Urgent Older Moustache Parrot - is it PBFD or just a bad moult and malnutrition?

[shelby.pax]

Hi, I recently took in 2 moustache parrots in need of rehoming. From the pictures the birds looked fine but the I'm starting to grow concerned about one of the moustache parrots, Frida, since she's in such ratty feather condition. I took the birds to the avian vet last week for a health check up but the vet wasn't worried.

Some things to note:
-She's not banded so it's impossible to know her age for sure. She's at least 10 years old
-She is incredibly hormonal around people and gets nesty
-I live in Canada where, to my knowledge, parrots having PBFD is rare
-Frida eats well and although she's not the most active parrot, she isn't lethargic
-The previous owner kept her with the other moustache and around other birds
-The other moustache is in great feather condition and is very active. He's 12 years old
-I don't plan on breeding them, Frida is also only interested in humans
-From the pack of food I got from the previous owner, they were fed mainly a seed and grain diet so she potentially has some level of malnutrition
-She has been preening a lot lately and is growing in new flight feathers so it might just be a bad moult mixed with a previously bad diet

I'm planning on taking her back to the vet and getting her tested but I was wondering if people on the forum share my concerns that she might have PBFD?

Pictures of Frida below:


-I'm worried how some of her flight feathers have the 'clubbed' look which I heard is a symptom of PBFD


-Under her wing is kinda ratty


Also here is a pic of the other one, Sal:

 

[sunnysmom]

My guess and it's only a guess is bad nutrition and improper care. We have a lot of birds who come in to the rescue that I help with with bad feather condition mainly due to diet. The condition greatly improves in time. But a vet check is always a good idea with any new bird and it's good to know for sure.

 

[shelby.pax]

I agree, The more I look at it, the more it seems the new feathers growing in are healthy. I also have a picture of the pack of food I got with them:


It has some pellets in it (I assume the Zupreem one that doesn't have the dye) but the vast majority is seeds, what appears to be a cereal grain and the occasional dried berry which none of the birds seem to like. Besides the diet, the previous owner did do their best to give them a good home to my knowledge of their care.

They now get a wide mix of pellets (Zupreem, Tropican, Mazuri, etc.) mixed with an avian multi-vitamin, bird-safe dried fruit, fresh fruit, greens, the occasional raw unsalted nut, and the occasional seeds.

Odds are it's not PBFD but it's easy to get nervous about an uncurable, lethal, and highly infectious disease.

 

[Pixiebeak]

Congratulations on your new ones.
Looks like might messing with them and poor nutrition.

Great job on getting them started on new foods. I offer mine lots of fresh veggies twice a day. It's their favorite thing now to rush over and see what kind of lettuce and veggies they are getting.

 

[sunnysmom]

I agree, The more I look at it, the more it seems the new feathers growing in are healthy. I also have a picture of the pack of food I got with them:

View attachment 432542
It has some pellets in it (I assume the Zupreem one that doesn't have the dye) but the vast majority is seeds, what appears to be a cereal grain and the occasional dried berry which none of the birds seem to like. Besides the diet, the previous owner did do their best to give them a good home to my knowledge of their care.

They now get a wide mix of pellets (Zupreem, Tropican, Mazuri, etc.) mixed with an avian multi-vitamin, bird-safe dried fruit, fresh fruit, greens, the occasional raw unsalted nut, and the occasional seeds.

Odds are it's not PBFD but it's easy to get nervous about an uncurable, lethal, and highly infectious disease.

The mix has way too many sunflower seeds which I am guessing is what they predominately ate. That's what most birds do if given a choice. Some sunflower seeds are fine but not as a major diet component. I will say that a lot of bird owners - especially older ones- just don't know any better. They don't deliberately give them a bad diet but not a lot was known about avian nutrition years ago. (I still think we need to make more progress.) But many, many birds that come in o the rescue from older owners come on seed based diets with not healthy treats because birds eat seeds, right? That's what people thought. I love moustache parrots and will look forward to see how they improve with you.