Green cheek conure with black feathers

[Silhouettekkk]

Hello, my bird(greenie) is around 3 years old and has molted around 3-4 time
When he was a baby his feathers were fine until we moved out and they started to change in color so i assumed it’s just because of stress

he has molted two or three times after this picture.
Last time he started molting feathers were bright and colorful(around 4 ~ 3 months ago)
Now his feathers are turning black again and actually more than they did before

For his diet it’s mixture of veggies, fruits and seeds
If i were to be precise i would say
40% seeds
29% fruit
20% veggies and green
1% protein (like scrambled eggs)
I’m trying to increase his greens intake and have been giving him lettuce(moderately, spanich(moderately), basil(also moderately), mint and Eruca sativa
As for other factors we live in very dry climate(10~20%)
And for his feathers i wish i had better example but the are chipped off a little

Any idea how to help his feathers?

 

[foxgloveparrot]

He actually looks normal to me, plenty of green cheeks have black or black-ish feathers. If you are concerned, feel free to take him to the vet, but I personally don't think that is necessary. My best guess is he is replacing his baby feathers with his adult plumage.
He's a beautiful bird, by the way

 

[Silhouettekkk]

He actually looks normal to me, plenty of green cheeks have black or black-ish feathers. If you are concerned, feel free to take him to the vet, but I personally don't think that is necessary. My best guess is he is replacing his baby feathers with his adult plumage.
He's a beautiful bird, by the way

Ohh thank you so much.
Yes i would really like to get him checked but it would take around 3 hours at best (2 hours of commute only) so thats gonna be so stressful for him.

 

[Laurasea]

Hi!
Edit: saw other replies when I came to add article. This is not normal, it is over preening. So the other members may be unaware they have over preening. You can have slightly tarnished feather just prior to molt, as the feathers age. But this is more than that.

So he is over preening them. Once they look like this they won't change till he molts in new ones.

His diet is pretty great, but fruits need to be reduced by half, to 10% of his diet.

Over preening is usually stress. So make sure he has a stable bedtime, and gets 10-12 hours of sleep .

Do observations, and see if there are things, people, pets, things outside, noise , that could be causing stress. Does the cage need to be re arranged or moved? Make sure the back is against a wall. Sometimes raising the cage so its your head height can increase security

For sleep its good to have a wide short perch placed high in one corner with something like a cargo net or big toy in front of it to be a visual screen , to retreat behind.

Some burd benefits from a warm comfort feed before bed. A spoonful of baby burd formula, or warm oatmeal, or just a little boiled egg.

Increase easy to chew or preen like toys. Yucca chips, those burd bagel rolls, millet spray to pick at, a way of shredded paper, cardboard toys. One of those rubber balls with holes in them, stuff with popcorn, shreded paper, Chinese finger traps, popsicle sticks.

Teach foraging

Stress Reduction for Companion Parrots – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.

To put it bluntly, keeping companion parrots is similar to trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. The fact that they do as well as they do is testimony more to their adaptability than it is to our husbandry efforts.

lafeber.com

 

[Silhouettekkk]

Hi!
Edit: saw other replies when I came to add article. This is not normal, it is over preening. So the other members may be unaware they have over preening. You can have slightly tarnished feather just prior to molt, as the feathers age. But this is more than that.

So he is over preening them. Once they look like this they won't change till he molts in new ones.

His diet is pretty great, but fruits need to be reduced by half, to 10% of his diet.

Over preening is usually stress. So make sure he has a stable bedtime, and gets 10-12 hours of sleep .

Do observations, and see if there are things, people, pets, things outside, noise , that could be causing stress. Does the cage need to be re arranged or moved? Make sure the back is against a wall. Sometimes raising the cage so its your head height can increase security

For sleep its good to have a wide short perch placed high in one corner with something like a cargo net or big toy in front of it to be a visual screen , to retreat behind.

Some burd benefits from a warm comfort feed before bed. A spoonful of baby burd formula, or warm oatmeal, or just a little boiled egg.

