by Pajarita » Tue Nov 28, 2017 12:32 pm
Any black on feathers is a stress bar - it doesn't matter what the shape is, it could be horizontal lines, it could be spots, it could be the edges, it could be the entire feather... Now, the thing about stress bars is that they are always caused by stress BUT the stress can be physical and/or psychological so too many hours in a cage, depriving the bird of flight, a diet high in protein, keeping them on a human light schedule, moving to a new home, etc can be the cause for them.
GCCs are real easy to keep if you do everything right by them. They are good eaters, good bathers, sweet-tempered, quiet birds that want nothing more than cuddle to you but they can also be screamers, pluckers and biters if they are unhappy. People see them small and think they are low maintenance as far as parrots go but they are and they are not because they require a fresh food diet, a strict solar schedule, flight and an inordinate amount of time devoted to them as they are as needy as cockatoos when it comes to company. They can't be clipped, they are active birds that need flight - mostly because they want to be able to get to you. They need to be out of their cages for, at least, 5 or 6 hours a day and they need to spend, at least, 4 hours with their humans and that means right on top of them.
I would recommend you re-evaluate diet, light schedule, routines, etc and try to pinpoint what is stressing your bird out. Mind you, if I go by my own personal experience with stress bars on GCCs, it will take a long time to get rid of them [took mine three whole years to be completely free of them!]