IndianRingNeck.com

My IRN is a blue. No idea if it is a 'specific' colour blue. Anyway, although his feathers were fine as far as no stress bars etc, the avian vet mentioned that she always found the blue mutations to have inferior feather quality??? This was my first visit with the new baby so with so much to learn about & go over as far as care and diet to ensure my research was adequate, I just let this go. Comparing him to my lovebirds, the big difference I notice is luster - feather brilliance/iridescence - or lack thereof on the part of the IRN. I would also like to add that he does not replace feathers very often and never did go through the heavy molt that I was told to expect to replace the baby feathers.

This past summer, he was 4yrs, and finally started a heavy molt. But the feathers are not coming in - very slowly. I am going back and forth as to whether or not he is picking???? I have seen him pull one feather. I cannot tell from the fallen feathers I have found. There are no chewed feathers. His skin looks fine. He is not itchy. He has a sun conure for a buddy. They share everything by choice. The conure's feathers are fine. In fact he is constantly molting. His feathers get replaced quickly. There are never bare patches on the conure.

They are fed Harrisons Adult lifetime fine. Vegs, fruits, pasta, brown rice etc. 1-2 pcs of organic non-sugared cereal for treats, millet spray, bits of seeds, nuts, nutriberries. The only 'bad' food I occasionally give is the crust from Mcain Pizza. If you read the ingredients there is no yucky stuff. It is like home made and not greasy. The birds LOVE it.

Any thoughts? I spoke to a couple IRN breeders but I am not sure of their knowledge base. They said it is probably just a difficult/delayed molt and I should just wait it out. I am thinking I need to get blood work done??? Oh - the tailfeathers, primaries, and head feathers are all in - deeper colour and have nice luster. Bird appears otherwise healthy - flies and inquisitive - good humour.

I though I should add:

I am not asking anyone to figure out what may or may not be wrong with my bird. I will be taking him to the vet sooner rather than later. I have read, and I think it is a good idea, that if possible, blood work should be done prior to 5 yrs of age so that a base line exists for the particular bird prior to any illness. If he had shown other symptoms he would have been in earlier. The vet did see him when it was first starting and she said it was going to have to be a wait and see unless I wanted to go 'fishing.' There was/is no reason to expect illness/disease. And I think I have waited long enough.

I am wondering if anyone - breeder - has an opinion on the vet's comment that blue IRN's have inferior feather quality? Have you noticed this?
Do they tend to require additional oil in their diet?
Do they tend to molt differently?
Would you consider it poor breeding practice/genetics?

Hi Molossus,
Yes, I was wondering if there was something different about the 'blue' feather - either structurally or the pigment. And yes, I thought a breeder would be a better person to ask about such a generalized comment. I will ask the vet next time I see her what exactly she meant by her generalization. It did occur to me someone could be breeding poorly coloured blues and/or not feeding a good diet. I am not sure how many blue IRNs this vet has seen.

As I said above my bird's colour has changed. It is much deeper - more green in the blue I think - and iridescent. I am not sure what you mean by feather scarring. I do not think you mean stress bars. Is scarring what a really old feather sometimes look like before it moults. A darker appearance? Worn barbules? I did google the term but nothing applicable came up on my search.

I am able to confirm that Molossus was referring to stress bars when he used the term feather scarring.

I saw my vet and she was referring to a lack of luster or sheen she sees in the blue IRNs that come to her clinic. There is a blue IRN bird that became a patient last summer. He is owned by someone the vet and I both know. I have not seen the bird recently but the vet said the sheen is incredible and looks like none of the other blues. I am going to contact this lady and ask to see it. I am sure she will say yes. I asked about diet and any supplementation. The vet is confident the two of us feed a very similar diet but I am going to ask anyway. Sometimes vets are not told everything...The vet believes this bird likely has better genetics than the others.

My birds sheen improves with each feather moult. But he molts very very slowly. I have not used Feather Up or something similar. I would rather try and figure out what nutrient/s might be missing and supply it in a whole food source. My plan is to get blood work done in the next week or two. If anyone has ideas/thoughts, including for specific tests, I would love to hear them.

Mary