Increase easy to chew or preen like toys. Yucca chips, those burd bagel rolls, millet spray to pick at, a way of shredded paper, cardboard toys. One of those rubber balls with holes in them, stuff with popcorn, shreded paper, Chinese finger traps, popsicle sticks.

Teach foraging

Stress Reduction for Companion Parrots – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.

To put it bluntly, keeping companion parrots is similar to trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. The fact that they do as well as they do is testimony more to their adaptability than it is to our husbandry efforts.

lafeber.com

Hi! thanks for your respond and tips!
i too think that's not normal
also he has been sneezing(with and without discharge) for a while and i didn't stress it enough because we live in a dry environment( i use humidifier when we sleep and that's increases humidity to around 40 at best), also he likes to explore things like wood and stuff, i believe that gets in his nose too
do you think that(sneezing) has something to do with his feathers?
i am really concerned thinking about that
as for the vet i can't take him in the next 3 days because if i were to go i have to buy another cage because my bird broke his cage dishes
and i use drops in his water that are for nasal support by homeopet
i have been using them for a while and when i think it's time to stop them(although they are natural) his sneezing would come back
any idea?

 

[Laurasea]

I don't think sneezing and feathers over preening are related. ( nit 100%, but pretty sure)

But sneezing isn't good. It could point to a chronic sinus infection. Or a chronic chlamydia infection, low levels of vitamin A.

So its always good to get something like that checked out. If mine ever had more than a rare sneeze ( like normal fir a sneeze after a bath) I would be calling the vet. Every time I've had a burd sneezing they were indeed sick. None of mine sneeze when well , or maybe like once every six months ya know? Like it is a rare rare thing for them to do. No matter how much crap they chew or shred, thst doesn't make them sneeze.

A huge huge thing is to check weight weekly. I think GCC are around 70 grams, mine is 72-74, when she is sick drops to 65-69. The last time she w a sick ( flock out break of chlamydia) she had no symptoms other than weightloss, she dropped to 64 ! Burds hide being sick

 

[Silhouettekkk]

I don't think sneezing and feathers over preening are related. ( nit 100%, but pretty sure)

But sneezing isn't good. It could point to a chronic sinus infection. Or a chronic chlamydia infection, low levels of vitamin A.

So its always good to get something like that checked out. If mine ever had more than a rare sneeze ( like normal fir a sneeze after a bath) I would be calling the vet. Every time I've had a burd sneezing they were indeed sick. None of mine sneeze when well , or maybe like once every six months ya know? Like it is a rare rare thing for them to do. No matter how much crap they chew or shred, thst doesn't make them sneeze.

A huge huge thing is to check weight weekly. I think GCC are around 70 grams, mine is 72-74, when she is sick drops to 65-69. The last time she w a sick ( flock out break of chlamydia) she had no symptoms other than weightloss, she dropped to 64 ! Burds hide being sick

i see..
i weight my bird every day and he didn't lose any weight
he is 72
sometimes 73 or 71 but on average 72
well i'm having a big challenge with taking him to a vet due to scheduling of the vet
it's a university vet therefore it only opens from 8-12p.m. and from sunday to thursday
the commute time is long and the time is limited
i'll try to get that sorted out and get him check
regardless, Thank you!

 

[Laurasea]

weight-loss is one tool. Any symptoms are worth getting checked.
But glad weight us good!

 

[Silhouettekkk]

Update!
I contacted my vet one more time and they said that they don’t do testing for birds, i’ve also contacted laboratories around me and they don’t offer any type of testing for animals

he didn’t sneeze today, and yesterday i put him in a warm humid room

i’m a bit concerned with his droppings just now

Btw he had his days where his poop looked like this
But its been a while since and now it came back to look like that
Any idea?

 

[Rozalka]

I'm shocked why in the case of blackish feathers here on the forum usually nobody mentions diet... (on fb groups it's always the first answer)
Unlike Fox said - no, it isn't normal. I've noticed 40% of diet are seeds - how about sunflowers? How many does your fid get them? I'm asking because too many sunflower seeds usually case blackish feathers (the same nuts)

About poops - I'm not an expert, but it always depends on what your fid recently ate - if it was something watery (eg some fruits) and next poops are normal - everything should be ok. If not, then maybe isn't ok.

