Sennegal Ok?

[Sennie1]

I am interested in purchasing a Senegal. I came across an Ad and looked at the pic.'s. Is there anything wrong with it? As the feathers don't seem right.

 

[Owlet]

im not too familiar with senegals but it kind of looks young to me. If I remember correctly, the adults have brighter eyes and this guys eyes seem dark still. Someone correct me if I'm wrong

 

[SammyAndyAlex]

The feathers look a bit wet/used. If it is a baby it isnt too unsual as they tend to be quite clumsy, but im no expert.

 

[Owlet]

The feathers look a bit wet/used. If it is a baby it isnt too unsual as they tend to be quite clumsy, but im no expert.

I would expect wear and tear around the tips of the wings and tail on a baby but not really on the chest / middle of the wings. Certainly not enough for down to be showing through. My guess is maybe a first molt? Only so much we can guess from a picture though..

 

[SammyAndyAlex]

The feathers look a bit wet/used. If it is a baby it isnt too unsual as they tend to be quite clumsy, but im no expert.

I would expect wear and tear around the tips of the wings and tail on a baby but not really on the chest / middle of the wings. Certainly not enough for down to be showing through. My guess is maybe a first molt? Only so much we can guess from a picture though..

Yeah, more info as well as additional pictures (of higher quality) is needed to be certain of the cause of the look of the feathers.

 

[Laurasea]

Looks like could be feather picking. Most feather picking is behavior , but should always check for health causes first. I rescued a feather picker and she is a wonderful girl. A few missing feathers doesn't change how much I love her or anything else about her. I did have her exam at an Avain vet, just to make sure.
Good luck keep us updated!

 

[ChristaNL]

I would ask for more pictures anyway- I really do not like the overly twistedness of both feet. (ankles are outside the feet in both pictures)

It could be "just for the picture" pose, but if this is 'the normal stance' ...brrr.
(Yes I know young birds are not that great at coordination ...yet, so, more picts first.)

 

[Owlet]

more pictures and ask for the age of the bird!

 

[EllenD]

It's not a baby, as it has the yellow Iris around it's pupils, and that doesn't happen until a Senegal is at least a year old, if not older. Prior to a year old their eyes are completely black. So this bird is at least a year old, probably older. There's no way to know how old they are once their eyes change to having the yellow Iris, other than they are at least a year old. It would be on the word of the current owner as to the age and gender, as you can't tell a Senegal's gender without a DNA test by blood or feathers...

There is something going on with it's feathers, and it appears to be over-preening or plucking by the bird. My Senegal just went through his yearly molt that he has every spring (he's 3 years old now and I brought him home from his breeder at 10 weeks old and just barely weaned), but that is not just regular, normal molting that this bird in the photo is going through. He/she is obviously plucking, or at least over-preening...Usually this is due to a number of issues combined, anything from a poor daily diet to not getting enough attention and just plain boredom, to possible illnesses and diseases.

***The bottom-line to ANY parrot you adopt from their former owners like this is that there is absolutely no way to know whether or not the bird is sick with anything from a simple bacterial or fungal infection to something potentially lethal like an Avian Viral Disease...You just don't know. You never know, that's one of the risks that you take whenever you adopt ANY parrot from their former owner...You have to believe what the owner is telling you about the bird's history, such as how many owners it has had, where it came from originally, it's medical history, it's behavioral history and any behavioral issues or medical issues it has had in the past or currently has, what it's diet consists of, what it's personality is like, what it's level of tameness is like, etc. Sometimes people tell the 100% truth, sometimes they lie through their teeth about every little detail because they just want the bird gone or because they need the cash quickly. You just never know.

