Guys, I’m at a loss and honestly, I’m just so sad about this right now so I’m looking for a little emotional support as well as advice.
Gilly is 7 months old and has been with us for four months. I am her chosen person, though she socializes well with anyone she meets. She absolutely adores me & I feel the same in return. We are probably (guesstimating here) about ¾ of the way through her first molt and all of her feathers had come in beautifully! Not a single stress bar or black spot or abnormal bronzing. I have been really, really, striving to get her in good feather. She came to me from Petco in pretty good feather, considering the source, but I wanted to make sure she was so well loved and fed that we got rid of all the bars and spots…and we did! I was so super proud of us as a team!
And now we are here & in some way I feel like I have let her down and it breaks my heart into a hundred pieces…
We adopted Sam our Blue Crowned Conure (who hates me by the way) and I noticed within a few days Gilly’s feathers were looking kind of ratty. At first I didn’t think much of it, assuming they were feathers that hadn’t molted yet, but I kept noticing it and thinking it just doesn’t look right. Then finally last night I looked her over and said no, I KNOW you molted all of these feathers already, something isn’t right. I pulled up a comparison photo from 5 days before we brought Sam home (ironically, I had taken this photo to show the rescue how well she was feathered) and the change is absolutely there, something is happening to her feathers. Photo attached is now on top and before on bottom.
I talked to a friend about it, thinking maybe we have FDB or fatty liver issues and she suggested over preening, much like her GCC did when she had two GCCs in the house instead of one. She said Gilly is probably stressed from bringing Sam into our home. Bingo, that’s gotta be it. Both birds were checked by the vet and had clean bills of health. I did just take the fruity Zupreem pellets from Gilly, but she switched without issue within just a couple of days to TOPs and Harrison’s and since that swap she’s actually eating REALLY well. I was actually praising her good eating just last night because she ate more chop than Sam and Gilly used to not even touch chop!! (I always had to cook, puree and send up some prayers!)
So for a full picture of Gilly’s lifestyle she gets TOPs and/or Harrison’s Pepper pellets with chop twice a day, morning and evening. Chop usually consists of 3 leafy greens, 3 red/orange/yellow veggies, a fruit or two, and various grains (brown rice, quinoa, barley, oatmeal, pasta) and 15 bean soup blend plus I throw in some ground or whole flax seed and chia seed, plus an herb or spice. She usually gets no more than 4 cockatiel sized nutriberries per day (if that). She gets a smidge of coconut oil about once a week; sometimes I cook her a bit of egg in CO. And she gets small portions of “human food” occasionally. She particularly loves Raisin Bran flakes…I know, I know, but the fid likes what she likes!
My husband and I both work outside the home 8 hours a day, so she and Sam are alone from 8-5, but she has a cage full of toys and I have a UVA/UVB bird lamp on a timer for her (I think I have it set to 2-3 hours right now.) She comes out of her cage just as soon as I get home and spends about 3-4 hours out with me before it’s bedtime for everyone. She gets a solid 10 hours of sleep most nights, sometimes she gets more like 11-12 if we go to bed early. On the weekends she gets almost an entire day out and about with us. Gilly and Sam both have cages in our living room. They are on opposite walls (north and south walls basically). They are not right in front of each other, but about 12 feet diagonally across. Gilly did move walls when we got the new cage, and she is closer to windows now (maybe I need to try moving her or lowering the blinds some?)
Last night I cried to my husband. Not only was I feeling defeated and angry with Sam because he “hates” me, (which made me feel bad because I felt that way), but then I figured out his “intrusion” was causing Gilly stress. I felt so bad for putting her through this (probably putting way more human emotion into it than there actually is) & I was so upset because we worked so hard on her feathers! Today I woke up and took a few deep breaths, said feathers are just feathers, but we have to get Gilly back to feeling safe and secure so the over preening doesn’t escalate to full blown plucking and mutilation.
So we know she’s healthy, we know she’s well fed, we know she gets good quality time out of her cage every day.
Where do we go from here?
Is this something she just has to adjust to? My friend suggested moving Sam out of the room for a while or half covering Gilly’s cage with a blanket so she can “get away” from him and feel secure so I did that today, plus I put in a few new toys and preening toy for her.
Sorry this post is so long, but I wanted to be thorough and honestly it was pretty cathartic for me too! Gotta get this head space clear so I can push forward for my fids!