 

[Silhouettekkk]

I'm shocked why in the case of blackish feathers here on the forum usually nobody mentions diet... (on fb groups it's always the first answer)
Unlike Fox said - no, it isn't normal. I've noticed 40% of diet are seeds - how about sunflowers? How many does your fid get them? I'm asking because too many sunflower seeds usually case blackish feathers (the same nuts)

About poops - I'm not an expert, but it always depends on what your fid recently ate - if it was something watery (eg some fruits) and next poops are normal - everything should be ok. If not, then maybe isn't ok.

sunflowers are about 20% of the seed mix and my family usually would offer extra ones throughout the day, so i would say he gets a good 15 small sized sunflower seeds
i don't have a good access to a good seed mix, any suggestion for a mix i can make at home?
yes his poop is after eating fruits and veggies
after seeds it looks like the normal poop i've seen in pics

 

[Skarila]

Discolouration in feathers due to bad diet will not look like what you have shown us here - usually it is along the strands of the feather. The barbering is coming from over preening - also far as I've seen the feathers usually will have some wear and tear right before a moult.
The black edges, often called bronzing, can often be from the oils from our hands - this happens often to birds who like to be held and snuggled. Over-preening is often seen in very young birds until they learn how to preen their feathers normally, but in adults it is a sign of stress.

Good that you mention the humidity. According to my Avian vet, he did say to keep the humidity around 60% where the bird is (VERY hard job, I know, our humidifier works all the time, we keep it high because of the orchid jungle we have), or offer baths as often as possible, every 2 days is optimum, every day is great. It's also possible the change to the environment and the humidity caused him to overpreen.

Here's a little thread I made with some examples of the common feather issues. If you'd allow me, I would love to add your picture of the feather as a typical mix of bronzing and barbering. My bird had no issue with bronzing as no one could hold him at all, but he did have a lot of discolouration due to bad diet.

Most common feather issues // Stress bars VS discolouration

Many many times I've stumbled upon posts on social media where the feather states and issues are very often mixed up, since my little Pascal had quite some feather issues I decided to give you a close up to these most common issues. I will not be writing about plucking! Stress bars Most common...

www.parrotforums.com

 

[Laurasea]

I Agree with Skarila on the above. Except for that part about over handling, snuggle, and oils from hands can lead to this part. I'm hands on snuggle all of mine a lot, we are lovey dovey house! This has never led to feather that look like yours.

Bad diet leads to yellowing of feathers from fatty liver, or duller feathers, or more scruffy feathers, or not molting as often as should do to poor diet . Still yes a great diet with lots of fresh veggies does make for feathers that glow and shimmer and look sleek.

To me yours are classic of over preening.

When I got Phoebe , pet store life wasn't agreeing with her. She had started mild over preening, just the feathers edges had a thin black line, not as advanced as yours , and she had started plucking just a few shoulder feathers. With a happier and kinda calmer home life she stopped. So now that her new feathers have come in they are perfect and lush.

 

[Terry57]

I agree with Skarila about bronzing being a possibility. I have seen that in my own birds before. Your bird is beautiful even with the black markings
Here is a site that may help you locate an avian vet:

https://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803

 

[Laurasea]

I agree, a beautiful GCC!
I went back and looked at pictures because you tslked of sneezing. I do see the nostril is more pink than should be and looks mildly inflamed . They should be white and flatter. If you want I can haul out my GCC Ta-dah and take a picture for comparison

 

[Littleredbeak]

Symmetrical is an indicator of stress bars https://www.justanswer.com/pet-bird/cv2ul-conure-black-edges-feathers.html

 

[Skarila]

Symmetrical is an indicator of stress bars https://www.justanswer.com/pet-bird/cv2ul-conure-black-edges-feathers.html

Bit hard to understand the link without pictures. This below are stress bars, best visible on tail feathers. They come by as the feather is growing, the dents are not visible from the under of the feather. I'd wager that the OP's bird simply is just barbering/over preening.