Macaw feathers going black

[Andreea]

Hi,

My 2 year old B&G macaw, Jay, is having some feather issues. They've been getting worse over the last few weeks and I'm worried. Quite a lot of her feathers are turning black.

She gets a variety of fruit in her cage changed regularly (everything is on the ok list for her to eat - I check before I get anything new) although she'd rather eat bananas than most things.
She gets bottled water not tap water. Room temp never cold.
Occasionally I give her Palm nut oil or coconut oil in with her food and a bit of boiled egg as advised by the vet ages ago.
Pellet wise she has Hagen Hari Tropican Parrot High Performance Granules and Kaytee Exact Rainbow Chunky Complete Food for Large Parrots in some foraging toys. Trying to get her on bigger pellets at the moment but she prefers small ones.
She's a fussy little eater and she was a slow weaner too. I used Zupreem Embrace Plus for her hand feeding formula then had to switch to Hagen's Hari Tropican Hand Feeding Formula.

She's maintaining weight and she's quite active so I don't think she's ill. Her droppings look normal too.

I don't think they're stress marks. She gets plenty of attention. She has a huge cage and enough toys in it as well. We play with her often. We don't have kids or other pets that might be antagonizing her secretly. She loves being outside, she always giggles when we take her out so I don't think that's stressing her out.

I'm worried about her feathers.
Should I change her food? What's the best pellet food I could get her? Or could you recommend any vitamins I could give her to help with her feathers?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Macawnutz]

Does it look like this?

This bronzing, it's wear on the feathers from rough play or constant rubbing. Baby macaws always have lots of them. Your sweetie has a lifetime to be beautiful, right now she wants to play.

 

[MyHarley]

I have a 16 month old Harlequin macaw. He is a very spoild bird (son) that has freedom of our living room. Yes, I have had to parrot prof my house that has been very challenging at times. He is a big part of my family and can't believe how much I worry about him.

My concern is that although he does have some natural black feathers I have resently noticed that a few of his green feathers on his wings that have started to turn black and worn looking. He is getting some new feathers in and they do not seem discolord, but have been a little worried about the old ones.

I have also noticed that since his last wing trim, his flight feathers do not seem to be growing the same as they did when I had them trimmed the first time. It is time to take him in again, but since they Buchard his wings last time and the way they are growing back if I should find a new vet.

Dose anyone have some advice?

 

[aooratrix]

As Sarah said, that's bronzing, not a health issue. It's a "plays like a monkey and doesn't take care of its feathers" baby macaw issue. You should see Annie.

 

[Mizzely]

Agreed, bronzing. It has to do with the way the light reflects. When the outermost ridges of the feather alter, it alters the way light is reflected, making it appear as though they have gone black, when in reality, the feather is almost black but the ridges and light scattering make it appear green, blue, etc.

What Gives Feathers Their Color | Parrot Parrot

What color is a bluejay? -- Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine -- February 2003

 

[issajoy]

Sounds normal for a playing bird. I once had issues with feather discoloration with my mother's eclectus, she was eating the Zupreme Fruit Blend and it turned out the dyes and whatnot in the pellets were messing with her feathers. Switching to a natural, dye free pellet helped (my bird and my moms bird now eat Harrison's).