As such, all you can do is look at the bird and take note of visual signs of issues, and then go and actually meet the bird and interact with the bird one-on-one, and I'm talking spending a good few hours with the bird, not just 10 minutes before you hand them the money and load-up the cage into your vehicle...Also, you should be allowed to pay to have them take the bird to the Certified Avian Vet or Avian Specialist Vet (no Exotics Vets for this) of YOUR CHOICE, never of their choice or to their current Avian Vet if they have one, in fact don't take him/her to their Vet purposely because you want a 100% objective opinion, and then have a full Wellness-Exam done by the Avian Vet that includes a full physical and visual exam, a full Fecal Smear that includes Microscopy in the office on the spot and also then sending a culture out to a lab, and then routine Blood-Work that will show you if the bird currently has ANY infections, is Anemic (indicates a bad diet and possibly Metabolic Diseases), and most importantly a Liver and Kidney Panel done to test both of their functions...And in this case I would also add an external culture/swab of the bird's skin to be looked at under the microscope right there in the office, because often a very common cause of either over-preening or the start of plucking is actually a topical skin infection, etiher by a bacterium, or more-likely a huge topical Yeast infection. And if the current owners won't allow you to pay for a full Wellness-Exam with testing done, then you'll know there is a medical reason they don't want you to have it done...

***There's no way to know whether a bird is fully healthy or if it has any behavioral issues, you just have to go with what you can tell by both looking at them visually and then what they are like when you spend a good couple of hours with him BEFORE adopting him...All we can tell you for certain about this Senegal is that he/she is definitely over a year old due to his yellow Irises, and that he is at the very least over-preening or at the start of plucking himself due to some reason unknown.

 

[EllenD]

And his feet look completely normal, they are Senegal feet, lol...The only visual things I see at all wrong are with his feathers, that's not normal molting (if that's what they told you), he's been over-preening/plucking himself for some reason...But his feet/toes look normal to me...

EDIT: After looking at the photos again carefully, this bird is actually really shredding his feathers pretty badly in addition to plucking them out...Look at the ends of flight-feathers, he's absolutely chewing on them constantly, you can tell...If you look at his head and the little bit of white down showing through, that's pretty normal molting for a Senegal, it's very slight and that should go away within a month at the longest after a molt starts...However, the rest of his body is pretty well plucked/chewed apart. He's got no bald spots yet, it looks like he's been Barbering/chewing his feathers for a long time though, and the next step is usually plucking out feathers until he has bald patches...He's heading that direction...

I would directly ask them how old he is, letting them know that you know he's over a year old due to his eyes already changing from all-black to having yellow Irises, just in-case they try to tell you this bird is under a year old or is a little baby that just weaned, etc., and then I would ask them how long he's been Barbering and Chewing his feathers, and if they've had him to an Avian Vet to test for possible infections both Fecal and Topical, and to find out why he's start displaying Feather-Destructive Behaviors...

 

[EllenD]

I'm reading all these comments and thinking I'm missing something...Did the owners of this Senegal tell you that it's a "young baby"? That's what it sounds like from all the comments about it being a young baby and "clumsy", and that's a huge Red-Flag if the owners told you it's a young baby, because this Senegal Parrot is definitely NOT a young baby or even a juvenile, it's 100% at least a year old or older!!! I hope they didn't tell you that, because if they did then that's a sign that they are trying to pull something over on you, don't know what, but lying about a bird's age is not a good sign...They would know that this Senegal is over a year old...

I'd just directly say to them "So obviously he/she is an adult Senegal because the yellow Irises have come-in, but do you know exactly how old he/she is?", or something like that so they know that you know it's not a baby...I mean, for all we know or you know this bird could be 10 years old, there is just no way to know...He could be elderly and that's why his feathers are all messed-up, you just cannot tell a Senegal Parrot's age once their Irises change from all-black to yellow, all you know is that the bird has gone through puberty and is about a year old...I think my Kane's eyes changed when he was around a year a two or three months, I remember waiting for them to change. When they are under a year old their eyes look like little all-black buttons...So his feathers definitely are not from it being a "clumsy baby" if that's what they told you..