GCC Feather Bronzing

CallumConure

New member
Apr 10, 2019
132
7
Central Minnesota, USA
Parrots
Callum- GCC Hatchday: October 15th, 2016
(nonparrot friends include rats, a dog, and a few reptiles :))
My GCC, Callum, has been having some feather bronzing issue lately, so I've come here to look for advice. As I understand it, diet and sunlight have a major affect on how birds' feathers look. Since I live in Minnesota, USA, we don't get a ton of sunlight in the winter. But now it's summer and we'll be getting plenty of sunlight!


As for diet, I'm looking for recommendations on a new food. I don't like what I'm giving him now. I'm not looking for anything super pricey, just something that'll give him the best pellet portion of his diet. The Internet has not been very helpful and I figured a place dedicated to birds would be the best place to ask.

Also, I'm looking for recommendations on how to get Callum to eat more non-pellet foods that aren't pomegranates, scrambled eggs, or oranges. I've tried dark leafy greens and he has no interest in them. I've even eaten them in front of him, given them to my pet rats (He's kept away from them) in front of him, etc. He always gets super jealous and wants some, but as soon as his beak touches it, he shakes his head, throws it away, and won't take anymore, even when I put it in a bowl.
I'll try mixing some finely chopped fruits and veggies in his scrambled eggs, but I don't know if he'll pick them out or not. As it stands right now, I give him those little packets of fruit and nut bird treats. It has dried fruits and veggies with some nuts. He eats that pretty well. I know it's not the best because of the dried fruits, but I wanted him eating something other than his pellets.

Is it necessary to use those little bottles of multi-vitamin at all?
I also have some brazil nuts, pecan halves, and California walnuts for Callum. None are salted. Do I need to bake them or anything for him? He likes baked in-shell peanuts. He figured out how to break the shell open and pick out the peanuts inside lol. Only after I popped open a peanut shell and he wanted to try.



As for sunlight, now that it's beginning to warm up outside, I'm planning on bringing Callum out in a carrier for natural sunlight. The carrier is a Pak-O-Bird carrier, so I'm happy that it'll be a good carrier for him. I just plan to bundle him up and take him for a walk when it's warm and not too breezy.

I have an old cage that looks like it was set up to keep small birds. I plan on using that as a cage for Callum to sit out on the deck with me. It is large enough that he can stand up and stretch his wings. I used it as his travel cage when I was moving from my townhome to my apartment last year.
(Yes, my apartment is bird friendly)

Are there any other things I should think of or try for him? I thought about giving him some bird seed as treats.

Sorry for the super long post! I've just been thinking about this a lot lately.
 

Owlet

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What pallets are you feeding him right now?
 

Jen5200

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What pellet is he eating right now? My conures all like different pellets and I generally end up with what they will eat, sigh. TOPS pellets are really good but mine won’t eat them anymore. I feed Roudybush, Zupreem natural, Zupreem fruity, and Lefaber to mine. I would prefer not to feed the fruity version, but I have two birds that will not switch to anything else.

I have to chop up my fresh food really tiny or mine won’t eat it - or they pick through and only eat the things that they like (and none of mine love greens). I started chopping up things that they love and slowly adding bits of other stuff to it - now they are eating mostly veggies with a tiny bit of fruit in it. But it was a slow transition. They universally love apple, so I started chopping it up smaller and smaller, they ate it. Then I added a bit of sweet potato (cooked) chopped up small into the apples. I kept adding one thing at a time slowly, and now they eat a mix that includes any of the following with way more veggies than fruit: peas, carrots, broccoli, sweet potato, cauliflower, zucchini, corn, cooked whole grains, kale, spinach, apple, mango, pineapple, cherries, berries, etc. Their chop is the first food they get in the morning as they seem to be most hungry at that time and eat most of it right away. Then I take the bowls away so it doesn’t grow any fun bacteria. They have pellets all the time, but they now dive into their chop bowl first thing.

I do feed seeds as treats only and it seems to work pretty well for us. I don’t feed nuts but mostly because mine don’t really like them.
 
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CallumConure

CallumConure

New member
Apr 10, 2019
132
7
Central Minnesota, USA
Parrots
Callum- GCC Hatchday: October 15th, 2016
(nonparrot friends include rats, a dog, and a few reptiles :))
  • Thread Starter
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  • #4
I feed Callum Zupreem pellets too. I tried adding some the fun mix into the usual pellets, but he throws most of that out or ignores it. He also loves to dip his pellets in his water, which makes them nice and his bowl gross lol.

How long do you leave their bowls in for? I have an early morning job that has me leaving the house by 6:15AM, but I'm usually back by 11AM or noon.
 

Laurasea

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Aug 2, 2018
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I've posted that I had two birds come to me on a strict zooprem pellets only diet. Both burds gotten at different times, one a rehome, and one a baby from the pets store, were under weight, one with over preening. I personally think something must be missing from zooprem pellets. I still feed them .zooprem, but they eat other brands if pellets as well, I reintroduced some seeds, and they eat lots abd lots of veggies, leafy greens ect. Both gained weight, feathers improved.

I dont know if its missing dome essential fatty acids, or is low on protein, or what. I still think its a fine enough pellets, but I wouldn't feed it as sole diet.
I have read of others on strict zooprem, that aldo seemed to have feather issues, abd low eright......do I dont know , this is just my take .
 
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CallumConure

CallumConure

New member
Apr 10, 2019
132
7
Central Minnesota, USA
Parrots
Callum- GCC Hatchday: October 15th, 2016
(nonparrot friends include rats, a dog, and a few reptiles :))
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #6
Super duper late reply (I quit my job and have been looking for a new one that is also bird friendly) but I've been trying to get Callum to eat other non-pelleted food for years. So far he only eats pomegranates arils, scrambled eggs, and peanuts. All of which get him super excited when he sees them. I've even tried eating the new fruits and veggies in front of him, making a "Mmm!" noise, and he then wants some. Then he takes one bite, shakes his head to throw the food, and never takes anymore lol.
So far we're trying to see if he likes any nuts. He likes almonds, but I need to chop up his nuts so he can eat them. Little bird problems.

(i.e. Callum is a very spoiled boy and he knows it).

I have a bird specialty store an hour or so away from me, maybe I'll go poke around in there and see if they have any other foods I might be interested in trying. If not, Zupreem is good.
 

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