Sun Conure Health

[Leafstem]

I got a sun conure a little bit ago, but I have to admit that I'm nervous about her health. I have a vet appointment for her for next Tuesday, but I want to hear your thoughts.

She's super friendly, loves to talk and make little happy noises. She bobs her head a lot.
However, she has an over grown top beak and overgrown nails. The white around her eyes is a little grayish. On top of that, I think her left wing is sprained from the way it sits on her.
She was on an all seed diet before I got her and was fed fruit loops daily so she wasn't on a very healthy diet.

I'm worried about the possibility of fatty liver disease.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what I can do to help her right now? I got some perch covers to help with her nails and a cuttlebone for her beak. Any thoughts are helpful.

 

[Leafstem]

This is her beak, btw

 

[Kathy beard]

Her beak looks fine to me, she looks like my guy that I got a week ago,

 

[Kathy beard]

By the way she is beautiful, where did you get her? Do you no how old she is?

 

[Leafstem]

By the way she is beautiful, where did you get her? Do you no how old she is?

Thank you!
She's a rehome, I got her from someone in SLC. They told me she's around 2 years old.

 

[Monica]

It's rare to see fatty liver disease in a young bird, even if on a poor diet... usually takes a minimum of 5-6 years to show up. Not to say it can't happen, just unusual for it to do so.

She kind of looks pretty green for 2 years in age, though. Hopefully the vet visit shows she's healthy, despite the diet!

 

[Beth In Alaska]

Pretty, pretty girl! She is starting her new life and new diet and there is lots of time for her to get healthy!!!

 

[TWR]

Hope the vet visit goes well. Her beak and eyes like fine to me.

She's a beautiful girl.

I agree with Monica that for a 2 year old sun, she still has a lot of green. Could she be younger?

 

[Leafstem]

It's rare to see fatty liver disease in a young bird, even if on a poor diet... usually takes a minimum of 5-6 years to show up. Not to say it can't happen, just unusual for it to do so.

She kind of looks pretty green for 2 years in age, though. Hopefully the vet visit shows she's healthy, despite the diet!

Really? Maybe I'm just overly paranoid about her health.
Hmm, I wonder if she's younger then?

Hope the vet visit goes well. Her beak and eyes like fine to me.

She's a beautiful girl.

I agree with Monica that for a 2 year old sun, she still has a lot of green. Could she be younger?

Maybe the picture I posted doesn't show her beak from a good angle. I was just comparing it to other pictures of sun conures and none are that long. I know every bird is different, but I can't help but wonder. I suppose I'll find out with the vet visit though. As for the eyes, the lighting in the pic isn't very good, but compared to the white around my GCC's eyes, her eye-rings do have a gray tint to them.
I suppose anything is possible! Her age is just what the previous owners told me and they didn't even have her as a baby, so they would have gotten her age from her owner before then (poor girl has moved around a lot). I'll check with my vet and see if he thinks she's younger or not.

 

[Monica]

I was wondering if she might be pure sun, or if might be a hybrid. Although it can take up to 6+ years for conures to attain their full adult plumage, usually by 1 to 1.5 years old, they have the majority of their adult plumage. More pictures may help.


Some conures have black around the eyes. There's speculation that it's related to sun exposure, but not all birds get the dark eye rings. Here's some pictures of suns with even darker eye rings!

Sun Conure, Adelaide Zoo - Trevor's Birding
Birds Guide: Sun Parakeet (click photos to enlarge!)

 

[karen256]

She looks OK to me. Her eyering does look a bit gray, but that's how they tan, lol. Some suns that are outside all the time will have almost black eyerings. She probably is just used to getting some sun outside sometimes.