Trained Parrot BlogParrot Wizard Online Parrot Toy StoreThe Parrot Forum

Indian Ringneck Feather Problems?

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.

Indian Ringneck Feather Problems?

Postby blackscell » Sun Jun 16, 2019 3:23 pm

Hi guys,

My ringneck is now about 13 to 14 months old. She always had a problem of losing tail feathers, now there are barely any left. She does seem to be in a mold, but her feathers do not look as nice as it should be? She gets alot of fruit, good diet, good sleep etc. She eats well, full of energy like always.

Any reason to be worried?
Attachments
20190616_220933.jpg
20190616_220926.jpg
blackscell
Lovebird
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 48
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: African Grey Parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: Indian Ringneck Feather Problems?

Postby Pajarita » Mon Jun 17, 2019 9:01 am

Oh my, yes, she does look real bad... Now, IRN's (all psittaculas, actually) have bad molts but she also has missing AND discolored feathers PLUS they are not supposed to be molting right now. Mine (I have two) are not and, besides, rule of thumb is birds molt AFTER their breeding season is over and IRNs are short-day breeders (we, on the Northern Hemisphere, are at long days right now) so something is VERY wrong. Let's find out what it is so we can help you correct it.

You say she has a good diet and a good everything but indulge me and tell me what she is fed on a daily basis and what is her light schedule and we will take it from there.
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: Indian Ringneck Feather Problems?

Postby blackscell » Mon Jun 17, 2019 10:57 am

She gets daily fruit, seed without much sunflowers etc, protein, 2 times a week sprouted seed or powerfood.

It gets dark at 22pm here, that is when I cover her cage. I do work in the living room, so when the light shuts off it is completely dark for her but I work on the pc for a few hours before going to bed.

She eats everything I offer her. She takes regular baths herself and has alot of toys and a large cage to play in.
blackscell
Lovebird
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 48
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: African Grey Parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: Indian Ringneck Feather Problems?

Postby blackscell » Tue Oct 29, 2019 6:32 am

I had bought a seperate cage so she could sleep on a solar schedule. We have moved quite a few months from my last post, but her feathers look worse.

Anyone has an idea what this could be?

https://ibb.co/0qNnjrM
blackscell
Lovebird
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 48
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: African Grey Parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: Indian Ringneck Feather Problems?

Postby Pajarita » Tue Oct 29, 2019 8:43 am

She is plucking and/or in soft molt. Are you sure she is being kept at a solar schedule? Meaning, two hours at dawn and two hours at dusk without any artificial lights during these two periods and before dawn and after dusk? Are you sure there is no source of light around her? Because, sometimes, we do not realize that there is light coming through a window or from another room when it's completely dark outside (this happened to me once) or that the cage cover is not completely opaque.

Is she clipped? Because clipping does not only atrophy their respiratory system, it also creates chronic anxiety (flight is the ONLY predator avoidance mechanism birds have) AND it prevents the body from getting rid of bad hormones like sexual or stress ones.

Also, you are feeding WAAAYYYY too much protein and that's REAL bad for these birds that are mainly frugivores. The ONLY seed mix you can give them is one single tablespoon of finch mix for dinner - that's it! Nothing else and especially no 'super food' whatever that is and no animal nothing (eggs, cheese, yogurt, meant, etc). For breakfast and all day picking, you can give her gloop, chop or mash and raw produce -with emphasis on large pieces of fruit. The only thing you should add to their diet is a good quality multivitamin/mineral at a rate of 2 or 3 daily dosages a week (but, as I don't know what the super food is, be careful not to oversupplement because too much is often worse than too little when it comes to birds). You should also put her on some liver cleansers and tonics because the diet you have been giving her is bound to have had a negative effect on her liver...

They might be parrots but they cannot eat what people normally assume (incorrectly, I might add) is parrot food.
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: Indian Ringneck Feather Problems?

Postby blackscell » Fri Nov 01, 2019 6:18 pm

She has had an awful clip by her previous owner, that's for sure. Could you tell me what a good dieet would be? For example;

Wake up; tablespoon seeds
lunch; fruit, etc etc.

Or what do you feed your parrots? I'm having a hard time knowing what to feed everyday
blackscell
Lovebird
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 48
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: African Grey Parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: Indian Ringneck Feather Problems?

