my gws long tails break off and fall out????

[macawgirl]

hiya, ok i got sundance about 5 years ago, and he was abused. i recently had him treated for a bacterial infection and he is better. he has never been able to keep his long tail feathers ever. they always break off. now before he would run and hide under stuff which i know that could damage his long feathers. but in the last month he has only hid once under his cage and as always he has no long tails. he has all his feathers, he isnt feather picking or anything, they just break off. skyes tails are very long and have never broken off. unless he is just like his momma who has brittle nails that never grow long and stay.

anyone experience this with their macaw? could it be a lack of vitamins? or because he was brought up in a very small cage with a harlequin macaw before i got him? the vet said his growth is stunted and he has a bigger head then body so he is a little unproportionate. he weighs 2lbs which she says is good for HIS body type, he may have been the runt she said.

[Copper]

Hope he is in a huge cage now.
I'm not a vet, but when I first brough Angel-Rose home, her feathers were brittle and stressed, but I knew she was seriously lacking in vitamins too.
She went on Harrison's (the heavy duty kind!) for 6 months. She's been on the maintianance diet now for over a year... this is in addition to her steamed and raw veggies, occasional pasta, zupreem naturals and other 'table' foods/treats.
In addition, Macaws need more fats than most other birds to stay healthy. My GW's get an average of 5 nuts a day, usually almonds, walnuts or pecans. The B&Gs get 4 a day, and the greys get 3 each.
Angel-Rose weighs in at 1400 grams, and Hollywood at 1500 (just short of)
This year seemed a heavy moult for everyone here, so the percentage of Harrison's added to their feed was increased.
If everything checks out with him now, you might want to change to Harrison's and see if that makes a difference. Also.... Harrison's will kind of put them on a new mould cycle when you first start, but you will see a big difference in the new feathers when they come in, and after that inital moult, they go back to their regular cycle of new feathers... and the new ones are not as brittle.
Good luck!

[JadeandHarleysmom]

Harrison's ROCKS!

[KimM]

Totally agree with Copper. Get the Harrison's . My two are a little picky about which "flavor", so you may want to ask for samples to see which he prefers. Newt is in perfect feather and Elliot is getting there.

[macawgirl]

thanks guys im gonna go to the website and check it out. they get nuts and seeds and table scraps in edition to their zupreem diet. skye and sunny have a super huge cage they share, but very rarely are they locked in the cage. since i work at home they are out almost 99% of the time unless i go somewhere. i dont like caging them up. there are not my birds, they are my kids.