Dull feather/beak/eye color

[Eurycerus]

Forward:
So I'm a nutter, but I'm going to start fostering a Senegal this Saturday. I'm excited and very apprehensive. So much could go wrong or maybe right, not sure yet. As a note, Nika and the new Senegal (Diggy) will have zero interaction other than across the room safely within their cage, both for health and aggression reasons. When Nika is out I will cover Diggy's cage since she is flighted and I don't want any attacks. I may cover Nika's cage when Diggy is out too to prevent extreme jealousy, I haven't decided. Diggy is not flighted, the poor baby... He looks like a cooked chicken with those stubby little wings. :[ Makes me depressed... Even Nika wasn't trimmed so severely when I got her! Apparently Diggy had severe fear (the opposite of Nika, he also still is quite fearful) and could not be interacted with, without flying away, so they chose to remove that from the equation. What's done is done, all I can do is try to work with him and earn his trust and not let anyone clip his wings like that while he's under my care.

On to my question:
So there's a picture of Diggy on the rescue site, presumably from when he was brought in, and he looks more like Nika, dark beak, bright eyes, good feather color. However, I just met Diggy and his beak is more tan, light grey and his eyes are not bright at all. He looks sort of sickly. I know the man taking care of him has done a good job, and maybe this is just lack of sunlight or something, I can't be sure. I just asked for a full rundown of what Diggy eats (I know he's on some type of pellet and veggies: carrots and peppers, which is similar to what Nika eats too) but I'm determined to get Diggy looking more healthy. Any suggestions other than sunlight? He may be on colored pellets, so maybe that's an issue too.

[marie83]

Aww poor thing I assume he has had diagnosic tests to rule out any underlying health conditions? I'm sure other than that his general condition will pick up more when he is more trusting, therefore less stressed out the whole time and he is able to exercise when his wings grow back in.
In all honesty I would just bring him home and gradually change things, you will figure it out. I do thoroughly recommend sprouted seeds/bean and pulse mixes though a couple of times a week, I can always see the difference in my birds if I'm lazy and dont give them any for a couple of weeks.

Best of luck with your new addition

[cml]

Will you introduce them to eachother later on when Diggy regain his flight? Parrots love to have a buddy =)!

[Eurycerus]

Marie: Yes Diggy's been to the vet and been cleared. I believe he's been in the system for six months so the vet visit happened sometime during that time.

When they trim so severely like that they get no lift and he fell once or twice while I was there and just kind of dropped. It makes me feel so sad. I have visited another person who had a Meyers with a similar trim and similarly just fell to the ground. It breaks my heart! Even if people believe in trimming, it doesn't need to be so severe! Anyway...

I am hoping that in time he will look more lustrous again with care, sun, and food. Do you have a link as to where to buy the sprouted bean mixes? I haven't tried that yet with Nika either. She seems to hate green food (Diggy apparently does too), but hey you never know. Thanks!

CML: I would like to but I'm very nervous about Nika's aggression and Diggy's fearfulness. Although Nika lived with a white capped pionus for six months before coming to hang out with me so she might actually be more behaved than I fear. Although Nika was definitely the top dog. I get the feeling they might like being near each other but not directly interacting.

[marie83]

I use the tidymix soaking mix and a standard seed mix but you can sprout any seeds you already have. 9/10 times if a bird is already accoustomed to eating seeds (even just as treats) then feeding them slightly sprouted (which is how they should be fed with 1-2 days growth) wont be a problem as they will recognise that they look like the foods they are already familiar with.
I only had problems with Harlie getting her to eat them because she hated any damp food, no matter what it might be.

[Eurycerus]

Oh great thanks! Nika has only gotten things that look like seeds as a treat, like a nutriberry chunk or this other stuff that is seeds stuck together into a bar shape. Hopefully that's enough to have her accustomed to seeds.

[Michael]

Pellets, exercise (flight), and sunlight seem to do the trick. Note it's all of the above and not any other combination. The special bulbs seem useless. 15-30 minutes outside (even in a carrier) in direct sunlight for 6 months, good diet, and indoor exercise should do the trick. If not, then by the next molt.

[cml]

I am not suggesting that you should introduce them right now, but I dont think you should give up on the idea all together either. I think there is a big possibility it might work out .

The key thing, which Ive learned when introducing Leroy and Stitch, is to take it slow and in baby steps. Dont rush things, at times I did, and it backfired and you had to back down a bit and try again. Better to be slow, but ever increasing their interaction.

I would suggest that you keep them apart until the new guy can fly again, but then I would start by gradually moving the cages closer over the time of a few weeks, until they are about 5 inches apart (the 5inches is so they cant bite eachothers toes).
Let them get used to this and dont progress until you see them do stuff at the same time, like eating, preening, sleeping etc. This indicates they are starting to see eachother as flock members.

Short intervals of time together is probably for the best in the beginning, but there is another key thing here, which I also learned the hard way. Things will look much worse than they are. They will fight, and you will be scared to bits (I was) but you will have to get used to it, and it will decline (most likely).

There are many pitfalls when introducing two parrots, but at the same time, the benefits are great. Im filled with joy when I see how much Stitch and Leroy love each other, and love to hang out. They play, goof around fly about and preen each other. Its just great .

Good luck with your new guy, I am sure you will do very well with him !

[Eurycerus]

Thanks I definitely will! Seeing as it took Nika five months to fully grow out her feathers and gain confidence, I'm not very hopeful that little Diggy will be flying anytime soon. At least he could fly at one point so he may remember more easily. It scares me thinking they could hurt each other so I know I'll be very nervous if they get into a scuffle.

Michael, what sort of exercise do you suggest for a very clipped parrot?