Electus feathers changing colours to grey

[sandeep]

I have a pair of electus parrots. Recently I noticed that the feathers of male electus are becoming greyish. Can somebody advice me on what is the problem.

[cml]

I have a pair of electus parrots. Recently I noticed that the feathers of male electus are becoming greyish. Can somebody advice me on what is the problem.

Could you maybe post a picture?

It may be stress bars, which can dull down, or make feathers look grey, but its hard to tell without a photo.
If it is stress bars, then there is something stressing the birds out, which we then can try to work out what it is! It can be diet, illness, or the environment thats causing it.

Welcome to the forum!

[Pajarita]

It's malnutrition. Ekkies are VERY hard to feed right as they have a super specialized diet in the wild. It's a shame they sell them as pets when people cannot feed them right... (that's why they all die so young)

[GreenWing]

I have a pair of electus parrots. Recently I noticed that the feathers of male electus are becoming greyish. Can somebody advice me on what is the problem.

How long have you had them?

CML is right, it could very well be stress bars. However, my Sennie had this issue (AKA "darkened feathers") and it was the result of overpetting the bird, not malnutrition. She's had her molt since then, her plumage is vibrant, and we watch our petting/scratching more closely.

Consider what you're feeding the birds, get a good pellet mix (Roudybush is excellent) and to be on the safe side of diagnosis, get your bird checked out by an Avian Vet.

[sidech]

You don't feed pellets to an Eclectus. They are not hard to feed, but you have to kow what you're doing.

Please describe exactly what he is fed. This could very well be the problem.

[GreenWing]

You don't feed pellets to an Eclectus. They are not hard to feed, but you have to kow what you're doing.

Actually you can, as some Eclectus owners do, but it's verrrrry little as pellets should be given as a supplement. Some feed a tablespoon a day, some only a give a few pellets a day, while others may only give it once a month.
But otherwise you're right, they eat fresh foods for the most part.

[Pajarita]

Stress bars are not grey, they are black and they don't affect the entire feather -that's why they are called bars. Sometimes, a feather can turn all black but that usually means advanced liver disease and there are many other symptoms. When there is discoloration (like fading or the feathers turning olive or greyish), there is usually a malnutrition problem because as the feathers are the last ones to get the nutrients, when there is not enough to go around, the nutrients are diverted to more important parts of the body (like internal organs) and leave the plumage lacking.

Now, the thing is that malnutrition doesn't necessarily mean a bad diet (although, in truth, it's usually the reason for it, especially in ekkies), it could mean that the bird has a disease that is inhibiting the absorption of nutrients so the first thing that the OP needs to do is take the bird to a good avian vet for a complete physical (CBC, Avian chemistry, bile acids and full body X-Ray). If everything comes back normal, then the diet needs to be addressed.

[sidech]

You don't feed pellets to an Eclectus. They are not hard to feed, but you have to kow what you're doing.

Actually you can, as some Eclectus owners do, but it's verrrrry little as pellets should be given as a supplement. Some feed a tablespoon a day, some only a give a few pellets a day, while others may only give it once a month.
But otherwise you're right, they eat fresh foods for the most part.

You're right. I do give some myself. Ishould have said " pellets should be a very, very small percentage of their diet, not even 5 % "

[Pajarita]

Pellets are OK as a treat if no other source of high protein is given but I would suggest pistachios instead.