How to maintain healthy feathers

[Happyandzaza]

Hello everyone, my conure “happy” a pineapple conure its molting since 1 months and a half very intensely i dont know if its normal or not, but he seems to be alright very playful, happy, exited, and very clingy he will follow me everywhere no matter what,
he is also changing the tali feathers 3 of them i can see are growing new, but the other old ones are pretty beat up i will show Photos aswell, is there anyway i can help him have better feathers, as it is for his diet everyday i treat him with Frutits, like apple, oranges etc.., pellets although he never eats them, multivitamin water for birds.. honey sticks for birds… is there something more i can do for him.?

I have an extra question, so I live in kosovo and there is no vet or doctor that can make dna test for my birb, due to us living in a not so modern state, is there any chance I can send feathers by mail and have a gender test? If so feel free to send the link. Thanks

 

[zERo]

Hey there!

When a parrot molts they are itchy and can be uncomfortable. The best things we can do to help them is offer a bath daily. I like to use a posting spray bottle.
Make sure you spray above your bird so it falls down on him like rain.
Also, if he’ll let you, preening out hide pin feathers that are ready can relieve some of the itchiness.

As for his diet, what pellets are offered? And what is his main diet?

I would recommend you stop adding vitamins to his water as they promote bacteria growth and are not effective as they loose their potency quickly. Multivitamins should only be given if your avian vet recommends it.
Giving your bird honey isn’t a great idea either, especially if the honey is raw. Treats sticks are basically a buffet of whatever your bird wants.
Have you offered him vegetables before?

As for the DNA sexing, they’re are several companies that offer parrot sexing, I used one of them and just clipped my birds nails a tiny bit too short so that 3 drops of blood would leak out.
I wouldn’t recommend doing this if you aren’t experienced with nail clipping and I’ve read that they aren’t always able to sex them via feathers.

Hopefully someone else can chime in on what DNA test they used.

 

[SailBoat]

Molting season is an excellent time to send in a freshly molted feather to be used for DNA testing or a freshly plucked feather. Check the requirements of the DNA packet you are considering as some require a droplet of blood from an overly short cut toe nail. Read requirements prior to buying the packet.

 

[Happyandzaza]

Hey there!

When a parrot molts they are itchy and can be uncomfortable. The best things we can do to help them is offer a bath daily. I like to use a posting spray bottle.
Make sure you spray above your bird so it falls down on him like rain.
Also, if he’ll let you, preening out hide pin feathers that are ready can relieve some of the itchiness.

As for his diet, what pellets are offered? And what is his main diet?

I would recommend you stop adding vitamins to his water as they promote bacteria growth and are not effective as they loose their potency quickly. Multivitamins should only be given if your avian vet recommends it.
Giving your bird honey isn’t a great idea either, especially if the honey is raw. Treats sticks are basically a buffet of whatever your bird wants.
Have you offered him vegetables before?

As for the DNA sexing, they’re are several companies that offer parrot sexing, I used one of them and just clipped my birds nails a tiny bit too short so that 3 drops of blood would leak out.
I wouldn’t recommend doing this if you aren’t experienced with nail clipping and I’ve read that they aren’t always able to sex them via feathers.

Hopefully someone else can chime in on what DNA test they used.

Thanks for taking your time to answer with a very nice and informative answer,
I didnt know but usually in the morning i let my birb take a bath he enjoys it every time even when its not moltin, and also yes he lets me preen him likes to cuddle he will just put his head under my finger or bite my finger gently to inform me that he want scratches i try to remove the pin feathers he enjoys every minute, sometimes he tries to regurgitate for me but i been trying to avoid that behavior because i dont want him to get stressed over thinking im trying to mate or whatsoever…
Pellets for the moment i dont know the name its a mix package of every pellet and seed for medium sized parots, its smells very “vitamins” if I can say like that nice smell, i put in one bowl this pellet mixture with seeds in the same bowl i will put apple or it depends its sometimes orange, banana although hr doesnt like banana so im not putting anymore
I put vegetables also, Carrots he seem to enjoy and parsley he likes parsley very much, i feed him parsley more rarely because I read that its toxic for birds in big quantities,
and for the honey that i mention i dont think its real honey its a product for parots more like a treat its coated in something Honey like color.

