B & G Macaw turning yellow

[pitch]

Hello to everyone!

I am new on this forum; I hope someone can help me with my problem. My situation is somewhat different from everybody else as I live in the middle of the B & G's natural habitat. 2 years ago I found 2 baby macaws that had fallen from a nest. No mother or father in sight. I took them home and started hand feeding them. Unfortunately when they learned how to fly, one landed in our lake and got eaten by a crocodile. The other macaw (called Louro) was very sad, so we spoiled him and never left him alone. A couple of months after, we managed to find another macaw that we called Lala. Lala was living loose on another farm. As it's illegal to have macaws without the necessary paperwork, she was threatened to be put in a zoo. We received the authority to take her in. The only thing we know about her is that she/he is about 5 years old. When we got her, her feathers were extremely hard but looked normal. I don't know if Lala is a girl and unfortunately there is no way of knowing as I cannot have a DNA test. We fed her the same diet as Louro. After 4 months with us, some of her feathers turned yellow. Mostly on the top of her head and on the tip of the wings and the tail. The feathers are not completely yellow, but rather it looks like it's stained. Lala looks very healthy, speaks and plays a lot. She(????) fell madly in love with Louro (now 2 years old) and is often trying to mate. As Louro is too young, he doesn't understand. Lala has been with us for slightly more than a year now and she is still kind of yellowish. Has anyone experienced something like this? She doesn't look depressed or even frustrated,... What can cause this?

PS: Lala is much smaller than Louro she is also has a thinner head. That's why I think Lala is a she. Louro is very active, only likes women and is slightly more violent. They both spend hors grooming each other Lala often regurgitates for Louro. Louro tries to do the same but nothing comes out of his beak.

Any opinion welcome. Thank you very much.

[Alan]

I am not sure about the yellowish part but I have been told by my friend that breeds macaws that if they have a flat head it's male and rounded head a female. I will see if I have a good pic of my 3 babies 2 are female and 1 is male.

[pitch]

Thank you Alan,
Lala's beak and overall head is just narrower.

Ohhh, I forgot to mention that both of them live in doors since the crocodile incident. They come and go inside home as the wish. The front veranda is closed so it's like a huge outside cage. I do have wild macaws flying outside all the time especially during mating season (from May until August).

[expressmailtome]

What do you feed them? It could be a diet issue. I have heard of this type of thing in eclectus parrots due to diet.

Matt

[pitch]

Main diet;

50% fruit and vegetables (Apples, carrots, pears, oranges, broccoli, papaya, melon, pumpkin, banana,...) depends on what I find.
50% nuts mainly Brazilian nuts, almonds, hazelnuts.
All that mixed with boiled whole grain rice.
Once a day extra vitamins mixed in food.

About once a week cooked oatmeal, cooked egg white

treats; corn, sunflower seeds, Buriti fruit (the macaw's natural food), other local palm tree fruits.


Only Lala is yellowish, Louro is normal. They both eat the same food.

Stephanie

[Congobongo]

I would say if she is healthy and happy and eating well, energetic and doing normal bird stuff, don't worry about her color. I have a Green Winged that for some odd reason has one PINK feather. Doesn't bother me or her. She is healthy and happy and that is all that matters.

If this bird was a juvenile, maybe she just now has her adult plumes. Do you really need to know the sex?

[KimM]

Foxers Artist could probably give you some good insight on this. If her plumage is shiny, smooth, and no stress bars and she's eating well, active, etc. it just may be the way she is. Elliot has a couple of misplaced funky feathers, but this is due to his wing disability. But they are shiny, no stress bars and he's as active as can be.
My first guess would have been diet as well. Are you able to get your hands on any type of pellets like Harrison's or Kaytee, etc?

[kellywess]

It is possible I would think that maybe he could somewhat be "pied." Does the bird have any pink colored toes? As far as the size, there are from what I have been told a species of Blue and Golds known as Bolivian Blue and Golds, which are said to be much larger.

Just my thoughts.

Can you possibly post a picture or two?

[Newticus]

I could be wrong about this but I think I heard something about miscoloured feathers being an indication of illness, especially liver function. Again I could be wrong but I believe that's what I read some where.

Melanie

[Newticus]

I found this web site, take a look and see if this describes what's happening to Lala.
It also says that this happens to females more then males most likely do to hormonal behaviour.


http://www.avianweb.com/liverdisease.html

Hope that helps, if possible get Lala to a vet to check.
Melanie