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Urgent stress bars?? bronzing?? i just need help

itmegoob

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gab
my conure will be a year old next month and over the past 8 months since ive gotten her her feathers have gotten worse and worse.. i give her the zupreem fruit pellets and plenty of time with me throughout the day, im just not sure what could be causing such awful marks on her feathers.

i had a couple people say that birds get dark spots and that its like moles but that seems... not right? im going to try to post a timeline, shes gone through 2 molts since i got her and each time her feathers seem to be getting worse 16090405103339.jpg 20161015_115218.jpg 20161213_012246.jpg 20170404_154908.jpg

the first one is before i got her, second is around august 2016, next is novemberish and the last is a couple days ago

do i need to be concerned? i dont mind her looking this way if its normal for her body but if its not i want to fix it

(she is clipped and has been since i got her, the clip was bad and im letting her wings grow in but could her not being able to fly be the reason why?)
 

itmegoob

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gab
20170425_082108.jpg i just dont know what to do for her
 

Stormcloud

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Before we start Gab, when you're having issues the best to do is speak up. Just for doing this, your bird is already better off. I'm not an AV, so any information I give you here should only be used after consulting with your AV (if you have one).



    • Take her to an Avian Vet for assessment and in consultation with he/she come up with an action plan to assist with her recovery.
    • Being clipped will affect the durability of her feathers due to them coming into more contact with obstacles and surfaces than if she could fly. This results in more wear & tear.
    • I don't know where you live, but I'd try to get her out into direct sunlight once or twice a week. Half an hour is usually enough. This will help with her feather structure.
    • I'd speak to your AV as to whether it may be better to put her on a natural pellet such as Zupreem Naturals, Harrison's or Roudybush rather than the Zupreem Fruity.
    • Maybe add a teaspoon of Small Parrot Mix seed to her pellets to re-introduce some natural fats back into her diet. That will help with feather lustre and water repellence.
    • Introduce some fresh veggies to her diet if you don't already. I give mine a product called Kaleslaw, which I buy already prepared at the supermarket. It consists of chopped kale, red cabbage, shredded carrot, beetroot and broccoli stem. I just chuck out the packet of salad dressing. To that, one day I might add some sprouted mung beans, chopped capsicum, diced celery or chopped chilli just to change it up a bit. Another day I'll give them a chard leaf or some chopped broccoli.
    • Does your bird spend an excessive amount of time preening??? I'm not sure whether the bottom of her feathers looked worn or chewed. If they're chewed this could be caused due to boredom.
    • Do you have a selection of toys available??? This will help reduce the incidence of you bird excessively chewing on her feathers by giving her something to do when you're not around. I put 4 toys in my bird's cage and then I have another 4 which I rotate through to change things up. I change one toy each day. The good news for you is that the Sidewalk Sale is on this weekend.
However, before you do anything else find an Avian Vet, have your bird assessed and put an actions plan in place. It will be the $100 you'll invest and both you and your bird will be much better off for it.

Good Luck!!! :)




 
Last edited:

Milo

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The feathers don't look like normal coloring, but I'm not sure it's something to get terribly concerned about. It doesn't look like she's overpreening or plucking herself so that's a good thing. If you haven't had an exam and bloodwork done, I would do so and go from there. If the physical exam and bloowork are good then it may just be a matter of letting her molt out the feathers that have lost the pigmentation.

I personally don't have a problem with the fruit zupreem, and neither does my vet. If you prefer to switch to the naturals and your bird will eat them that's great, but there's really nothing wrong with the fruity pellets. If you do introduce seed to the diet, make sure it's not a huge amount (maybe 1/2 a teaspoon daily) so that she will continue to eat the pellets.
 

Pipsqueak

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I have two that have terrible clips and were barbering. Add red palm oil to the diet , mine will eat it from the spoon. Outside time and fresh food will help too. How often doe she bathe ?
 

Hankmacaw

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All respect to @Milo and the excellent vet she worked for, but the first thing I would do is switch your baby off the the fruity Zupreem. They have dyes that will change the color of their poops at time - and you know how important poop is to we bird owners. Second for my preferences the Fruity Zupreem has far too much sugar in it. Harrison's, Roudybush or zupreem naturals are much better.

She needs to have some veggies added to her diet. Leafy green veggies like mustard greens, parsley, kale, a little spinach, Swiss Chard and romaine lettuce are examples. Additionally, red, yellow and orange veggies like squash, sweet potatoes, carrots and peppers are examples. Go easy on fruit - a little is ok.

I personally wouldn't give her seed - it seems that many birds become seed junkies. Instead add Red Palm Oil to her diet ( https://www.amazon.com/Avitech-AviG...138542&sr=8-1&keywords=red+palm+oil+for+birds) and some Flax seed.

Birds really need unfiltered sunshine. It is necessary for them to utilize calcium. Either a short period outside a couple of days a week or a full spectrum light will give them the needed UVB.

And as everyone has said, a vet checkup would be very beneficial.
 

txdyna65

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You've been given great advice already but since your situation sounds similar to mine, I thought Id share it. When we got Lucy she had a terrible clip and lots of stress bars on all her feathers. She is almost 2 now and probably didnt get rid of it all until about 4 months ago.
We feed her pretty much everything Hankmacaw suggested to you. She gets very little seed, which only consists of a few sunflowers a week as treats. Lucy usually gets 2 showers a week sometimes more if shes asking for it or she has pinfeathers. We try to shower her more then, that seems to help. She would shower every day if we put here in there lol I also built her an outdoor aviary and we put her out there when the weather permits, but you can use a cage or even a travel cage to bring them outside.
She still has the remnants of the horrible clip she came with, but she is slowly growing those in. She can fly pretty well even with it though, but she rarely does unless she gets spooked or wants to fly to me.
 
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