Gilly is 7 months old and has been with us for four months. I am her chosen person, though she socializes well with anyone she meets. She absolutely adores me & I feel the same in return. We are probably (guesstimating here) about ¾ of the way through her first molt and all of her feathers had come in beautifully! Not a single stress bar or black spot or abnormal bronzing. I have been really, really, striving to get her in good feather. She came to me from Petco in pretty good feather, considering the source, but I wanted to make sure she was so well loved and fed that we got rid of all the bars and spots…and we did! I was so super proud of us as a team!
And now we are here & in some way I feel like I have let her down and it breaks my heart into a hundred pieces…
We adopted Sam our Blue Crowned Conure (who hates me by the way) and I noticed within a few days Gilly’s feathers were looking kind of ratty. At first I didn’t think much of it, assuming they were feathers that hadn’t molted yet, but I kept noticing it and thinking it just doesn’t look right. Then finally last night I looked her over and said no, I KNOW you molted all of these feathers already, something isn’t right. I pulled up a comparison photo from 5 days before we brought Sam home (ironically, I had taken this photo to show the rescue how well she was feathered) and the change is absolutely there, something is happening to her feathers. Photo attached is now on top and before on bottom.
I talked to a friend about it, thinking maybe we have FDB or fatty liver issues and she suggested over preening, much like her GCC did when she had two GCCs in the house instead of one. She said Gilly is probably stressed from bringing Sam into our home. Bingo, that’s gotta be it. Both birds were checked by the vet and had clean bills of health. I did just take the fruity Zupreem pellets from Gilly, but she switched without issue within just a couple of days to TOPs and Harrison’s and since that swap she’s actually eating REALLY well. I was actually praising her good eating just last night because she ate more chop than Sam and Gilly used to not even touch chop!! (I always had to cook, puree and send up some prayers!)
So for a full picture of Gilly’s lifestyle she gets TOPs and/or Harrison’s Pepper pellets with chop twice a day, morning and evening. Chop usually consists of 3 leafy greens, 3 red/orange/yellow veggies, a fruit or two, and various grains (brown rice, quinoa, barley, oatmeal, pasta) and 15 bean soup blend plus I throw in some ground or whole flax seed and chia seed, plus an herb or spice. She usually gets no more than 4 cockatiel sized nutriberries per day (if that). She gets a smidge of coconut oil about once a week; sometimes I cook her a bit of egg in CO. And she gets small portions of “human food” occasionally. She particularly loves Raisin Bran flakes…I know, I know, but the fid likes what she likes!
My husband and I both work outside the home 8 hours a day, so she and Sam are alone from 8-5, but she has a cage full of toys and I have a UVA/UVB bird lamp on a timer for her (I think I have it set to 2-3 hours right now.) She comes out of her cage just as soon as I get home and spends about 3-4 hours out with me before it’s bedtime for everyone. She gets a solid 10 hours of sleep most nights, sometimes she gets more like 11-12 if we go to bed early. On the weekends she gets almost an entire day out and about with us. Gilly and Sam both have cages in our living room. They are on opposite walls (north and south walls basically). They are not right in front of each other, but about 12 feet diagonally across. Gilly did move walls when we got the new cage, and she is closer to windows now (maybe I need to try moving her or lowering the blinds some?)
Last night I cried to my husband. Not only was I feeling defeated and angry with Sam because he “hates” me, (which made me feel bad because I felt that way), but then I figured out his “intrusion” was causing Gilly stress. I felt so bad for putting her through this (probably putting way more human emotion into it than there actually is) & I was so upset because we worked so hard on her feathers! Today I woke up and took a few deep breaths, said feathers are just feathers, but we have to get Gilly back to feeling safe and secure so the over preening doesn’t escalate to full blown plucking and mutilation.
So we know she’s healthy, we know she’s well fed, we know she gets good quality time out of her cage every day.
Where do we go from here?
Is this something she just has to adjust to? My friend suggested moving Sam out of the room for a while or half covering Gilly’s cage with a blanket so she can “get away” from him and feel secure so I did that today, plus I put in a few new toys and preening toy for her.
Sorry this post is so long, but I wanted to be thorough and honestly it was pretty cathartic for me too! Gotta get this head space clear so I can push forward for my fids!
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