Blackened Feathers?

[MommytoHerc&Dex]

Hello!
My green cheek is 8 years old, and has had a pretty hard life. I adopted him a year ago and at that time he appeared a little darker, but still green.
Recently, his feathers on the top of his head and back have tried black and he has started molting. His new feathers are bright green.
Now, with that said, he still have a very healthy appetite, preens himself all the time, snuggles, talks as much as he always has, sleeps well and hasn't shown any signs of fatigue or sadness.
Could this just be molting? He is loosing and gaining feathers everyday.
My Fiancé and I just moved across country and he flew with us on an airplane, he did to have his proper cage for a while because were shipping our things out along with my car.
He doesn't like fresh fruits or veggies, but he has an everyday diet of zupreem fruit pellets for small parrots, seed for small parrots that I buy from a local bird store and the occasional peanut and millet spray.
I love him very much and he knows it. We are attached and very much bonded. Due to tight money, I can't run to the avian vet right now. What's can I do?

[Wolf]

I know that blackened feathers can be caused by stress and, I think by a poor diet. I am still working on understanding so many things about parrots and blackening of their feathers and stress bars are one on these things.
I know that the Zupreem pellets that you are feeding are among the worst pellets that you can feed him due to the high chemical and sugar content of them. While I don't use pellets myself, Harrisons and Tops seem to be the preferred choice of pellets, if one chooses to feed them.
Fresh fruits and vegetables can, indeed be a challenge to get them to eat. it isn't really because they don't like them, it has more to do with what and how they were fed during the weaning process. Parrots are not born with in innate knowledge of how to eat and drink, or of what to eat, they learn these things from their parents. This is one of those areas that our interference has proven to be detrimental to their good health. As a result you have to get really creative in the presentation of these essential foods as well as being very patient so as to overcome their inborn suspicions about foods.
The method of getting them to eat these things that works the best is to share their meal with them, and this also works best when it is done in the morning at breakfast time for them. In addition to whether the food offered is sliced, diced, chopped large or small, cut in spears or shredded, you have to try them both raw and cooked, as well as singly and mixed. and if this is not enough you must keep trying over and over again if you hope to ever get them to consume the variety of them that they need to remain healthy. You have to make this whole big dramatic production of just how good these things taste just to get their attention focused enough that they are willing to taste them. It is a never ending game for and with them, so one might as well accept this as part and parcel of parrot keeping and enjoy the process.
Pellets and/ or seed mixes should ideally be reserved for their evening meal, and not offered free choice throughout the day. This is due to the high protein content which parrots don't require as much of as we tend to give them.
There are others here that are much more informed in this area than I am and I am sure that they will add to this as they arrive. Anyway this is my take on it at this time, I do hope that it will help you.

EDIT

I need to add that there are also many other factors that contribute to the health and wellbeing of your bird and that the more detailed an account of your birds daily life that you share with us the better we can help you and your bird.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum. I am not clear if he had black feathers before and are now turning green as he molts them or if he did not but now has black feathers. In any case, feathers that are not supposed to be black (like the primaries in a gray, for example) and either turn black or have black (stripes, spots) marks on them are caused by stress. This stress can be physical (bad diet, lack of sleep, too many hormones, etc) or emotional in origin but even emotional stress has physical consequences and 'stress bars' is one of them.

Now, I don't know whether he is kept at a solar schedule or not but this is necessary with birds because they regulate their entire endocrine system (which affects their entire body functions) through light quality and quantity. Long days all year round means breeding season all year round, something never found in nature. So up with sunrise and to bed with sunset having been fully exposed to twilight from beginning to end (so no artificial lights on until the sun is up on the sky and off when the sun is halfway down).

His diet also needs huge improvement. Fruit pellets are, as Wolf mentioned, the worst pellets there are. Birds like them and eat them eagerly because of the high sugar and protein content but they are loaded with bad stuff. I don't feed pellets, either. I've had parrots since 1992 and have done A LOT of research about their dietary needs and I've reached the conclusion that although pellets are an easy and practical solution, they are not anywhere near the best dietary option for parrots. But, when it comes to GCCs, they need less protein and more fruits than other parrots because, in the wild, they are mainly fruit eaters. Now, you say he doesn't like fruits and, although I am not calling you a liar (I am sure that you are telling the truth as you see it), I think that the problem is not that he doesn't like them but that you did not try long enough or the right way because all GCCs love fruit. The key is when and how. If you free-feed protein (putting a lot of pellets in a bowl and just leaving it there all day long), he will not eat the healthy stuff. This is because all birds are wired for protein. Simply put: they crave it. Nature made it this way because protein is necessary for breeding and there are no high protein sources of food available easily or all year round. Not in nature there aren't. People say: "But parrots eat nuts/seeds in the wild!" And, indeed they do. But trees don't produce nuts all year round and, when a flock is eating the nuts off a palm tree or whatever, we are talking about a large number of individuals eating at the same time so none of them gets that much. So, nature made it so, when they find protein, they eat and eat and eat until there is no more. This works fabulously in the wild but not in captivity because high protein does not only put them in breeding condition, it also damages their kidneys and liver. Therefore, a parrot should not be free-fed protein. It should be a measured portion (eough to fill their crop) served for dinner. Why dinner? For two reasons: 1) is that, in the winter, nights are long so you want to feed the kind of food that takes longer to digest and provides the most amount of 'fullness' for the longest time - and 2) because birds are always hungriest in the morning so this is the time of the day to get them to eat the healthy stuff (veggies and fruits- hunger been the best sauce!) which also doesn't quite last as long in their system and which will not hurt if they continue picking at it during the day.