So you think I should stop giving vitamine water to him? I wash his water container every 12 hours and only put 2 drops sometimes i dont do it but if you think it would be better to cut the vitamin water i will cut it, even tho i keep the vitamines in fridge in a cool temperature.

I buy all these products in a vet shop and he told me that there is no way in my country to do a dna test for a bird, and he is very sophisticated vet indeed, no one time i tried to cut my others conure nails I had the worst time of my life because he was bleeding i thought he was going to die a very bad experience. Anyways thanks so much very helpful <3

 

[Happyandzaza]

Thanks for taking your time to answer with a very nice and informative answer,
I didnt know but usually in the morning i let my birb take a bath he enjoys it every time even when its not moltin, and also yes he lets me preen him likes to cuddle he will just put his head under my finger or bite my finger gently to inform me that he want scratches i try to remove the pin feathers he enjoys every minute, sometimes he tries to regurgitate for me but i been trying to avoid that behavior because i dont want him to get stressed over thinking im trying to mate or whatsoever…
Pellets for the moment i dont know the name its a mix package of every pellet and seed for medium sized parots, its smells very “vitamins” if I can say like that nice smell, i put in one bowl this pellet mixture with seeds in the same bowl i will put apple or it depends its sometimes orange, banana although hr doesnt like banana so im not putting anymore
I put vegetables also, Carrots he seem to enjoy and parsley he likes parsley very much, i feed him parsley more rarely because I read that its toxic for birds in big quantities,
and for the honey that i mention i dont think its real honey its a product for parots more like a treat its coated in something Honey like color.

So you think I should stop giving vitamine water to him? I wash his water container every 12 hours and only put 2 drops sometimes i dont do it but if you think it would be better to cut the vitamin water i will cut it, even tho i keep the vitamines in fridge in a cool temperature.

I buy all these products in a vet shop and he told me that there is no way in my country to do a dna test for a bird, and he is very sophisticated vet indeed, no one time i tried to cut my others conure nails I had the worst time of my life because he was bleeding i thought he was going to die a very bad experience. Anyways thanks so much very helpful <3

Also forgot to mention that in a separated bowl i will put only seeds, sunflower, white, black corn every seed that is for parrots you can think of

 

[zERo]

didnt know but usually in the morning i let my birb take a bath he enjoys it every time even when its not moltin, and also yes he lets me preen him likes to cuddle he will just put his head under my finger or bite my finger gently to inform me that he want scratches i try to remove the pin feathers he enjoys every minute, sometimes he tries to regurgitate for me but i been trying to avoid that behavior because i dont want him to get stressed over thinking im trying to mate or whatsoever…

That’s great if he’s bathing daily, it’s be try good for them when molting.

Pellets for the moment i dont know the name its a mix package of every pellet and seed for medium sized parots, its smells very “vitamins” if I can say like that nice smell, i put in one bowl this pellet mixture with seeds in the same bowl i will put apple or it depends its sometimes orange, banana although hr doesnt like banana so im not putting anymore

So the pellets are mixed with seeds? Do you ever see him eating the pellets or just the seed?

put vegetables also, Carrots he seem to enjoy and parsley he likes parsley very much, i feed him parsley more rarely because I read that its toxic for birds in big quantities

This is correct, you want to be careful with a few greens like spinach and parsley and feed them maybe once a week if you choose to feed them as they contain high oxalates which can bind the calcium from other foods you bird eats and prevent the bird from getting enough calcium.
Other better greens would be kale (and kind) Swiss chard, Romain lettuce (not iceberg) or arugula.

So you think I should stop giving vitamine water to him? I wash his water container every 12 hours and only put 2 drops sometimes i dont do it but if you think it would be better to cut the vitamin water i will cut it, even tho i keep the vitamines in fridge in a cool temperature.

I would personally.

I buy all these products in a vet shop and he told me that there is no way in my country to do a dna test for a bird, and he is very sophisticated vet indeed, no one time i tried to cut my others conure nails I had the worst time of my life because he was bleeding i thought he was going to die a very bad experience. Anyways thanks so much very helpful <3

I wouldn’t clip nails unless you’re experienced or your vet could show you how to do it.