Black feather bars

[Miss Feathers' Human]

I recently noticed my Little Miss has these black markings. She has a balanced diet of pellets, veggies, and fruit. She baths +- every 2nd day and we recently mived her into a large cage and to my office space where she would be less isolated.

We've had her for about 4 months now, I checked photos from when we first got her and she already had some of them. We've got a dog and 2 cats (although she's mighty cocky for such a small bird and would run up to our dog while they're eating with her beak wide amd threatening). She does spook every now and then. Any advice?

 

[TiredOldMan]

This can be signs of stress while molting

 

[PrimorandMoxi]

Looks beautifully feathered.

I think stress bars are really delineated within the feather. This looks more like natural dark coloring at the tips of feathers.

Only judging by stress bars i think ive seen in Primor in the past.

its almost like you can look at the feathers, many of them have a dark band running thru them and say, " wow, what was going on three months ago, when these feathers were forming?"
"oh yeah we did a road trip to Florida, that must have been stressful on my poor baby"

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Looks beautifully feathered.

I think stress bars are really delineated within the feather. This looks more like natural dark coloring at the tips of feathers.

Only judging by stress bars i think ive seen in Primor in the past.

its almost like you can look at the feathers, many of them have a dark band running thru them and say, " wow, what was going on three months ago, when these feathers were forming?"
"oh yeah we did a road trip to Florida, that must have been stressful on my poor baby"

Right. A lot of people forget that the stressor, if one caused stress bars, occurred when the feather was forming months ago. When a humans head hair falls out for some reason (like low thyroid levels) the actual hair loss occurs months after the event that compromised the hair growth because it takes a few months for a dormant head hair to fall out.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Good thoughts, above. If you look for professional advice...

Certified Avian Vets

Find an ABVP Specialist - American Board of Veterinary Practitioners

Find a Specialist ABVP Diplomates have proven knowledge and expertise above and beyond what is required to practice veterinary medicine. Beyond that, they have earned the privilege to specialize in the treatment of one or more categories of animals. Diplomates are in 49 of the 50 US states...

abvp.com

If none are near you...
Avian Veterinarians

http://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803

In my opinion, any of the vets listed here should be better than a regular vet.
International contacts, too.
If none are near you, maybe you could call and ask for a recommendation for somebody in your area.
And... sometimes, distant vets will offer brief thoughts or advice...
Or... sometimes I find a place to start just by Googling "avian veterinarian near ((your location))"
Or maybe a local breeder might help... again, maybe Google?

Another thread on on vets from Terry57...

Thread 'Avian Vet Resources'

Feb 24, 2022

After a suggestion by a member, @Abu Colo, the Mod Team decided to create a list of veterinarians around the world who see birds. This was something we had discussed a few years ago, but the task seemed so large that we didn't get very far. However, the need is there and we decided that the time was right to get it done.
Not all the vets listed are CAVs, but all treat birds from what we could determine.
To find out if a vet is a CAV, you can search the websites of the ones in your area.
We started working...​

• Terry57
• Replies: 57
• Forum: General Health Care

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