Rosella Molting Question

[straightdope]

i have 2 Eastern Rosella's , since i 1st got them, 1 has been in a sorta of continious molt.. recently , the wife & i went out of town for 10days. & i had a friend house sitting for me. when we returned, my little buddy had molted REALLY bad. to the point of major bald patches on his back. i spoke with a local vet, she recommended some meds. which i got & he has since recovvered nicely. my question is : is this normal ? for Rosella's ?? i know that it was probably stress related & since our return, he has been his usually goofy self.

thanks

[birdlady49]

I have both eastern and western rosellas. I've never noticed an extreme molt as you are describing. However, I did have a ringneck dove who molted excessively and had bald patches. But she recovered without medical assistance.

How long have you had your rosellas? Was this the first excessive molt? What did your veterinarian give you?

[Courtzrocks]

Maybe it was plucking?

[straightdope]

[QUOTE How long have you had your rosellas? Was this the first excessive molt? What did your veterinarian give you?[/quote]

i've had them about 9mnths , yes,, 1st excessive molt. & the vet recommended Nekton Bio. a product i can get at a decent petshop.

& also, i don't think it was plucking. we (wife & i) spend alot of time with them. would have noticed it.. & the major molt did occur while we where out of town.. i would like to think they just missed me

[birdlady49]

Well all I can say is watch them and see if it is plucking (or to be politically correct, overpreening!), then see what happens with the next molt.

Sometimes an excessive molt can be due to a nutritional deficiency. Tell us about their diet .... not necessarily what you give them, but what they actually eat. Tell us about the lighting they receive -- are they indoor birds with full spectrum light? Or?

[straightdope]

Originally Posted by birdlady49

Well all I can say is watch them and see if it is plucking (or to be politically correct, overpreening!), then see what happens with the next molt.

Sometimes an excessive molt can be due to a nutritional deficiency. Tell us about their diet .... not necessarily what you give them, but what they actually eat. Tell us about the lighting they receive -- are they indoor birds with full spectrum light? Or?

so far no excessive preening. & yes i will keep a watchful eye on him ...

when i 1st got them i wasn't sure what to feed them. since they aint your avg. tropical pet..& to be honest i've never seen them even for sale. so when it came to food, i improvised. i got a bag of small parrot ,cockatiel & parakeet seed. i used small cups & put a little of each & watched them for a couple of weeks. i've noticed that they love sunflower seeds. they seem to go for them 1st in the food dish. anyways,,, they like the following, sunflower seeds, millet, peanuts , some dried fruits , those little nutruballs , & Granny Smiths Apples.
i always add some gravel to the mix. & as time has gone on, i decreased the bowls from 4 small 1's to 1 large 1.. they get new food every other day. & yes i do check the bowl 2x a day :D .

as to light, sadly i live in the land of the midnight sun, in the summer that is ! during the winter we get a alot of dark.. lol.. to supliment our lack of daylight, i have a 400watt grow lamp along with the regular lighting on in the living room. its on from 7:30am to 10:00pm .. mainly for the plants in the house, but for the birds as well. actually it aint that bad. started gaining 2mins a day ,yesterday... lol..

they arent getting the type of exercise that i would like to give them, but they are allowed out all day on friday(flydays) & sundays.. a good 12hrs each day..

& thats our story,,,,

[birdlady49]

Originally Posted by straightdope

....i've noticed that they love sunflower seeds. they seem to go for them 1st in the food dish. anyways,,, they like the following, sunflower seeds, millet, peanuts , some dried fruits , those little nutruballs , & Granny Smiths Apples. i always add some gravel to the mix....

.... i have a 400watt grow lamp along with the regular lighting on in the living room. its on from 7:30am to 10:00pm .. mainly for the plants in the house, but for the birds as well.

they arent getting the type of exercise that i would like to give them, but they are allowed out all day on friday(flydays) & sundays.. a good 12hrs each day...

If we didn't guide our human children, they would eat nothing but pizza, burgers and fries and all the fatty and high carb foods out there. We also need to guide our birds. Honestly, your birds' diet is awful! And that gravel should not be offered at all. It's only meant for birds that swallow their seeds whole ... like doves and pigeons. So, the easy part for you is to throw out that gravel immediately. It can impact your birds' crops and cause serious health problems if they eat too much of it.

Offering a good diet is not rocket science. You know what's healthy. The only foods that must be avoided are avocado, chocolate, caffeine in any form, and fried foods. A good rule of thumb: If it's bad for you, it's even worse for them.

