Feathers are quite an important feature of birds these features help the bird fly, help keep the bird warm and make the bird beautiful overall.
However, there are a variety of things that can cause your conure to develop feather problems, this article looks into some of them.
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Conure feather problems:
The appearance of your bird can tell you whether the bird is healthy or not, this includes how the bird’s feathers look, below are common feather problems that can develop in conures.
Dull feathers:
A lack of sunlight can cause your bird to have drab and dull-looking feathers. Humans need sunlight but so do birds.
If your bird doesn’t have access to sunlight, or doesn’t have access to full spectrum lighting, then your bird’s once bright feathers can start to look quite dull.
The bird’s body needs the oil from the preen gland as well as light to synthesize vitamin D3 which keeps the feathers bright, without this light, plus the oil, your bird’s feathers will lose their vibrancy and luster.
What to do:
While you can add more foods that contain vitamin D into your bird’s diet, it is recommended that you rather give your birds access to a lot of sunlight, or give them access to full spectrum lighting if you can’t give the bird natural lighting.
Blackening feathers:
A blackening of the bird’s feathers starting at the tips can be caused by a nutritional deficiency, namely a lack of vitamin A in the bird’s body.
This condition is also called hypovitaminosis A and can be quite dangerous for your bird.
A lack of vitamin A in the bird’s body will cause the tips of the feathers to start turning black and this coloring can spread further up the bird’s feathers if not treated.
Not only this, but it can also lower the bird’s immune system, it can cause the bird to become lethargic, and, it can affect the bird’s eating habits causing the bird to have a low body weight.
What to do:
Assuming that your bird is in the early stages of hypovitaminosis A, treating this condition is as simple as adding vitamin A to your bird’s diet.
The bird may not be eating all the food given and this may be why the bird is suffering in this way, you can give the bird foods that are rich in vitamin A, or, you can add powder or liquid suppleness to your bird’s food or water.
Foods that are rich in vitamin A include mangoes, apricots, sweet potatoes, kale, mangoes, red pepper, and dandelions.
Bronzing:
Bronzing can also be the reason behind the color change in your bird’s feathers, or rather, a removal of color from your bird’s feathers.
Your bird’s feathers are not all one color; the feathers are covered in a thin layer of pigment, which gives the feathers their color.
If this thin layer of pigment is removed from your bird’s feathers then the bird’s feathers will start to look brown this is called bronzing.
The removal of the color pigment from your bird’s feathers can happen if the bird over-preens or rubs its feathers too much thus removing the pigment and revealing the bronze color underneath.
This excessive rubbing may be caused by too low levels of humidity in the room, low levels of humidity may also cause dry and brittle feathers in your conure.
What to do:
There isn’t anything you can do if your bird’s feathers start to turn brown. When the color is removed the color is removed. You’ll have to wait until the bird’s next molt for the new feathers to grow in.
What you can do is figure out why the bird is over-preening and rectify this issue to keep the bird from over-preening itself.
There may be a lack of humidity in the air causing the bird’s skin to become dry and causing the bird to scratch itself. If this is the case, then you can add a humidifier to the bird’s room to keep the bird’s skin soft.
Stress bars:
This is a condition that can be seen as soon as the new feathers grow in on the bird.
How well your bird’s feathers grow is dependent on their diet and their general emotions during molting and feather regrowth.
If your bird was stressed during the feather molting and regrowth stage, if it experienced a traumatic situation during this time, then the bird will develop stress bars on its feathers.
Stress bars look like lines across your bird’s feathers. This area on the feather will be weak as the feather would have not grown in properly.
The width of the feather will be thinner in this area and the area may be discolored or depigmented.
What to do:
Once stress bars develop on your bird’s feathers they cannot be removed. You will have to wait until the feathers molt and the bird regrows a new set of feathers for the feathers to look normal again.
Make sure that the bird is not stressed during the next molting and feather growth phase to keep stress bars from developing again.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Why Does My Bird Yawn When I Pet Him, Feather Bronzing Conure, Green Cheek Conure Black Feather Tips, Black Spots On Conure Feathers,