White Feather

Feather Disorders in our Pet Parrot's

Determining the cause of feather chewing/picking/mutilating requires your on going observation and keen insight in order to adjust the situation to alleviate the stress causing factor(s) as soon as possible.

- First off you should rule out medical reasons.

- It may be nutritional, allergies.

- Start a parrot journal:

- When you notice your bird is experiencing stress symptoms, it could be due to weather, when a person is home or absent? when you aquired a new animal,  a piece of furniture. Analyze everything it does take time for them to get use to things. They may just be nervous in that case look up nervous or anxiety. B vitamins help, ca

- learn what is in their feed mix and figure out what has been eaten or bitten into.

- see if the bird is uncomfortable with something you have placed near or in their cage, even a new color bowl , a new perch. Most birds are frightened of things until they see them for a short time, you may place them on the floor or table beside the cage. I found that placing a hook on the wall beside the cage where they can’t reach, lower than where they hang out so that they are dominant over the toys, objects etc.  I hung the toys for about a week, touched it, while I was watching T.V. I placed it in my lap and twiddled with it and hung it back up. I did this with every toy and soon enough my little Senegal was playing with large macaw and amazon toys. They last longer, too. Do not place above there cage until they are familiar with the object, they may feel threatened.

- Body temperatures range from 104 degrees F for large birds to 112 degrees F for small birds like finches.

- Arginine deficiency may cause wing feathers to curl.

- A change in feather color green to yellow is usually caused by a loss of structural blue color which may be associated with essential amino acid deficiencies. Feather color may change blue to black, green to gray to black that are sick or malnourished.  Color change is associated with altered keratin structure in the spongy layers that prevent normal light scattering.  Melanin granules in the middle of the feather if present would absorb all wave length of light. Giving the visual effect of black.

- Achromatosis (normal color of feathers change to another color) is caused by a variety of nutritional deficiencies in different species. During growth choline, riboflavin, lysine are deficient. Example: cockatiels will grow yellow or white feathers, when they should be gray feathers. Timneh & african grey's will have red feathers when they should have gray feathers

- Feather picking may be initiated by dry, flaky and pruritic skin, which in turn can be caused by nutritional deficiencies. Particularly deficiencies of vitamin A, sulfur containing amino acid, arginine, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, folic acid & salt.

- Deficiencies of minerals such as calcium, zinc, selenium, mangnese & magnesium may be associated with brittle frayed feathers and dermatitis.

- Pantothenic acid deficiency causes the formation of ragged feathers.

- Deficiencies of caratenoids may develop muted feathers or skin colors.

- The black along the tips of the feathers resolves with a change in diet (seed to formulated diet) or a correction of chronic active hepatitis (problems with the liver)

- If copper intake is, too high the levels of vitamin C and zinc will drop.

- Consumption of hard water may upset zinc levels

- Copper deficiency can interfere with melanin production and cause dark colored feathers to become lighter.

- Retained feather sheath

- Haemorrhages within pulp cavity

- Absence of feather dust / oil

- Short & stunted feathers

- The appearance of malformed; broken; bent; dirty; stained or unusually colored
feather should be considered abnormal. Possible cause: organopathy, toxins, malnutrition, bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites (blood or intestinal), boredom, anxiety, lack of sleep, psychosis, sexual frustration, hormonal, molting abnormalities.

- Hyperthyroidism causes black, brown and yellow feathers to become red, longer and more pointed. The feather veins have fringed or lacy appearance.

- Feather chemical composition:       91%  protein –  1.3% fat – 7.9% water  Be sure to supply a feather supplement when bird is shedding their feathers (molting). Pro-Feda is great product. The birds need minerals, protein, & amino acids which are deficient in their food.

- Thyroxine is important in the initiation of a molt.

- Molting is usually gradual and feathers are lost and replaced in an orderly fashion

- Types of feathers:  
contour – semiplume – filoplume – bristle – powder down – neossoptiles

- Clinical signs such as feather chewing, feather plucking and possibly foot chewing are thought to indicate pruritus. However, systemic disease and behavioural problems are thought  to be more common causes than allergic disease.

- Enzymes or hydrochloric acid insufficiency leads to yeast overgrowth in the intestines; this can leads to plucking.

- Other dietary requirements increase during moulting or feather growth, the need for certain vitamins such as Vitamin A or it's beta carotene precursor. These are particularly important for birds with yellow or red plumage colouration, as these colours are directly produced from this source.

- Deficiencies in the B vitamins riboflavin, have been associated with abnormal pigmentation of cockateils.

- Increases in humidity and heat will also facilitate feather loss and the moulting process.

- Giardia (an internal parasite)

- Bacterial infections

- Improper wing clipping

- Residual feather stumps below the surface of the skin that need to be surgically removed

- Sulphur Dioxide: A chemical preservative used in Dried Fruits to enhance color. Can cause allergies, itching, skin irritation, feather shredding or picking. Make sure your mixes have naturally dried fruits

- Birds need as much as 8-12 hours of rest each day

- Has the bird with feather loss been screened for zinc or lead poisoning?

-Injury Or Trauma - if a bird falls from cage or floor could of happened days before. Also can result in a brooze or scab. Birds have been clipped and fallen on tile or hard surface and split their keel bone.

- Heavy metal poisoning from many things: perching on shower rod or curtain rods (lead, zinc), metal bed post, swallowing, playing with  jewely or , hardware, aluminum foil, cage paint chips can be swallowed and undigested, some china bowls are coated with zinc (someone may put water in it), sheet rock (the walls) has zinc lyme.

- Baldness on head, neck or around eyes could be sinus related

- Feather cysts

- Stress lines, which are transverse lines of colour defects in the feather vanes, are the result of periods of inadequate nutrition during feather growth. Bird may be eating or taking a feather supplement but under stress will not absorb. Wait till next molt.

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