Stress Bars

[Michael]

Here are some before and after shots of how Kili looked like. On the left is the first photo I have of her just over 3 months old. The one on the right was from today. At this point I'd say she is about 80% through her molt and you can see that her plumage has gotten brighter and cleaner looking. No more stress bars and her head is a more uniform gray color.



The eyes still aren't yellow but they are yellowish. They were practically gray at first. Natacha, do you remember by what age Shade's eyes were fully yellow?

[Natacha]

Did she have those stress bars when you first got her?

Shade's eyes aren't as yellow as other Senegals. I've read about that actually...some Senegals have what they call "blue eyes", although not quite blue, they aren't the bright yellow you see on some Senegals.

I think her eyes changed from baby colour to what they are now between 1 and 2 years old.

[Michael]

Yeah, Kili had the stress bars before I got her. She had a lot of damaged tail feathers too but now everything is coming in really nicely (except some primaries that kept breaking). I have been adding vitamins to her water for the duration of her molt.

[Kathleen]

It's easy to see now how much her plumage has changed. Her feathers look great now. She's not so speckled looking anymore.

[Mona]

I like seeing these photos. It's funny how in her baby photo her head is almost green. Babylon had a green head and molted out to a grey head but that is how I knew she was the bird I picked out at the bird store.

Kili looks great! That is a huge improvement. Her feathers now are gorgeous. She's a beauty and she knows it.

[Kathleen]

Where do stress bars come from? Is it from being poorly raised? Is it from poor nutrition? Is it a lack of a certain vitamin in diet at the early stage?