feather sheaths and preening

[sjbales]

She just eats her Pretty Bird AG plus a couple of almonds, a bit of carrot or whatever veggies we have on hand every day. In season fruit, like Clementines now, strawberries in spring, blueberries in summer, so on. Not a lot or every day, but every few days.

[Wolf]

I went to the Pretty bird web site and can not find this food listed either in the pelleted foods or in the seed based diets. Are you sure of the name of the food?

[liz]

Rambo does not preen myrtles head even though she does his. she only lets me touch her head when she is hormonal so she is realy spiked right now and really looks weird. I am grateful that she moults before the hormonal season so I can scratch them loose pretty soon.

[sjbales]

She really just eats her Pretty Bird AG kibble whenever she wants, always has some in her bowl, plus a couple of almonds and day and maybe some of whatever veggie or fruit we are having in season.

[sjbales]

Yes, its Pretty Bird African Grey formula. She loves it. We gave her a completely home made diet designed by an avian specialist for over a year with no change in the situation. She has eaten the same Pretty Bird since she was weaned except for during that home made stage, which we did to see if it was a diet issue.

[Wolf]

Is this the food that you are feeding your Grey ?
http://prettybird.com.ashopcart.com/cat ... |8|&cat=19

If it is, please note that soya oil is high up in the list of ingredients and that right after that the majority of the ingredients are artificial vitamin, minerals, preservatives and other artificial chemical additives. For these reasons I do not like this food and think that this is contributing to your Greys feather issues.
We do know that many birds are or develop allergic reactions to soy and soy products that often manifest as feather problems up to and including feather destructive behaviors. We also know that most birds can not utilize the artificial vitamins and minerals in the same manner as they use the natural ones, and we know that artificial preservatives, colors, and dyes are bad for them. I do not think that there are any studies that give precise information on the symptoms that these ingredients cause due to the wide range of reactions that can and do occur, the majority of the studies just state that bird do not do well with these things in their diet and that some of them may have adverse reactions to some or all of them.
I feed my Grey and actually all of my birds a cooked food consisting of a 50/50 mix of cooked whole grains and mixed vegetables and then add cooked white beans and lentils( for protein) about 20% by volume to the grain/ vegetable mix. I feed this cooked food along with a fresh raw fruit, vegetable and a leafy green for breakfast and for all day long and then a quality seed mix for dinner which is removed when they go to sleep for the night or before they wake in the morning.

[sjbales]

I did that home cooked food for more than a year and it changed nothing. For the first 6 or 7 years, she was fine on the Pretty Bird. NO issues at all, so I don't think that is the problem.

[Wolf]

I understand that and although I am trying to help with that, I am also concerned with the rest of your birds nutritional needs as well. As for your birds feather issue if you were still feeding this seed mix in addition to what the vet prescribed then it could have kept the bird from improving if the soy or any of the other ingredients were the cause of the problem. I am sure that the vet after evaluating the blood work, if it was done, was also looking at your birds overall nutritional requirements and made his recommendations based on the values shown in that bloodwork. It is also a well known fact that a diet that is heavy in seeds or pellets will cause fatty liver disease, kidney disease as well as heart disease, which is why I shared what I feed my parrots with you. While the feather problem needs to be solved, your birds overall health needs to be preserved as well. What sense does it make to solve this one issue, but have the bird die of heart failure or liver disease when it could easily be prevented by a simple change in diet. Even if diet is not the cause of the feather issue, you still need to address the birds remaining nutritional requirements before they cause your bird to have a fatal condition.
If diet is not the cause of the feather issue, which I think it is, but if not then what about humidity? do you have a humidifier? Greys are not known for likeing water and even frequent baths or showers will not prevent the skin or feather shafts from drying out especially if the water is above room temperature because warm water dries the skin and robs it of essential oils. I am not speaking of the preen oils that some birds use to keep their feather waterproofed because Greys don't use preen oil for this they use specially constructed feathers that turn into a dust to waterproof their feathers.

[sjbales]

I don't want to feed her seeds as they are not part of her natural diet.
We have a whole house humidifier that keeps our humidity level in the house at about 40%.
I am willing to try your cooked diet if you will tell me exactly what you use, though. Thanks for your help.

[Wolf]

Actually there is very little that we feed any of our birds that are part of their natural diet. Part of the reason is that it is not available where we live and the other main reason is that we don't know exactly what their diet is only part of it.
I use at least 5 different whole grains, which ones depend on where you are and what is available for you, I will say that many birds don't care for rye, cook them al dente which is soft on outside and hard inside. I mix that with an equal amount of mixed vegetables from the freezer section of my local grocery store and then I mix cooked white beans and lentils together in equal amounts and add some to the whole grain/ vegetable mixture. I try to make it so that the final mix is only about 20 % lentils and white beans. So if I have 2 1/2 cups of grains, 2 1/2 cups of vegetables I need 1/2 cup each of white beans and lentils.