Question about Turquoise GCC feathers!

[Agapornis]

My Turquoise GCC, Fiji is a year old, and I notice that her wings and back feathers have started to get black edges. They don't look like stress bars, just pretty black outlines on the edge of each feather. Is this something I need to worry about, or is this a natural age progression for feathers? I would post a pic, but she just took a bath and is soaking wet. I'll wait till she dries off and post it. She acts completely normal, eating, pooping, sleeping, etc. It actually looks really pretty, and adds a dimension to her already gorgeous feathers.

Have any of you who are owned by a turquoise GCC seen this before?

Thanks!

 

[Carmalita]

i don't about this particular species but i can tell you that blue and green are structural colors in the feather. that means the microscopic shape of the feather gives it is color by reflecting light at the blue green frequency to our eyes. this means that when light is not shining directly on the bird, they can seen dark. my pionus is mostly green and i sometimes notice dark edges until i bring her under bright light. this also means that if the bird over preens those feathers and crushes the edges, the feathers can't reflect light back to your eye and they are perceived as black.

don't know if that helps but it's neat info to know!

 

[Agapornis]

Very interesting, Carmalita! I didn't know that. That must be why Fiji's feathers look like they have yellow in them when a bright light is shining on her, but then when you look at her in a normal light, you just see blue-green. Here is a pic of Fiji's black-tipped feathers...what do you think?

 

[Peeko]

Looks like feather bronzing to me. It can be a sign of certain health problems I believe, but its more commonly caused by overpreening, or normal wear and tear. The pigment gets rubbed off of the feather, as I understand it. They should come in looking normal when she molts next~

 

[Agapornis]

Hmmm, she DOES preen a lot. They are both going to the vet next week for a nail trim. I will ask her about it then. I hope she doesn't have any health problems.

Thank you for the advice!

 

[BoomBoom]

I don't have experience with gccs but if the black tint are randomly found around the edge of the feathers, I'd think it was from wear/tear instead of dietary. Doesn't stress bars show in the middle of feathers? Do you have a picture we can see?

 

[Agapornis]

Hi BoomBoom - scroll up, i posted a pic of Fiji's back feathers...if you click on, it will get bigger. What do you think?

 

[BoomBoom]

Hmmm there were black edges where I did not expect wear and tear to happen (like his top back). The black edges closer to the wing tips I can see being wear and tear. I'm not sure about this one, Agapornis :/ I'm sure that vet can enlighten you when you bring them in to your scheduled visit. I'm sure it will be okay! Lets see what he says!

 

[Agapornis]

Yeah, i'll let you know after their appointment on Monday. Not only do I have the feather issue, but now Sundance's white feet have turned pink! (that's in another post). I hope they are both ok.

Stay tuned!

 

[Peeko]

Does Fiji play on her back a lot? I've heard stories of conures that rolled onto their backs on perches to attack hanging toys with their feet (Peeko actually does this quite a lot) and doing it so often that it rubbed the pigment off of parts of the feathers on their back/shoulders.
Peeko's feet turned pink(er) from skin irritation when I took someone's bad advice to use sand perches. They made his feet raw, poor baby <3 I replaced them with cement perches for beak/nail grooming instead and they work wonders while not irritating his feet.

 

[Agapornis]

Just came from the vet. She said that Fiji's feathers were just "feather wear," and after she has a good molt, it will go away. Also, Sundance's feet were a normal color of pink, nothing to worry about. Their weights were also good. whew!

Good call Peeko, Fiji does like to lay on her back sometimes...that probably isn't helping her feather wear!

I'm normally not a paranoid pet mom, but these are my first birds! Much more fragile than a dog or cat.

Thanks for all your advice!