Molting or Vitamin A deficiency ?

OrangeWingedKiwi

New member
May 31, 2013
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Parrots
Lily - Double Yellow Headed Amazon

Kiwi - Orange Winged Amazon

Princess - Pearl Pied Cinnamon

Chicken - Pearl Pied Cinnamon
Hello guys,

This is Lily my 1 year old DYH ( April 9th :) and I was wondering if that is molting feathers or signs of vitamins deficiency...

Thanks !

 
Do you see her chewing on them? They're either wet or "bronzed" from chewing. Know how to check for mites?
 
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Hi henpecked,

I do not remember her chewing on those feathers, how can i check if she has mites?
 
To check for mites, I personally use magnifying glass 4X and scan the body and cages. Otherwise, if you just want to be safe, use Avian insecticide will wipe them out with the correct dosage and housekeeping habits. Cheers!
 
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Hello there,

It has gotten a bit worst , she has more "dark" feathers around her legs. She has now been taking Sunshine Factor for 2 weeks and i haven't seen any improvemnt... Whe i see her play i wouldn't be surprise if it's jsut wear and tear... I mean they are ( both amazons) are on Zuppreem Natural Pellets + vedgies + Sunshine Factor i doubt they are missing vitamins. Before you judge me by saying too much vitamins can kill them please rea dthat if you don't know what sunshine factor is :

SunshineFactorFacts

The only way i found to give it to them is either on a banana or on bread... Lily is now 1 year old and i don't think sher has molted yet.

I am open to ANY advice

Thanks !
 
How often does she get a good soaking-wet kind of bath? That looks like dirt to me. Especially if it's the only place on her body those kind of feathers are present. From the photos, she looks to be in perfect feather everywhere else. Nutritional deficiencies cause ragged feathers all over the body, as well as poor beak and nail health and are typically seen in older birds. You would have to try very hard to make such a young bird start having those issues, and it sounds like you take very good care of your baby. I would find a nutritional deficiency a very very unlikely possibility in a 1 yr old parrot.

My first course of action personally would be a good bath. When parrots eat, or play (some even stick their feet through the bars of their cage), the bottom leg feathers can get quite grungy. Try giving her a bath, and pay extra attention to those feathers with the spray bottle. Sometimes it's bad enough they have to molt out. Kiwi got a hold of spoon with honey on it once and managed to smear it on his wing. The honey feathers got to looking just like that (very dark and kind of matted) once they had picked up dirt from the environment. Didn't matter how many baths he got either, they had to molt out and his new feathers came back in just fine.

And if you are really concerned, take her to a good avian vet for a wellness check. They will examine her and run blood+fecal tests to determine if there is anything she's deficient in, is getting too much of, has a disease whatever.... If anything, it will calm your mind or bring to light something that can be addressed. Sometimes the cost of a vet visit is well worth hearing the bird is healthy just to put you mind at ease.
 
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Hello Kiwibird,

Thank you for your asnwer, Lily gets a shower every 2-3 days and i make sure she is soaking wet when she gets out. The next step is indeed in a blood and fecal test with both of my amazons and the estmated price is 1200$ ( CDN) so l'll do them one by one starting with Kiwi my OWA ( my rescue bird with flight feathers growing abnormally). She has a bit of discoloration ( lily)on her back but i'm not worried about that because i've seen that on alot of amazons.
 
I hope (your) Kiwi and Lily are both deemed healthy. Only an AV can really tell if it's dirt, a couple abnormal, but not dangerous feathers or something more serious.
 
Good point, young amazons are pretty rough and tumble. Teenagers feathers usually look "ratty". Miss having young birds around. Most of mine are old "fuddy duddys", LOL.

PS, if i was going to spend that kind of money on test, I'd check for metal toxicity. That young, good diet, they haven't had time to develop issues ( like lack of VitA). How "safe " are her cage and toys? Mine are always getting into things they shouldn't. It's a shame those test cost that much. Maybe 200$ here . Often ," zons and leg problems" are linked zinc and toxic metals, If a blood test shows high levels, they might X-Ray and look for something oblivious. Which would cost a little more.
 
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Hello Richard,

1200 $ is for both Amazons and it's the full bloodwork ( not sure if it's including the Metal testing) I will talk to my vet about those tests.
 

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