Trained Parrot BlogParrot Wizard Online Parrot Toy StoreThe Parrot Forum

Stress Bars

Talk about bird illnesses and other bird health related issues. Seeds, pellets, fruits, vegetables and more. Discuss what to feed your birds and in what quantity. Share your recipe ideas.

Stress Bars

Postby WanderingWarbler » Sun Jun 16, 2019 8:28 pm

Hey guys, new member here. I own 2 GCC's a high red and a yellow sided. Long story short I believe my male, Chorizo, has developed stress bars on his new tail feathers and I'm really worried. I've worked with wild birds, am getting my masters studying birds, and plan on receiving a PhD in ornithology, so I love birds, they're my life, and my bird's health is my number one priority. I feed zupreem natural pellets, chop is given every 1-2 days, and seeds are given (5-6 total) when I'm doing training throughout the week. We provide numerous toys, change toy location and type frequently and try and allow them out of their cage between 7-8 hours a day. They go to bed at 10 pm almost every night and wake up around 9:30 am. So WTH am I doing wrong? We recently moved into a new house so I'm hoping the stress of moving is all I'm dealing with. Both are a good weight, 69g for my male and 62 for my 4 month old female. I'll probably seen an avian vet if it persists but do you think that the stress of the move could be the reason why? :gcc:
WanderingWarbler
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 3
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: GCCs
Flight: No

Re: Stress Bars

Postby Pajarita » Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:55 am

Hi, and welcome to the forum. No, the move did not cause this because the bars in the feathers are formed way before the pins come out. And I am afraid you are doing a couple of things quite wrong... If you are studying for a PHD in ornithology, you must know that birds are photoperiodic and that keeping them at a human light schedule is going to screw up their endocrine system making them produce sexual hormones all year round, year after year (something that you know is against nature). And you would also know that, when it comes to undomesticated species, you need to feed as close as possible to their natural diet in the wild - the diet you are giving them is real bad... For one thing, you cannot free-feed pellet to any parrot because they end up consuming waaaayyyy too much protein, the wrong kind of fiber (there is a study done with grays) AND too low moisture (max 10%) for a bird that evolved to eat a diet of 85 to 95% moisture (chronic subclinical dehydration ends up giving the kidney disease). And, for another, chop only every other day?! OUCH! These birds are mainly fruit eaters in the wild and need not only raw produce every single day but also large portions of fruit! The wrong diet and the wrong light schedule means a stressed out bird both physically and emotionally (sexually frustrated).

I also have two GCCs. I've had Codee for years and got her when she wasn't quite two years old so she never has any problems but I recently got another one as Codee's old companion finally died and the one I got was supposed to have been an 18 to 2 years old parent-raised male but I am pretty sure it's a female that is older. And she was not only super high-strung, but also all plucked and with stress bars. A seed-junkie that was kept at a human light schedule (the breeder did not even know about photoperiodism!) and fed a rather expensive mix of seeds, pellets and dried fruit (the breeder gave me a bag of it that I gave to the street pigeons I feed everyday). But she is now doing great! She dove into her gloop the very first day she was here and eats her raw produce without a problem. Her plucked feathers are growing back but I will have to wait until molt (coming soon as we are quickly approaching the equinox) for her stress bars to disappear - and they will. She is also calming down and comes out to fly everyday with Codee and goes back into the cage all on her own so we are doing great! All this improvement is a direct result of the right diet (gloop and raw produce for breakfast at dawn and a tablespoon of budgie seed mix for dinner at dusk), a strict solar schedule (as Nature ordained it should be for birds) and her being allowed flight.

So, my advice to you is change their diet immediately (you are also screwing up their livers and kidneys because you are feeding way too much protein) and their light schedule to a bird one instead of a human one. They need a strict solar schedule with full exposure to dawn and dusk so their internal clock can go back to being in tune with the seasons and, if you are lucky enough that their endocrine system goes back in tune with the seasons by the end of the summer (might take longer if they have been kept at a human one for a long time because the longer the endocine system is screwed up, the longer it takes to 'fix' itself) you might get nice new feathers without stress bars.
But don't be surprised if you don't because Codee came to me with stress bars and they took two molts to disappear.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Stress Bars

Postby WanderingWarbler » Mon Jun 17, 2019 12:11 pm

GCC's are not frugivorous. And you're suggesting I leave them outside morning and night or? Also LOTS of people recommend zupreem so what food are you suggesting I feed them?
WanderingWarbler
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 3
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: GCCs
Flight: No

Re: Stress Bars

Postby WanderingWarbler » Mon Jun 17, 2019 12:23 pm

Also, let me state how incredibly rude you are. Stress bars form during the formation of the feather, which was forming while we moved an emerged just a few days ago. I'm not studying for my PhD you obviously didn't read my post. But thank you for your condescending, uninformative, and incredibly rude post that literally did not help at all. I think I'll speak with an actual avian vet and not the pricks on this forum.
WanderingWarbler
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 3
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: GCCs
Flight: No

Re: Stress Bars

Postby GreenWing » Mon Jun 17, 2019 1:39 pm

Hi WanderingWarbler, welcome to the forum! Please don't feel offended by the advice given. The advice was well intended and some of us are especially interested (and passionate) regarding avian nutrition. When it comes to psittacine nutrition there's a lot of trial and error, as well as debate. If you post a recipe for birdie bread, for instance, there's input about what ingredient would be better to supplement. I think such input is extremely helpful. It's how we learn and discern regarding psittacine nutrition.

Avian vets only know so much regarding parrot nutrition; meaning, they're learning as well while more information becomes available. Psittacine nutrition is not very well understood in general, let alone human nutrition, with the tons of documentaries on Netflix and Amazon, to the coconut oil debate on this site in the past, to Monsanto, to diet fads. With this in mind it only makes sense that we are also learning more and more every day about psittacine nutrition. I'm currently reading a book about Greys, it's an older book, published in the 80's and it's fascinating to read because some of the information is very outdated and some of it is pure gold with solid information. Anyway, exotic birds are different in needs all across the board and therefore have different nutritional needs... e.g. Eclectus parrots for example.

Moving along, for the most part I agree with the input from Pajarita about pellets. I am not anti-pellet but I DO think gloop is the ideal. At the same time I don't think pellets are "bad," they're more like Cliff Bars for parrots; in other words, supplements. My own Congo African Grey won't touch them. Even though she won't eat them, ensuring raw nutrition is my own ideal. Gloop ensures correct nutrition, raw ensures nutrition but also foraging. We just learn our own methods in ensuring nutrition for our birds. It is true that avoiding too much protein is important. Put simply, a vegetarian diet with as much leafy greens and food from Nature is important. GCCs in particular need vitamin A and K obtained from vegetables and fruits.

Reading your details, your birds are seeing the sun set, no? They are in front of a window? 10 PM "may" be a little late. Here in Portland during the current season, it's not complete twilight until about 9:30 ish PM. Obviously the times for bed change with the seasons.

Lastly, and this is NOT an attack: why aren't your birds flighted?

Are your birds exposed to a lot of noise?

I'm only asking these questions to help you in your question. I hope you will post again and continue this conversation.
Image
GreenWing
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1165
Location: Portlandia, United States
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Congo African Grey ♥
Flight: Yes


Return to Health, Nutrition & Diet

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests

Parrot ForumArticles IndexTraining Step UpParrot Training BlogPoicephalus Parrot InformationParrot Wizard Store