Conure with feather problems

[GenericFox]

I have a 5yo Female conure thats having some problems with her feathers, the feathers that are supposed to be Green are mostly Black/dark and she has some small bald spots around the ear, behind her wings and the chin, the bald spots started around january when she started to lay eggs for the first time, are these things relationed? It never happened before. I went to a vet a while ago (the only vet that attend parrots here where i live, But shes not an avian vet) and she didnt knew exactly what was the problem and just prescribed a vitamin to put in the water (and without doing any blood test to really know If my bird has vitamin deficiency or not) which i dont think its the case because her diet is basically pellets, veggies, fruits and eggs. I have a younger female conure as well, and she also does have some black feathers (But way less than the other) But has no bald spots. Does anyone know what should i do? Is there any kind of disease that can cause this? Shes not behaving different than before and is always playful. In one of the pics you can see the feathers of the younger conure, which are way less black, and in one of the other pic you can see a normal feather growing in the older parrot but they get black again after a while.

 

[zERo]

I would say a blood panel is necessary to really say what’s going on.
The color can be for several reasons, the feather loss is concerning though.
Petting a bird excessively can cause black feathers, especially if you have lotion on your skin.
What pellets is she on?
And how much of her diet is veggies?

 

[GenericFox]

I would say a blood panel is necessary to really say what’s going on.
The color can be for several reasons, the feather loss is concerning though.
Petting a bird excessively can cause black feathers, especially if you have lotion on your skin.
What pellets is she on?
And how much of her diet is veggies?

The pellets are from "sellecta" one of the 3 best pellet brand here in brazil. Her diet is about 60% pellets 30% veggies and the other 10% are usually fruits,corn and eggs, and there is no Avian vey here so im really worried, How i would do these exams? The vets i went to doesnt seem to know much about parrots

 

[zERo]

The pellets are from "sellecta" one of the 3 best pellet brand here in brazil. Her diet is about 60% pellets 30% veggies and the other 10% are usually fruits,corn and eggs, and there is no Avian vey here so im really worried, How i would do these exams? The vets i went to doesnt seem to know much about parrots

Could you post a picture of the pellets ingredients list?
I can’t seem to find it.
I would personally decrease the pellets, to say 40%.
Do you have a kitchen scale that weighs in grams? It’s very important to have on during any diet changes.
Is the vet you took her to at least an exotic vet? Or just a dog/cat vet?

 

[GenericFox]

Could you post a picture of the pellets ingredients list?
I can’t seem to find it.
I would personally decrease the pellets, to say 40%.
Do you have a kitchen scale that weighs in grams? It’s very important to have on during any diet changes.
Is the vet you took her to at least an exotic vet? Or just a dog/cat vet?

Here's the ingredients

Yes i do,
And the vet attend most type of animals but is more focused on dog/cats

 

[zERo]

Here's the ingredientsView attachment 49019
Yes i do,
And the vet attend most type of animals but is more focused on dog/cats

I ran the ingredients through a translator app. The pellets are okay from what I can tell.

 

[GenericFox]

I ran the ingredients through a translator app. The pellets are okay from what I can tell.

Yes its one of the best pellets here, i dont understand why she's having these problems despite having a healthy diet, do you know some type of disease that can cause this? Im worried it might be some kind of problems in the organs. Here other than the conures i have 9 budgies and a cockatiel, they still eat seeds and are transitioning to pellets, they eat less veggies, and they dont have any of these problems in the feathers

 

[zERo]

Yes its one of the best pellets here, i dont understand why she's having these problems despite having a healthy diet, do you know some type of disease that can cause this? Im worried it might be some kind of problems in the organs. Here other than the conures i have 9 budgies and a cockatiel, they still eat seeds and are transitioning to pellets, they eat less veggies, and they dont have any of these problems in the feathers

I’ve actually seen this problem in a few green cheeks seemingly for no reason, and those birds had perfect blood panel results.
I forgot to ask, are they growing in black or turning black over time?

 

[GenericFox]

I’ve actually seen this problem in a few green cheeks seemingly for no reason, and those birds had perfect blood panel results.
I forgot to ask, are they growing in black or turning black over time?

As you can see in one of the pics above, the feather grow green then turn into black. A few months ago i was so happy that there was some green feathers growing in her back but then they got black like in the pic. And i dont think its because of oil of my hands, since theres some black spots even in parts were i dont touch (like next to her vent).

 

[zERo]

As you can see in one of the pics above, the feather grow green then turn into black. A few months ago i was so happy that there was some green feathers growing in her back but then they got black like in the pic. And i dont think its because of oil of my hands, since theres some black spots even in parts were i dont touch (like next to her vent).

