To the vet, yay or nay?

[thekarens]

When I got Sydney in February I immediately took him to the vet for a full work up.

He's going through his first molt and some of his head feathers are coming in yellow and it's freaking me out. In my experience odd feathers are a sign of illness.

In all other respects he is fine, eating fine, weighs fine, poos fine.

His sister is also molting and no yellow feathers on her. They are on the same diet.

Here's a few pics:

 

[Terry57]

I have no idea, Karen...hopefully someone who knows a lot more about Sennies will jump in. I know how well you take care of them, and he just had a full work up, so I just can't imagine what is going on. Fingers crossed that everything is okay.

 

[RavensGryf]

Like Terry said, I know Sydney had all his tests and everything. I wonder if he has any of that pied gene and it's just not expressed visually in Sammie? I don't know how rare that is.
I'd say ask the vet, but then who wants to pay all that just to hear that the vet doesn't know either.

I'll see if I can find some info on the internet. If I do, I'll be sure to let you know!

 

[happycat]

I have no experience with these parrots, but Kirby is a hybrid and he has some strange feathers. Maybe yours is also a hybrid?

 

[thekarens]

Thanks Julie, I appreciate it. If we hadn't had that experience with Karen's grey it probably never would have crossed my mind to even wonder.

 

[Kiwibird]

Do the feathers look normal besides the color or are they abnormal (misshapen, stiff ext...)? It's hard to tell by the photos, but they look like 'normal' feathers, just a different color. I don't know much about senegals, but it looks like it's just his "unique" colorations are coming in now that he's maturing (to me). I know amazons get the occasional feather of a different color in somewhere it shouldn't be (Kiwi has a yellow feather that "comes and goes" in the center of his all-green chest, and a blue one that recently grew in the middle of the yellow on his head).

I wouldn't worry too much unless the feathers are the wrong texture or he is displaying other signs of illness. At his next wellness checkup, ask the vet then instead of bringing him in specifically for a odd color feather.

 

[thekarens]

They are perfectly normal as far as texture, shape etc go.

 

[Dinosrawr]

From what I've found regarding being a pied or not, and I don't know how accurate this is, if Sydney's down feathers are white rather than a grey then chances are you have a pied on your hands. I've been trying to find breeders of pied senegals, but they aren't very popular unfortunately!

I also found a thread in our forum regarding a brown headed parrot:

http://www.parrotforums.com/poicephalus/34438-didn-t-get-meyer-s-got-brown-headed-d.html

It looks as if the yellow feather colouration is normal (I'm no Poi expert!) and there's a chance you do have a bit of a hybrid on your hand, or it could honestly just be the luck of genetics. I guess molting will tell!

 

[RavensGryf]

Today and tonight I've been trying to find some info for you Karen, and I'm coming up with nothing. I hate search engines sometimes! The wrong thing always comes up.

I'd say if they seem normal besides the color, and his vet tests are fine, then most likely it's just the way it is. Seems like I've seen pics like this before.

 

[goalerjones]

Maybe he was a Sun Conure in a former life?

 

[Terry57]

I looked also Julie and couldn't find anything either
Hopefully it is just a cool mutation going on

 

[Birdman666]

If he's male, and this is a first molt, then I'd say it's probably completely normal. (Males have some yellow underlay feathers, that's one way you can sex these guys without DNA) I don't think this is vet visit material.

 

[thekarens]

If he's male, and this is a first molt, then I'd say it's probably completely normal. (Males have some yellow underlay feathers, that's one way you can sex these guys without DNA) I don't think this is vet visit material.

Thanks Birdman. He is DNA male and this is his first molt. He'll be one on 5/24.

 

[Birdman666]

If he's male, and this is a first molt, then I'd say it's probably completely normal. (Males have some yellow underlay feathers, that's one way you can sex these guys without DNA) I don't think this is vet visit material.

Thanks Birdman. He is DNA male and this is his first molt. He'll be one on 5/24.

Then this pretty much confirms that the test was accurate. He is a little boy. The females don't get the yellow feathers.