Stress bars or over preening?

[Alembic772]

These are some of basils feathers that are molting out. Are the stress bars or over preening ?

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[Laurasea]

Great photo examples.

I would lean to over preening. But I would review nutritional content of diet. And would suggest time outside in a very secure cage, and never leave alone. Never in full sun, dabbled light shade is best. Aim for 15-30 min daily when able.
Vitamin D is important, I'm not sure how much us actually in in Eclectus diet...but as Vitamin D isn't in vegetables......
Burds hsve glands in the eye to absorb sunlight and convert to vitamin and preen oil , conversion to usable vitamin D in sunlight. Sunlight through a window filters out what's needed. But being outside even in shade does provide enough.

Vitamin A , increase offering veggies that have this.

 

[chris-md]

Yes, Laura nailed it. This is usually dietary in nature.

And you’re about to have a full circle lesson here:

I seem to recall - assuming I’m remembering correctly and nothing has changed - you posting your birds food before, and that you’ve got basil on a diet of heavily supplemented foods containing tons of added vitamins and minerals: Zupreme pellets, ovenbites, to name a few. I also recall telling you I wouldn’t tell you how to feed your birds becuase it’s none of my business, but that encouraging ekkie owners to a similar diet as yours was counterproductive and dangerous.

You’re now seeing the...tip?...of the iceberg/feather as to why I got a bit rough with you, if you’ll pardon the pun. It’s serious.

And now I WILL tell you how to feed your bird, because it’s how you fix your problem. You HAVE to keep to the proper eclectus diet - it’s not optional. They are specialist feeders, you have to feed them as such.

You need to get rid of the enriched/supplemented stuff and start feeding a primarily fresh diet.

 

[Alembic772]

He is being offered the same fresh food and variety that I am giving to Paprika. Getting him to eat it is that tough part. He will nibble on stuff but usually only a mouthful and that’s it. Beans, millet, all that fresh stuff. I’ve tried several chop recipes and it’s mostly misses with. But we keep trying for now to see what I can finally get him to try.

He is no longer on the Zupreem, Pretty Bird, Oven Fresh Bites when it comes to pellets. I’ve tried to get him to eat the TOPs pellets, but he won’t go near them. Which is funny because paprika loves them. She only gets a few of them from time to time in with her fresh food. Basil is now on Harrison Adult Lifetime and Adult Spicy Lifetime pellets. It’s the best ones I could find to get him to actually eat. He also gets some nutriberries as treats from time to time.

He is good about fruits. Loves apples, grapes, pomegranate seeds, pear, and other things. He sometimes will eat carrots and sweet potatoes sometimes. Other times he won’t touch them. He is also the only bird I have ever seen that doesn’t like corn on the cob.

If the food is “squishy” he doesn’t like it. He wants it to be hard and dunk it in his water dish. It’s weird but it is something he has always liked to do.

He also gets almonds and sprouted almonds almost daily. It is his favorite snack and what I hide in his toys to try to get him to chew. These are natural and unsalted of course.

I’ve tried grinding up his old pelllets and sprinkling it on the new foods. Nope. Won’t touch it. And these aren’t new foods either to him, he just always gravitated to the pellets.

As far as putting him outside. I can’t in my current house. I don’t have a screened room and I wouldn’t feel safe leaving a cage on the back patio. I’ll figure something out though. His and Paprika’s cages are right in front of windows though. I know it’s not the same but I make sure they can see sunrise and sunset to keep them in the proper daily cycle.


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[Laurasea]

I've been reading a lot about beans , as an iff shoot to the reading i was doing about horror soy.

Turns out beans can block nutrient uptake, and some vitamins and minerals too. Some beans in the diet are fine, but you might want to reduce how much and how often.

I would sprout seeds not almonds.

I have one parrot that won't eat healthy, so i know how much work that is.

I really wish you would well the cage outside for 20 min and you sit with them. If yiu did this fir 2 weeks you would see a visual change in feathers, its amazing! Or get a small travel cage and take them for a walk.

 

[Alembic772]

I might buy a small outdoor aviary and put him and her in that for a bit. Or take them for walks. But they are both fully flighted as I have never clipped basils flight feathers and I wouldn’t want to do so now.


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[chris-md]

I’m glad to hear he’s getting some fresh stuff and that most of the garbage is gone! That’s a huge relief!