Now, the best way to get a parrot to eat something they never ate before is to eat it yourself so, from now on, you will have to have breakfast with your parrot (his breakfast, not yours). I always say that raw green beans are not what I would call 'a good breakfast' but, sometimes, you have no choice (if you haven't figured this out already, you will find out that keeping a parrot means A LOT of sacrifices). Thankfully, fruits are not bad food for breakfast -LOL- so start by getting an organic apple (they need to be organic, regular ones have more than 40 different chemicals on them and you can't get rid of them by peeling them, either), cutting slices off it (don't peel it, most of the phytonutrients are in the peel) and, sitting down with your bird on your shoulder, start eating them making a big deal out of each mouthful. I use a phrase that I repeat every single day for my parrots. I tell them the name of the fruit and say it's good - like this: "Apple. Apple is good. It's good!" After a couple of months of hearing the same thing every morning (of course, it varies because they get a different fruit and veggie every day), they start associating the 'it's good' (I call it the 'food mantra)' with something safe to eat and would try new things when I do it. Parrots learn to eat from their parents so, in captivity, we take in the role and they learn to rely on us when it comes to certain things like judging what is good and what is not. It's not an alpha or leader role. It's more like a parent role.

All my four GCCs proved to be excellent eaters once introduced to fresh produce and they not only liked their fruit a lot, they ate prodigious amounts of them taking into consideration their small size. Try apples, grapes, blueberries, banana, cantaloupe, blackberries, oranges, etc. (but they also liked veggies with corn on the cob and baked sweet potatoes been their favorites). And keep on trying - and keep on trying - and again until he eats a large variety.

[Tman007]

I to have a GCC and I will tell you this He loves apples, This is how I give it to him. I have a fruit holder for parrots I give him about 1/4th of the apple. It hangs down two his fruit perch. I have a perch for all three food groups. One for fruit one for veggies and one for pellets/water. I also give him peppers, yellow, red, orange, green, green beans and broccoli a long with some kale. I chop up everything real small and mix it in his bowl. He will start to eat the yellow pepper first. You just have to keep at it After the morning feeding of veggies I pull the veggies about two hrs. after I feed them. Then around 12:30pm to 1:00pm I give them the apple. Once he see's the apple he will go right to his fruit perch and will start to eat it before I can hang it up. Sometimes I will give him a fruit cup LOL. I will cut up three or four different fruits and mix them together. One thing that might work also just to get him stated is try apple baby food. get a plastic spoon and try feeding him some fruit that way, it just might help.

[MommytoHerc&Dex]

Well this is slightly alarming.
The woman I bought Dexter from told me that Zupreem is fine and works just fine. She also said that I don't need to give him any vitamins anymore because zupreem had all the needed vitamins. :/
Should I switch to Harrison's for both, and just leave the and fresh veggies in Hercs cage? I want to help him.
When I bought him, zupreem was all he was being fed.
What should I do for his diet?
He loves to be in my hair all the time and I have conditioner. Could that affect his feathers?

Thank you guys so much for helping me and nt being jerks about it.

[Wolf]

OK, you should switch to Harrison's adult lifetime fine bird food and feed it to both of your birds, but only feed it to them in the evenings for their dinner and then remove it from their cage after they go to sleep for the night.
I feed a mix of cooked white beans, brown rice, whole grains, whole wheat pasta, and mixed vegetables from frozen. These are all cooked and mixed together to form the basic mix when I get ready to feed this to them I add one or more fresh vegetables such as squash, peas, carrots, sweet corn, or green beans and a fruit such as apple, pear, banana, mango. today it was cantelope. With your birds you might want to go a little heavier on the fruit. and I make sure that they have enough to last through the day. I do not use any added vitamins.
I can't help you with the conditioner issue as I don't use it, myself. I hope that this will help you.

[MommytoHerc&Dex]

Thank you! My babies thank you as well. I will get on this as soon as possible.

[Pajarita]

Personally, I prefer TOPs to Harrisons because they don't have soy, lab-made vitamins or stuff that is not needed in them (as Harrison's does)

[Wolf]

Personally, I have no preference as I don't use them. I was only trying to help her to get a higher quality pellet if she is going to feed them. If tops is a better product and is available for this person then I will quite happily say to get them instead. You are much better informed than I am as to which ones are the better pellets.

[MommytoHerc&Dex]

So I have consulted a vet and have learned that there is NOTHING wrong with him and everything is fine!
However, before I moved, I kept a mite repellant on his cage all the time and covered his cage with it on there. Apparently, the more repellant is bad and very toxic to birds. It discolored his feathers from the inside out. Since we've moved, we have trashed the mite repellant and his feathers are growing in brighter green than before.
I am beyond relieved.
So word to the wise, no mite repellant! It's poison!
I still changed his diet though.