Postby Pajarita » Sat Nov 02, 2019 9:10 am

Oh, my dear, the parrot diet question is one that we are all still trying to get right and, unfortunately for the birds and us, birdkeepers, the information out there and the one given by the avian vets is usually wrong.

IRNs are almost completely frugivores which means that fruits and other plant material make the bulk of their diet so free-feeding any type of protein food (seeds, pellets, etc) is VERY bad for them. I recently rehomed two older females that had had a real bad diet for years and years and ended up plucking, super-high strung and with liver damage for the rest of their lives. I fed them gloop and raw produce (with emphasis on large pieces of fruit) for breakfast (at dawn -without any artificial lights on until the sun is streaking into the room) and a single, level tablespoon of finch seed for dinner (at dusk with no artificial lights on from the time the sun is halfway down to the horizon and darkness after).

See, the thing with feeding too much protein is that the excess (meaning what is not used for muscle repair, feather production, etc) ends up in the liver in the form of fatty nodules (hepatic lipidosis) but it also means that the bird will produce sexual hormones constantly (because birds that are highly opportunistic breeders will react to the richer diet by going into breeding condition) as well as feathers (because the body tries to find a way of getting rid of the excess protein through whatever method it has and, as feathers are made of protein, it will produce feathers non-stop). A constant production of feathers is what we call 'soft molt' which means a molt that never ends. This is terribly uncomfortable for the bird and, to make matters worse, the plumage is not strong and healthy (see the broken feathers she has?) so overpreening, barbering and plucking is often the only way the bird has to 'do something' about it.

Putting the bird at a strict solar schedule with full exposure to dawn and dusk and reducing the protein intake will, in time (the longer the endocrine system has been messed up, the longer it will take for it to go back on track), correct the problem. But, I warn you, you will not see immediate results because captive birds (which do not fly as much as they should) have no fast way of getting rid of the bad hormones and plumage takes two whole years to get fixed (because the normal molt of a bird changes only half the plumage each year).

If this bird was mine, I would also put her on liver cleansers and tonics.
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: Indian Ringneck Feather Problems?

Postby blackscell » Fri Nov 15, 2019 5:11 pm

Thanks for your reply, everytime. I took her to the vet today, because I didn't trust it anymore. It has been going on for a long time now.

The doctor was afraid it would be PBFD or Polyoma. She is getting tested, I will get results in a week. I am afraid it is a disease, since she is getting bald patches under her wing and I see pinfeathers on her head and not fully grown feathers. She is still very healthy and kicking though, so let's hope for the best.
blackscell
Lovebird
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 48
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: African Grey Parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: Indian Ringneck Feather Problems?

Postby Pajarita » Sat Nov 16, 2019 9:30 am

Well, getting bloodwork is ALWAYS a good thing to do but I seriously doubt is polyoma and I'll tell you why. It is true that there are feather abnormalities in polyoma BUT they always start when the bird is 6 to 8 weeks old (I don't know how old she was when you first got her but I doubt that she had this problem when you first got her - did she?), the contours are never affected (and, from what I can see on the pictures, she has bad contours all over) and, although it does affect the primaries and secondaries, they usually keep a couple of rectrices (long tail feathers) if not all. PLUS there are always other symptoms (diarrhea, distended abdomen, lethargy, labored breathing, etc) which, according to what you tell us, this bird does not have. I guess it could be PBFD but, if it was, she would have had to have had ample contact with a sick bird after she became an adult because babies that got PBFD in the nest don't usually make it. But there have been birds who have lived with the chronic form of it for years and years so it could be possible.

Personally, I think she has what psittacula owners call 'mojo' molt or a soft molt (Polyoma feather problems are usually called French molt). It is VERY common for them because everybody feeds them too much protein thinking a parrot is a parrot and they all eat more or less the same diet - which is not true.
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: Indian Ringneck Feather Problems?

Postby blackscell » Wed Nov 20, 2019 5:47 pm

Thank you for sharing your wisdom with me. Despite of the results which will come in a few days, I want to make good changes to her diet. I have already put her on liver cleansers.

Trying to get the hang of a good diet now. Would you recommend me to use an UVB lamp? I use one for my African Grey. The Netherlands lack alot of sunlight.
blackscell
Lovebird
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 48
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: African Grey Parrot
Flight: Yes

Next

Return to Health, Nutrition & Diet

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests

Parrot ForumArticles IndexTraining Step UpParrot Training BlogPoicephalus Parrot InformationParrot Wizard Store