Around what age do feathers start changing color?

[NorthernGannet]

I'm curious what the approx. age range is when the head feathers (body too or just head?) start changing colors due to older age?

-NG

 

[Dona]

Gigi will be 2 in February and is the same color as when she came home as a baby. I've heard that the blue tinge on the head can fade in time, but hers is still subtly there, the same as before. She can look a little darker when her feathers are about to molt, then pretty bright when new ones come in.

 

[NorthernGannet]

I meant when do they start getting that pied look, when the turquoise goes white on their head and the green goes yellow. I expect it's much further down the road than Sprite and Gigi's ages

 

[Dona]

You know I've seen pictures of what you're talking about but I thought they were actually like that from the start, like a hybrid of some kind. So I do not know but am definitely interested in finding out.

 

[NorthernGannet]

Here's a link to a partial view on Google Books of a cool looking linnie book. Hopefully the link takes you to the page where it discusses the color changing. However, no real age is mentioned for when we might see it begin. Maybe it just varies too much from bird to bird. It does mention the possibility of 2 or 3 years old, or not going through it at all. So, maybe this answers the question, sort of??

 

[Dona]

Yes! It took me right to the color section! I've bookmarked the site. Thanks!

So interesting! I wonder if Gigi is going to look like a little double yellow head amazon when she's a old lady?

@Matto @suileeka any ideas?

 

[Leih]

That's an interesting read! I had no idea that could happen, although it makes perfect sense. I'm premature grey myself.

 

[Leih]

My boys generally look the same, although sometimes their rump feathers can look a little faded.

 

[NorthernGannet]

My boys generally look the same, although sometimes their rump feathers can look a little faded.

How old are your two?

On a totally different note, Jellybean finally doesn't smell bad anymore, from all the breeder's smoke! Whew, that took what, a solid 3 months, to completely get out of his feathers.

 

[Monica]

At the very end of that page, it indicates that the change in coloration could also be due to liver failure and to consult with an avian vet.... to me, it sounds like many of these birds are just aging and the feather color change could potentially be due to health related issues.

That said, there are scarlet macaws that also go through a color change as they age. The scarlets that are *MOST LIKELY* to change color are those with injuries, blindness, health issues, etc. A bird may be perfectly healthy, including bloodwork, but is blind. These birds lose the yellow coloration and their blue feathers become darker. Many birds who are perfectly healthy with and without any injuries never go through this change... so it's unclear why some do.

Here's one example I've managed to find...

HD wallpaper: red scarlet macaw standing on brown bamboo base, bird, parrot | Wallpaper Flare

This HD wallpaper is about red scarlet macaw standing on brown bamboo base, bird, parrot, Original wallpaper dimensions is 2200x2120px, file size is 436.71KB

www.wallpaperflare.com

I would say that as long as your linnie is healthy with normal bloodwork, you probably shouldn't expect any drastic color changes.

 

[Dona]

I had forgotten about this. When I had my caiques my female got a single orange feather on her green back. We were told it could be liver damage as well. She was tested, deemed healthy and the feather eventually fell out and was replaced with green again.

 

[Leih]

How old are your two?

On a totally different note, Jellybean finally doesn't smell bad anymore, from all the breeder's smoke! Whew, that took what, a solid 3 months, to completely get out of his feathers.

Caspar and Emrys will be 2 the second week of March. I don't know their exact hatch dates unfortunately, but I know it's around March 12 and Caspar is a few days older than Emrys.

I believe it! Cigarette smoke sticks and lingers like no other!

 

[Leih]

(And I should know, my parents smoked like chimneys for my entire life.)

 

[UrbanSylvanus]

Wow, that's actually interesting that linnies go "grey" so to speak
I have nothing to contribute here as Machi is still only six months old, but it would be interesting if dark green linnies also get yellow spots.
(I also got a good laugh at the next page of that book when it mentioned balding as that's what's happening at the moment as he's in moult at the moment, poor thing. I feel a little bad about how that made me chuckle but at least it's temporary!)

 

[NorthernGannet]

Recently it seems like lately I've been running across pics on the web from different people of their sr. linnies, and all the blues/turquoise/greens had the patchy head coloring. Since we have a few here that are now around 2 yrs old, if we're all still on this board 6-8(?) yrs from now we can revisit this thread and see if there are any major changes!