Malnutrition?

[Best Bird]

My Quaker has lots of bars on his feathers or at least I think that’s what they are… so I was thinking maybe he is malnourished? He is on an all pellet diet and I occasionally give him seeds. I leave food in his bowel 24/7 and he eats here and there so I don’t think the problem is that he’s not eating, could he be eating too much? Is he malnourished because he only eats pellets? I do feed him a grape or 2 every now and then but that’s about all he will eat that’s not pellets. I’ve also noticed he is sneezing a lot recently and he has had wet sneezes every now and then too, is this do to malnourishment? Lastly anybody have a recommendation for good pellets that works for y’all’s quaker?

 

[Mizzely]

Do you have photos of the bars?

Has he ever been to the vet? My quaker would sneeze if it was too dry.

What kind of pellets is he eating now?

 

[Best Bird]

He has been to the vet before. He eats Zupreem pellets natural and pure fun kind. I live in texas so it is kinda dry I tried to get some picture of his beak and feather stress bars, I though maybe his beak was not ok?

 

[Mizzely]

His beak looks perfectly fine

His tail definitely shows stress bars - those can be from malnutrition, sickness, stress....basically anything that diverts the body's energy from forming a healthy feather. Zupreem is what my quaker eats. He usually only gets about 1/4 tsp of seed a day though.

I probably would want to take him to the vet for a check up if it were my bird. The diet he is eating should be sufficient but "something" is going on.

 

[Best Bird]

So how much pellets other than seeds do you give your bird a day? I just kinda fill the bowl up and refill it when it is empty with his normal pellets and then give him some of the fun zupreem as treats everyday

 

[Mizzely]

So how much pellets other than seeds do you give your bird a day? I just kinda fill the bowl up and refill it when it is empty with his normal pellets and then give him some of the fun zupreem as treats everyday

I just free feed pellets

 

[Vmax]

Hiccup came from a bird shelter nearby that fed Tops pellets. Just to maintain some consistency in his life, I opted to continue with the Tops. I blend it with Harrison’s and a little bit of a seed mix. He gets a mixture of chopped vegetables, some cooked grains, cranberries, blueberries and the occasional bit of seasonal fruit for breakfast.

I’d recommend supplementing you birbs diet with some fresh/cooked veggies and I’d second @Mizzely and let a vet look him over. An avian vet would be best.

 

[Pixiebeak]

I'm not seeing a lot to worry about. But I will look again when I'm not outside. ( so bright hard to see details)
Normal wear and tare I think. Beautiful birdie! Edit: came inside to look. I think there is nothing to worry about. While checking with a vet is always great advice. I see the couple of dark spots and just a very few dark edges on a couple of feathers. Over all the feathers have that luster that is beautiful and healthy.

I feed zoopreem as one of my pellets. But I feel it is lacking something. Because I've taken in 3 quakers who were on a strick zoopreem pellet diet. ( but came from different sources and backgrounds and ages) all were slightly under weight. All had dull feathers, one had stress bars but she was extremely stressed.

With the addition of veggies, some seeds and rotation of other pellet brands, they have lovely feathers and good weight.

My feelings it might be missing some essential fats but its just a theory..

I don't limit pellets, and because they eat zoopreem its still in the rotation. I really don't omit any foods. The seedmix is only available in the cages and they eat in late afternoon. Their day starts with lots of veggies . They love veggies and come flying.