Could there be anything she could be rubbing on?
Could you post a pic of her cage setup just to rule any thing in it out?

 

[GenericFox]

Could there be anything she could be rubbing on?
Could you post a pic of her cage setup just to rule any thing in it out?

Thats not possible because the only time shes inside of the cage is to sleep, during all day shes either with me or with my brother, and when shes playing with something we are always supervising her

 

[zERo]

Thats not possible because the only time shes inside of the cage is to sleep, during all day shes either with me or with my brother, and when shes playing with something we are always supervising her

Hmm, this is a tough one! What’s her diet other than pellets? Specifically? How much fruit is she given too and what kind?
How much of her diet is seed?

 

[GenericFox]

Hmm, this is a tough one! What’s her diet other than pellets? Specifically? How much fruit is she given too and what kind?
How much of her diet is seed?

Other than pellets she usually eats: carrots, cucumber, beetroot, sweet potato, corn, broccoli, leafy greens, eggs, bell peppers, oatmeal, sometimes popcorn, and she eat only a small potion of 1 fruit per day, usually guava, banana, papaya, passion fruit, apples and watermelon.
She doesnt eat seeds anymore, i stopped giving seeds to her in 2021

 

[zERo]

Other than pellets she usually eats: carrots, cucumber, beetroot, sweet potato, corn, broccoli, leafy greens, eggs, bell peppers, oatmeal, sometimes popcorn, and she eat only a small potion of 1 fruit per day, usually guava, banana, papaya, passion fruit, apples and watermelon.
She doesnt eat seeds anymore, i stopped giving seeds to her in 2021

Maybe cut back the corn as much as you can and limit fruit to 3-4 days rather than daily?
Another thing to try, sprinkling ground flaxseed on her veg a couple times a week, really seems to help with feather quality.
Also how often does she bathe?

 

[Cosmo305]

MY GCC is having the exact same problem - so frustrating! He has been on Zupreem fruity and lots of veggies and fruit, trying to switch to TOPS now. I’m not trying to cut way back on fruit and the Zupreem b/c of the sugar. He bathes at least once a week, has no happy hut or anything similar, gets out in his travel cage for sunlight at least a couple times a week. He is very cuddly but the bronzing is all over so I can’t imagine it is only from contact.

So you are not alone - I had blood panels taken a couple months back when he had a little mishap with getting caught in a drawer, so they said some might be a bit elevated from fear of vet and pain (he’s totally fine now) but posting those here as well because it looks like we have the same problem! I have circled some new feathers, they seem to grow in healthy. Maybe we can solve it tg

 

[onamom]

Is it possible this could be some kind of allergy? Either food or weather related?

 

[GenericFox]

Maybe cut back the corn as much as you can and limit fruit to 3-4 days rather than daily?
Another thing to try, sprinkling ground flaxseed on her veg a couple times a week, really seems to help with feather quality.
Also how often does she bathe?

She bathes once a week usually

 

[GenericFox]

MY GCC is having the exact same problem - so frustrating! He has been on Zupreem fruity and lots of veggies and fruit, trying to switch to TOPS now. I’m not trying to cut way back on fruit and the Zupreem b/c of the sugar. He bathes at least once a week, has no happy hut or anything similar, gets out in his travel cage for sunlight at least a couple times a week. He is very cuddly but the bronzing is all over so I can’t imagine it is only from contact.

So you are not alone - I had blood panels taken a couple months back when he had a little mishap with getting caught in a drawer, so they said some might be a bit elevated from fear of vet and pain (he’s totally fine now) but posting those here as well because it looks like we have the same problem! I have circled some new feathers, they seem to grow in healthy. Maybe we can solve it tg

Yeah that really looks similar! Do you bird have any bald spots as well? Mine had just these black feathers for a few years, But coincidetally or not she started to suffer from feather loss as soon as she started to lay eggs for the first time, in late december, theres now some pin feathers in her head/ears but she started to lose feathers in her armpit as well :/

 

[GenericFox]

Is it possible this could be some kind of allergy? Either food or weather related?

Which foods could pontentially cause allergy? She has been having the same diet for about 2 years, and she only started to have feather loss in december of 2022

 

[onamom]

Which foods could pontentially cause allergy? She has been having the same diet for about 2 years, and she only started to have feather loss in december of 2022

I’m not suggesting allergies is for sure the cause - Just a thought since the cause seems hard to nail down. I know sometimes allergies can develop where there previously wasn’t one. I’ve gone through a lot of allergy battles with my dogs - but of course that’s much different than a bird. It could even be an environmental allergy if it was allergy related. Something to think about at least.