Hi everyone.

[Sandface]

Hello all.

I'll do a little introduction to give you guys an idea of who I am.
My name is Paige. I currently own one bird named Jinx. She is a gorgeous little 10 month old Turquoise Green Cheek Conure. Hatched on January 16th, 2014.

Jinx wasn't my first bird, she is actually my third. I am a pretty new bird owner. I'll give you a little history. My first bird was a couple years ago. She was a peach Love bird named Mango. But since she was my first bird, I didn't know anything. And it turns out she wasn't hand fed. And I was still skiddish around birds. And we took her home and she never calmed down. And I hardly ever touched her. She would only bite and make me bleed. I tried everything and looked up tons of information on the internet. Nothing worked so we had to give her up to someone who took care of misfit birds.

My second bird's name was Goose. He was a normal 'ol Green Cheek. Age was approx a year. He was the most gorgeous little thing ever. My mom had first bought him for herself when I still had Mango. But she got really busy at work and I was lonely, so after school, I would get him out and put him on his stand and feed him so we quickly became best buds. I taught him how to shake and how to kiss on demand and he was potty trained. But one day when me and my mom weren't home, my dad started cooking for a surprise for us. He used the wrong pan. And Goose was in the other room trapped in his cage. I got home and screamed because I KNEW. I quickly took him upstairs and about an hour later he died in my hands. The PTFE in the teflon burned his lungs and he suffocated. I know this is probably a sad thing to put on this forum and it was so tragic. I've never had anything or anyone die in my family and for this to happen so early... It ripped me apart.

But a few months later the loneliness got so bad I missed Goose so much. I didn't want to replace him, but by then I just loved birds so much I couldn't be without one. So I ended up buying Jinx. She was 2 months old at the time and just a little baby. Now she's my little clone. My mom says she has an attitude just like me. And it's so true. I've been working with her and she's so spunky. She is turquoise so apparently she's kinda rare. The only store in my state that sells turquoise green cheeks had only sold 3 that year including my Jinx.

Jinx has some issues here and there with weird behavioral things. She used to sleep all the time and now all she wants to do is chew on everything I swear. She loves rubbing her beak on my laptop tracpad and biting at my toes if they should ever get exposed. One of her favorite things is to get on my shoulder and just make herself a little nest in my hair. She picks my hair up in her beak and throws it all around and she burrows in it. It's so funny she just gets all tangled and then mommy has to come rescue her. Her favorite way of playing is to get on her back in my palm and shake her head all around and "act like a tough girl" is what I say. She opens her beak and play bites. And also grabs with her feet. It's the cutest thing ever. Jinx is currently molting for her 2nd time.

Here is Jinx:


She currently has her wings clipped but I am letting them grow out. Question though, she was born on January 16th of this year. And the people had her flight wings clipped. Is it unusual that they haven't grown in yet? They aren't even peeking out of her secondary? feathers.

I could go on and on about her but I'll leave it at this and if you guys have any questions feel free to ask or PM me. Or if you want more pics I have plenty. I've been on multiple forums before so I'm aware of how this works.

Thanks for reading this far! Lol.
Paige.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum, Paige and Jinx! So sorry about poor Goose!

Now, as to your question on molting. Well, for one thing, Jinx should not be molting right now. She should have molted at the end of the summer but be done by now so the fact that she is only ten months old (born in January which is NOT good as it's super off-season -birds are not supposed to breed in the middle of the winter!) and is going through her second molt with no new primaries coming out is worrisome because it tells me that something is not quite as right as it should be. Now, it could be just a matter of the wrong light schedule (human versus bird) combined with a diet too high or too low in protein so tell me at what time she gets up and goes to bed and what she is been fed, please.

[Sandface]

Hmm that kinda worries me.

She gets up around 7am every morning. That's when I get up and I try to be as quiet as possible so she can sleep a little longer , but that's the usual time. As for bed, Normally around 9 or 10 but I've been trying to put her to bed earlier. She also sleeps during the day while everyone is away.

Her diet mainly consists of Roudybush california mini blend. And sometimes I give her a scoop of Premium L'Avian Plus nutritionally fortified. But that's usually when we start to run low on the roudybush because have to order it through the mail because no one in the area sells it.

[Wolf]

Her diet is too high in protein, since you are free feeding pellets and will end up causing liver disease and killing your bird. Your bird should also get up and go to bed with the sun, just like the birds that live outside.

Pellets are basically ground up seeds and artificial vitamins and binders to hold the pellet together, your bird should be eating a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, cooked whole grains and cooked beans and lentils and then a small ration of seeds for dinner.

[Harpmaker]

Welcome to the forum, Sandface and Jinx!

I am sorry to hear about Goose. There are so many things at home that can kill birds in minutes. It's nearly impossible to get rid of all of them.

Jinx is beautiful!

[Pajarita]

Yes, both the diet and the light schedule are wrong so her endocrine system is screwed up and that's why she is not molting when she is supposed to. All diurnal birds need to wake up with the sunrise and go to sleep with the sunset. GCCs are mainly fruit eaters in the wild so free-feeding (filling up a bowl and leaving it there all day long) high protein food is worse for them than it is for other species (although it's bad for all parrots). Pellets are too high in protein, too dry, have the wrong kind of fiber, the vitamins are man-made and have ZERO phytonutrients (enzymes, antioxidants, etc). Cooked whole grains with chopped veggies are good for them for breakfast and all day eating but they also need a large piece of a different fruit daily (they just love, love, love fruit but they also love certain veggies like corn on the cob, grape tomatoes -mine LUVS them!- sweet potatoes, red peppers, peas, carrots, etc) and a leafy green or a cruciform (mine adores raw broccoli!). Then, when the sun is setting, a heaping tablespoon of a good quality budgie mix is a perfect dinner.