Here's what I feed all of my birds at the bare minimum: mixed frozen veggies (defrosted and warmed), cooked beans/legumes/pasta/grains, fresh broccoli and other greens such as collards, kale, green leaf lettuce, swiss chard (chopped as though going into a "human salad"), and fresh fruit. Fruit-wise, since they was on sale, they got kiwi, mango, star fruit, apple, cherries (pitted), pomegranate, and cranberries -- all sliced and chopped into bite-size pieces. At the very least, they get chopped apple. Today I was more generous, even though I know most will go untouched. I'll also occassionally give them a piece of fresh wheat bread and millet spray.

They also get a good seed mix with minimal sunflower and peanuts and pellets. I don't give my Greys more than one peanut everyday and you shouldn't give more than that to the rosellas. Sunflower-wise, five or six should be given. Peanuts and sunflower seeds are just too fatty to be given at will.

Pellet-wise, this week I'm giving Pretty Bird. Last week it was Zu-Preem. Next time, it'll be something else. Some feed a mixture of two or three pellets at the same time. I don't feed as many pellets as I probably should, but they do get a good handful everyday mixed in with the seed.

Now onto your lighting. Grow lights are for plants, not for birds ... as you know. They offer nothing but light. The Vitamin D that comes from natural sunlight is stopped by glass windows. So a room could be sunny and bright but it's not beneficial for your health or your birds. But you go outside, even if it's just to the grocery store. The birds don't. So you must supplement THEIR indoor light with full spectrum lighting. They must have the Vitamin D that would normally come from unfiltered sunlight. Petshops should carry the full spectrum bulbs that twist into your existing fixtures. They're not cheap! But they're a lot cheaper than a visit to the vet. You can't keep the shade on the lamp when you're using the full spectrum bulb. I highly recommend and urge you to get one!

Finally, your birds are getting too much daytime. They need more sleep. But so you don't send them into a molt again, gradually reduce the light so they're getting 12 hours day/12 hours sleep. Then, since spring will eventually come, you can increase the daylight to 14 hours/day and keep it that way until the late fall.

Whew. Enough said.

[straightdope]

thanks Birdlady49 ,

thanks for the advice, i will admit when it comes to Rosella's i am in new territory.
& i will remove the gravel @ once. however i am confused a little.. the peanuts/sunflower seeds etc R all in the food that i bought @ Petco. i assumed that they sold products that where good for your pets .. i did try kiwi fruit, banana slices, other apples besides granny smiths, red cherries, they never touched them.. notta !! so i went back to Granny..

i am not a big fan of pellets, but there is some in the seed i picked up today @ the petstore after readiing your responce..

i do add a drop of vitimans to their daily water.

as to lighting, well right now its Dark here, really Dark . LOL . & i do agree with U , that a grow light isnt the same as Ma-Nature.. however i use Hydrofarm Compact Fluorescent Bulbs. its a Full Spectrum 125wt bulb that puts out 64000k of lumins. X that by 3 .. & U get the idea.

as to the amount of day light they get. i can try to reduce that. but they do share the living room woth us. that may be a problem.. LOL ..

i found the site here because of my concern for little Pacers health. i wish i would have looked more back in early March when i 1st got them. i would have been a member a lot sooner..

thanks again for the tips. i will try some other fruits & veggies..

[birdlady49]

It literally took one of my Greys TEN YEARS to finally pick up a piece of broccoli. But you know what? I gave it to him everyday like clockwork. I don't know how long you tried various fruits/veggies, but you can't give up after a week or two. Try some of the less expensive fresh food so you won't give yourself a headache.

I recently bought some Nutriberries (with cranberry, mango etc.) and my eastern was the only bird who went straight for it. But he's a decent eater anyway.

Hang in there. Do the best you can.

[straightdope]

Originally Posted by birdlady49

It literally took one of my Greys TEN YEARS to finally pick up a piece of broccoli. But you know what? I gave it to him everyday like clockwork. I don't know how long you tried various fruits/veggies, but you can't give up after a week or two. Try some of the less expensive fresh food so you won't give yourself a headache.

I recently bought some Nutriberries (with cranberry, mango etc.) and my eastern was the only bird who went straight for it. But he's a decent eater anyway.

Hang in there. Do the best you can.

thanks, hey i have all 4 of the Nutriberries mixes & they both love them. 1 thing i have noticed is that they do like a varity of different foods. so i will try again with the veggies. & see what happens.

again thanks & Merry Christmas :