How can I improve my CAG’s feather strength?

[karenm0]

HELP!
Our 17 yo African Grey, Sam, has very poor feather strength. More than a decade ago, after Sam was in full feather, we had his wings trimmed by a vet tech who “over groomed”. Since then, we have not been able to get Sam’s feathers to grow out. They BREAK, typically when they are large pin-feathers. Sam does NOT pluck his feathers, but he doesn’t groom particularly well. Before her sudden death a year ago, our Amazon was fully flighted, and we would like Sam to have the same advantage. Our (very capable avian vet) has simply said that Sam has “poor feather strength”. Has anyone out there had the same issue? Does anyone out there have any suggestions for us?
We’d appreciate any advice you can offer!

[Pajarita]

Hi, Karen and Sam, welcome to the forum. In all honesty, in the 31 years I've kept parrots and the numerous avian vets I've had and all the research I've done, I've never heard of 'poor feather strength'... Bad or weak plumage is due to two things and two things alone (this is, of course, discounting a genetic issue): One is diet with not enough protein (because feathers are made of 80 to 90% keratin, an insoluble protein made of amino acids -cysteine, alanine, leucine, arginine, proline, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, and threonine) and the other one is a malfunctioning liver (because it's the liver that metabolizes the protein and when the liver is malfunctioning, it cannot 'produce' enough protein for plumage.

So, basically, it's diet. The first because of not enough protein and the second because, although the liver can get 'sick' due to a disease (like chlamydiosis -aka psittacosis) it's almost always due to a bad diet of too much (as in free-feeding it) or the wrong type of protein (as in animal protein: meat, eggs, cheese, etc).

I have two birds with 'bad' plumage. Naida BFA was very, very sick with chlamydiosis which left her with a damaged liver, and Aida DYH which came to me in terrible shape -and I do mean really BAD!), she couldn't perch, climb or walk due to what I think must have been a bad stroke brought on by a bad diet- she couldn't even stand on a flat surface, her feet all twisted to the sides and without any strength. They have both gotten much better with the right diet and liver/kidneys tonics and cleansers. Naida is only missing a couple of tail feathers and Aida can now stand, climb and perch.

So, my advice to you is to re-evaluate your bird's diet and not only about protein amount and quality but also raw produce intake because lack of vitamins and minerals also have an effect on plumage as well as general health (pellets and other 'fortified' foods do not usually contain natural vits/mins, they are made in a lab and the body does not utilize them well). Ask your vet to do a bile acids test to evaluate liver function (this is the ONLY test that does this, the chemical panel vets use only show liver function). If the bird's liver is OK and you feed the right diet, the bird will grow good plumage. But, I warn you, this does not happen in a week, a month and, sometimes, it takes up to two years. Aida came to me in December of 2021 and it is only now that her plumage is improving... As a matter of fact, I noticed only this morning that she is getting pins on her chest for the first time since she came.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[karenm0]

Hello Pajarita,
Thank you SO much for your response! We think of ourselves as giving Sam a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and veggies - but I admit that I haven’t evaluated for specific protein and vitamin goals. I presume there are supplements that we could use (and if you have any that you’d recommend we’d be grateful) — but I’m specifically interested in what we can add to his diet to increase his protein consumption. He free-feeds a pelleted diet and has fresh and cooked foods with us in the evening. His treats tend to be seeds or nuts, but we are careful about the amount. He doesn’t get cheese, and only occasionally has egg (he’s not a real fan). How do you feed your parrots? Free-feeding (what)? Prepared foods (examples)?
Thank you again!
Best,
Karen

[Pajarita]

I feed gloop and raw produce for breakfast and, depending on the species, either only nuts, nuts and a bit of seeds or just seeds - my greys (two Congo females) eat only nuts. I never, ever give my birds any type of animal protein (eggs are nothing but a bomb of bad protein and unsaturated fat and a COMPLETELY unnatural food for them).

You are actually feeding too much protein because you free-feed pellets (putting pellets in their food bowl and leaving them there all day long) plus seeds plus egg. Now, if this bird came to me and taking consideration that he has been eating this diet for 17 years, I would immediately put him on gloop with herbals to clean his liver and nothing but walnuts for dinner (my large birds eat a mix of walnuts, pistachios, almonds and cashews but the ones with liver damage eat either only walnuts -like Aida DYH- or mostly walnuts -like my zons, greys and macaw). Pellets have an indeterminate level of protein (look at the label, it says something like: min protein, not less than or something like that) and it is too high (usually a min of 14 to 17%) for maintenance (I don't feed the same amount of protein all year round, my birds get less during the winter), added to the fact this protein is mostly soy, which I do not feed to any of my animals).

Birds are all seasonal feeders and, even during the breeding season (when food is richest), they do not find sources of high protein which are abundant or available all the time. In captivity, if one is not careful, they all end up eating too much protein. And pellets, super dry as they are, make it harder on the liver which needs adequate hydration to cleanse itself out (parrots' wild diets are 85 to 90% moisture, pellets are 10% - HUGE difference!). And, no, having water available during the day doesn't help because, as prey animals, they are 'hard-wired'' to drink only at dawn or dusk (they can eat from trees but, to drink, they need to go to ground, a very dangerous thing to do and w2hy they do it at twilight when predators lose 10% of their vision).

Cooked veggies are OK as a change or for veggies (my gloop has sweet potatoes and butternut squash, both cooked) that need to be cooked (like potatoes which mine get every now and then with a drizzle of olive oil) but they need to eat raw because cooking kills the phytonutrients and degrades vitamins (except for beta-carotene -vit A precursor- which cooking does not affect).

In my personal opinion, the problem is most likely his liver so I would recommend you change his diet and put him on herbals (liquid non-alcoholic milk thistle extract, dandelion root, aloe vera juice from the inner leaf -not gel and not from the whole leaf- methionine and alternating theanine and artichoke extract) to clean it The milk thistle and the aloe vera go in the water while the others go in his food (another big plus on feeding gloop because you can mix meds into it).

Let me know if you need anything else.