Stress Marks

[Parrot Lady]

I'am sitting here trying to figure out why Brandi still has stress marks on her tail ? she eats good , she eats her pellets, veggies a little bit of seed mix and some of Kathies mixed nuts and veggies from mysafe bird store plus I have been putting flax seed in her veggies just a small amount from Avi Flax Gold the only thing I can think of is me getting her wings clipped may have stressed her out , I really don't think it's her diet so thats all I can come up with , I plan on asking the vet the next time she goes for a nail clip I'am not clipping her wings any more

any suggestions or ideas anyone ?

[Parrot Lady]

I did forget to mention Brandi has had stress marke since she was 8 weeks old , thats when we adopted her I thought they would be gone by now

[OtheG]

Has she molted all those tail feathers out already?

[Parrot Lady]

no I don't think so she has lost a few but not all of them

[Greywings]

Not all her feathers have the stress bars right? They don't molt all their feathers in a short time frame it can take over two years for those first tail & primary wing feathers to be replaced.

The molt (replacing old feathers with new) is influenced by season (daylight hours), temperature, diet, egg laying, species and sex. Also, different types of feathers have different molt rates. A chick's first molt may take over 2 years to complete in some species. The wing and tail feathers may be the last to completely molt out. I personally have had African greys over two years old with some of their first tail feathers retained.

Since African greys first tail feathers are edged with a sooty looking black tip, it is very easy to monitor the progress.

Living indoors, in climate-controlled homes, molting can be thrown off quite drastically. When the furnaces are turned on for winter and when the air-conditioners are cranked up for summer, the temperature changes may cause a more dramatic molting process.

Production of new feathers can cause the metabolic rate to increase 30%, so nutrition and stress should be watched. Of course, today we are feeding our birds much better diets; so don't go overboard in the worry department.

[OtheG]

Well said. My grey had stress bars on her tail too but when they molted out the new ones didn't have them. It did take a long time though.

[Terra1981]

when our macaw got sick and passed the vet showed me the stress lines on her feathers and quills and said its fever that causes them.

[judygram]

I bet when Brandi molts out all those feathers there will be no stress marks, just give it some time.

[Wulfgeist]

What do the stress marks look like? Anyone have pictures? Heard of them but not sure exactly what they are.

[Jayd]

Hi, think of tree rings, look for thin lines running across the width of the red tail feather..[most common]

[katana600]

This is very good information. I have been saving feathers for a study and had no idea the stress marks would be so subtle, or potentially last months after a stressful event. It is hard to get close enough to Gilbert for a close inspection and the vet hasn't mentioned this, but it could just be that with the circumstances and known stressors, it was just expected and not discussed. I will put this on my list of things to watch for improvement over time. Thanks for starting this thread and for the helpful posts from our friends.