stress bars?

[lilmama]

Ok, I keep reading in some of these posts about stress bars. Are they those black marks across the ends of the wing feathers? Now that my sun is molting, how can I prevent them? Any info. would be helpful.

[Lola Plus 10]

yes they are.
Proper Diet
Proper Attention
Regular Bathing

[jessica313]

do a search in the forums for stress bars. i didnt know much about them until a few weeks ago. i did a search for them and came up with a lot of good info

[lilmama]

huh, I did a search and didn't come up with much. I'll try again.

[Monica]

http://birdboard.com/forum/showthrea...bar#post254202

Read this entire thread
http://birdboard.com/forum/showthrea...ght=stress+bar

[lilmama]

Thanks Monica. I read that thread and tried the search again, I must have done something wrong the first time.

Ok, Tuc definitely has stress bars but since this is his first molt I don't think I did anything to cause them. His beak is kinda rough looking and peely too. I just want to make sure I am doing everything right so here is a sample of what Tuc eats. In the morning he gets a piece of banana, then I usually give him a bit of oatmeal or small piece of whole wheat bread or some egg a little later (usually he gets some of what I give my son ). He has a cup of seed/pellet mix in his cage all day (Hartz Bonanza seed and ZuPreem avian entrees garden goodness pellets). He does not eat the pellets at all. In the evening I alternate 1 day raw veggies-carrots, broccoli, and sometimes spinach mixed together and the next brown rice and mixed veggies. I usually give him a piece of orange or apple mid day for a snack. He will not eat pellet. The first kind I tried was Kaytee exact conversion and weaning (smells like fruty pebbles). He wouldn't touch it no matter what I did to it. I even tried mixing them in his oatmeal. He doesn't eat the current pellets though he might get some of the dried veggies out of it. He really dosen't eat all of the seeds in his mix either, mostly just the small round tan ones.
I want to be a good parrot mommy so please let me know if this sounds like a good diet and what I can do to improve

[Monica]

Other than possibly more fresh foods, and a different seed mix (last I knew Hartz seed has dyes in it to try to make the food look more appetizing supposedly... on top of that it's full of sunflower seeds - so I myself don't care for it) I can't say there's too much to change, although I'd be a bit cautious about spinach. I once heard something about spinach, wasn't sure if cooking made a difference or not, but to feed it sparingly at most.

I can see the stress bars on Tuc. Where they there when you bought them? I am assuming so, and so with a healthy diet and bathes they should disappear.

[lilmama]

Yes, the stress bars were there, he was just a baby. I actually havn't given him spinach for a while so thanks for the warning, I'll look into that. Before I started reading all the threads about seed here I thought all seed was the same, I see I was wrong. Anyone recommend a good brand I can get at petco? I wasn't really worried about sunflower seeds since Tuc dosen't eat them. What other fresh foods? He eats corn, limabeans, carrots, and broccoli mostly. Is the peely looking beak normal? I know, lots of questions!!

[radiogirl995]

The other thing that causes stress bars is...well...stress. So keep in mind that just coming home with you from the breeder and weaning could stress him out enough to cause them.

Doesn't mean you're a bad mommy in any way! It's just the stresses that come with bringing home baby.

[Doyle'sMommy]

Wow, I had never heard of stress bars. Doyle has some, but he hasn't molted yet- so I don't know if they are from me or not. I know his diet could use some more fresh veggies, so we will have to work on that.