Blue Crown claw color & age

[JamesC]

I noticed something with my Blue Crown Rosco the other day. When I adopted him from the rescue his claws were half black and half horn colored. Now they are almost completely black like Tootsie's are and this gave me an idea.

I have absolutely no history on him so I do not know his age. The vet I took him to for the first time thought that maybe he could be about 10 years old but it was mainly a guess. But the color change of his claws might be an indication. For those of you who have young Blue Crowns, do you remember if your bird's claws were horn colored when young then turned dark later? Do you happen to know how old they were when the change occurred? That information just might narrow his age down to a couple of years.

Thank you if you are able to help me figure out how old he is.

 

[MikeyTN]

All the baby Blue Crowned Conures I've seen have black nails. Perhaps because of his diet or genes causing the horn colored nails and it just grew out and changed????

 

[ruffledfeathers]

Gilbert's nail color didn't change from when i got him at 2 months old, but his beak did. I wonder if it could be diet-related like Mikey said??

 

[JamesC]

I suppose diet is possible. He was a stocky 200 grams when I adopted him. A Big boy. He is down some now but he has a voracious appetite and his weight is difficult to manage. I call him my "food thief" because he is always trying to steal the best tidbits from Tootsie's food in her cage. I have to keep chasing him out in the mornings. One of the first things he does when I come home and let him out is to go visit and see what she has left for him to pick over. He will even risk life and wing by raiding Sidney's food given the chance.

He was in fair condition when I adopted him. His health and appearance has improved since though he still is a bit too heavy. The nail color darkened over the time that he was improving so I guess that the toenail color was not an indication of his age. Wish I could have more information but he is going to remain a bird of mystery.