Why are his feathers yucky?

[Freespin]

Why does my Quaker have such awful feathers? He is about 2yo and I have had him since August. When I got him he was in the middle of a really big molt. His old diet consisted of mostly seeds and artificially colored pelets (he came with a seed/pelet mix and a large bag of sunflower seeds). He now gets roudybush pellets and occasionally small portions of a seed mix, conditioning food and fruit and vege (although I have trouble getting him to eat fresh food). Is this just caused by his old diet? He is happy enough but just looks awful compared to my other birds.

 

[RavensGryf]

Gosh Sophia I'm not sure on that, but he sure is gorgeous anyway! That pic really shows the beautiful color of the blue Quaker :32:.

They're illegal in my state (though I've seen green ones), but I may never get to see a blue in person, I'd love to see one.

I noticed that not all the wing feathers have the dark edges, and the ones that do are a little ragged on the edges. It doesn't make sense that it's on some feathers, and not others in the same area. My opinion is it's not diet. Are you completely positive that he hasn't been chewing on them?

 

[Freespin]

I haven't seen him worrying about his feathers at all but I haven't seen him preening much either. The funny little almost curly patch on his chest made me wonder if he was getting at that patch.

 

[Allee]

What a little cutie! I think the scruffy feathers you are seeing are probably due to the all seed diet, he was on before you got him. Even after my female quaker was converted to a healthy diet it took almost a year for her feathers to molt out and be replaced. Your bird's new diet sounds ideal, you should start to see an improvement in feather condition soon.

He may be over preening the patch on his chest a little but it doesn't look like plucking. My quakers seem to be a little more sensitive to the humidity level than my other birds too. I make sure they never miss their baths.