so by an avian veterinarian. As for whether pellets are still required if she eats fruits and veggies, that depends. A varied enough fresh food diet of veggies, fruits, legumes and sprouts can definitely be healthy enough. I feed my birds a purely fresh diet, pellet-free. (Granted, I have eclectus parrots. They don't do well on most pellets. But the point is that birds can definitely thrive on a fresh food diet.) You just need to make sure that they're getting everything they need, nutrition-wise. Variety is key.

Here is a good link for transitioning your GCC to a healthier diet: http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...7-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html

 

[Piasa]

The dark edges of feathers, others pretty much covered the stress bar aspect. However, this also happens if the feather is rubbed enough that the pigment comes off.

If there's just one area where this is happening, it should cue you in to looking closely as to why. For instance, if a bird is scratching one area to the point the color is coming off the feathers, there's probably a medical reason why.