But you’ve got a ways to go, because harrisons and nutraberries are also enriched. I would rather see him on a dry mix like Goldenfeast hookbill legume blend. I’d personally endorse almost anything by Goldenfeast, but hookbill legume blend is our go to because it has the fewest nuts.

For snacks, there are plenty of healthy snack options that can replace those - personally I’ve replaced them with lentil rotinis, quinoa crackers, and occasional celery sticks. Nuts even, ill admit Parker gets 1-4 per day. Anything but enriched food.

 

[Ekkietiel]

Late to the party. I'd trust everything Laurasea and Chris have to say. They're amazing. As far as getting some natural light from an outdoor aviary or walks go, they are good options but sometimes not regularly feasible for everyone. I like to take my eclectus outside when possible but when it's too cold, windy, etc. We really like the Zoo Med light. they're a nice supplement when daily outdoor time isn't possible.

 

[Alembic772]

Have any of you heard of M&M Cage lights? I bought two of them to mount to Basil and Paprika’s cages. I found them Amazon and they have good reviews by parrot owners. I am going to hook them up to a smart socket and automated the turn on and turn off time.

We had a mishap with Basil over the last weekend. I was in the room with Paprika, and Basil flew out to the new cage. He was climbing around the top of it and everything seem fine. The next thing I know he was screaming that Ekkie scream. I went out there to find him between the cage and the window. His wings were open stuck in the blinds on one side and the cage on the other. I scooted the cage away from the window and got him. I noticed a secondary flight/cover feather sagging below his wing. I calmed him and gently opened the wing, and blood started dripping down my hand. The feather was dangling and bleeding in an awkward way. I gently took the feather and removed it. He wasn’t screaming anymore but the blood was still coming. Using q tips and gentle pressure I got the blood to stop. A couple of days went by and he seemed okay. Talking and doing all his normal stuff. Then he flew onto my bed and I thought he was vomiting/reguritating because the bed seemed to have wet spots. Nope, blood from the wing. So I did the same technique again and got it to stop. Then I got an appointment with Dr. Brooks and took him. He has a laceration and some missing tissue. The feather follicle appears to be destroyed and Dr. Brooks does not think it will ever come back. He cleaned up the wound and gave me an antibiotic to put on it for a week. He says he believes Basil will be okay. I have to bring him back in a week for a follow up. Basil is cage bound for now though, as he is not supposed to fly around until doc clears him again.

He told me for a bird of Basil’s age that he is in great shape. We talked about the stress bars and he recommended me getting a light for the cage since I don’t have outdoor options. That is why I asked about the light above. He recommended also a supplement out of Germany for the stress bars, but I didn’t follow up with it as I want to try continuing the diet changes.

I have a container of the golden feast legume blend now. I have him some with his Harrison’s pellets to slowly go off them and to the golden feast, fresh food and tops. I’m grinding tops pellets and putting the powder over the Harrison’s.

Paprika received a clean Bill of health too. She went with us just for a checkup. They say she is a little “chunky” but typical for a baby. The doc told me to start pulling back her feeding totals of formula. So we are starting that now with reducing from 25 to 20 over the next few days. Then she will go down again after adjusting.

The staff and doc commented how well behaved they were with the staff. With all the stress Basil never tried to bite the doctor. Paprika actually snuggled in with one of the nurses.

Okay. Sorry for the very tangential post. Thanks for reading.


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[Cycletim]

Wow what a unfortunate turn events. Our grey was similar with his love for fruit. We used unsweetened applesauce as a binder for fruit and veggies. We then reduced the amount of fruits, and increased the vegetables with the apple sauce coating, then we reduced the apple sauce, eventually he started eating veggies no problem. Occasionally, we use unsweetened organic apple sauce as a binder to entice him for new foods. All birds are different especially ekkies. Im not familiar with ekkies requirements. We are seed free now. Chop, fresh veggies and cold pressed birdtricks pellets now. Its a long process it took a few months we weighed our birds weekly to make sure they were not loosing weight. The results are great. We never imagined them loving pumpkins and alfalfa sprouts etc...

 

[Alembic772]

Just an update. Basil went back to have his wing rechecked. He is doing fine and is fully healed. He won’t get the feather back but you will never notice it.

I also got some M&M cage lights for him and Paprika. They are LED and had really good reviews on Amazon. Will put up pictures when I finish mounting them on the cage.


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