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PurpleHeart, that's quite an interesting read! I'd certainly be interested in knowing just HOW closely the two species MAY be related! I've always thought the eclectus beak has been "softer" than other parrot species, such as macaws and cockatoos...

I would be more interested in finding reading about the gland at the lores...

Is the eclectus hen in question going to be seen by an avian vet???

I'm actually interested in seeing pictures of this hen now... although I'm no expert on eclectus! Good fully body shot, close up of the eyes, close up of the tail, and an image of the wings spread, if possible?



Thanks for the complements PurpleHeart! I learn a lot from people like you! The pictures of Charlie were for help in comparison of what rubbed off feathers can look like... and the original pictures are 2288x1712. I'd certainly love though to persue a career in aviculture, or a little more specific, ornithology! I'd love to study parrots abroad!

I will post what the vet says after friday.

Ok here is an update on what happended.


I took her to the vet and he ran some bloodwork and tests. They all came back fine and his opinion was the growths on each bottom eyelid where caused by malnutritian.

He of course handled her and so I got a very good upclose look at what was going on with her eyes. There was tumor like bumpy growths under each eye, a thickening of the skin if you will that he says can be caued by lack of certain nutrients in the diet over a long term. He also looked inside her mouth (and showed me) to check the little cillia like things that surround the opening in the back of the mouth, and said they where much smaller then they where supposed to be, which is another sign of malnutritian.

He said the tests showed nothing else wrong with her and that her liver even seemed to be ok. I will be taking her in to get the grows removed this thursday and hopefully with the diet of fresh foods she is now on, we wont be seeing this problem again.

And hopefully the feathers around her eyes will grow back.

The bird also had an "open band" on her foot, and when he say that and examined her, he seemed to think she was a wild caught import. I'm not sure I agree, are most open banded birds from the importation days?

He also thought she was a soloman island eclectus from the examination.

So anyways, thats what we think the issue is, poor diet. All my birds are on pellets now with also fresh fruit/veggies offered.

I hope you can feed her back to good health. If she were mine, I'd want the growths that are removed to be tested for mycobacterium avium. Takes about 7 wks to get results, but if it's TB, you want to know. Though growths in the eye are a rare way for TB to manifest, I lost one that way, so I'm very anxious about any growths in birds' eyes

Paca

He did take smears of the growths/eyes to get tested and I think he said he is sending samples of the growths to the pathologists too.

Still hopeing its just diet and nothing more sinister.

This bird did spend (im told) 99% of her time in the nest box (i.e. no sunlight) being feed dry foods by her mate.

Hopefully sunlight + fresh foods = bird becomes a healthy happy breeder one day.

I do love all my animals and want them to have good lives.

Good to hear the results are well! With a good diet hopefully she'll be in tip top shape soon!

Round open leg bands means that the bird is an import... doesn't necessarily mean a wild caught but most likely one... and that she'd be 16+ years old.

Flat/square leg bands, closed or open, are breeder bands.


I've seen up close the import bands, and my mitred conure is a first generation captive born bird... both his parents were wild caughts. He has a flat round/closed band.

ill look today to see if she has round or flat/square leg bands. I guess if she is wild caught that is a good thing, as far as genetic diversity goes.

Edit: yes she has an open "rounded" band. The dr. agreed that his is almost a sure sign she is an import. I guess the theory she is a hybrid gets more remote then.

By all accounts, she "should" be a good breeder. An import that is at least 16 years old.... hopefully I'll have alot of babies in time.

Imported birds could be wild caught or ones shipped in from another country. If wildcaught, this implies that either the bird was taken out of a nest and handraised by humans (before being shipped to the US), or captured (most likely) at night (or caught within a trap) as an adult.

Therefore, just because she's wildcaught doesn't necessarily mean she'll be a good mother...

Being that eclectus are various subspecies within a species means that they may breed in the wild with other subspecies so you may not actually have a pure eclectus... although it may be a better chance of having a pure considering we easily hybridize them as it's hard to tell the males apart.

Either way, keep us updated!

Does the condition just appear? Is it seasonal? A common problem that eclectus' have in the fall/winter is a minor swelling of the area around the eye accompanied by slight feather loss. This recently happened to my female (I was quite distraught), when I spoke to my boss, a board certified avain vet, he mentioned this condition to me. We did scrapings of the tissue around the eye to verify that parasites or infection were not the problem. All of the labs came back normal. I set up a humidifier near her cage that I run for a few hours each day to add a little moisture to her environment. Once I started doing this, the condition eventually cleared up. While there is no guarantee that this will work for every bird, it's worth a try if this is the problem your bird has as well. If she is not bothered by the feather loss (itching, irritated, picking, etc.) it may be something that you just have to deal with until it possibly clears up on it's own. I would ask your avian vet about it and the condition in general to get his/her take on it. Good Luck!!!

Great posts Dutch! Great to see many caring eclectus lovers out there willing to help others......

Jeremy
Genesis Parrot