Why does my Cockatiel pluck its feathers?

Question

Most of the time when I watch it, it is plucking its feathers out. Also it has some patches where he is missing feathers. Is this normal and healthy? If not what is its problem and is it severe?

Answer 1

they are a nervous bird; there may be something that is causing the bird a lot of stress. Have you changed something lately?

Answer 2

There are several thoughts about why birds pluck their feathers. It all boils down to being the fact that are not happy. If the problem continues it can cause problems with the fathers ever growing back.

Make sure your cage is the correct size. Make sure that the is getting a healthy diet also. I would suggest some toys in the cage for your bird. Bird toys from pet stores can be expensive, I have been known to go to the dollar tree and get small wiffle balls so they can play with them. Another good idea for toys are the baby toys that create a chain, you can link the toys together and hang it from the top of the cage.

Answer 3

This is NOT normal and healthy, what this means is the bird is in some kind of distress. Yes, this is severe. Problems might be lonelyness, boredom- which means you need to play with it more and add some toys. It could be a dietary problem- make sure the birds getting all the stuff it needs to eat. If this doesn't work then get another bird, hopefully one of the opposite sex. Good Luck

Answer 4

Take your bird to the vet to rule out any medical problems.

Make sure your bird is on a good diet of lots of fruits and veggies (no avocado, of course) with a healthy fortified diet, like Roudybush. (seeds are a BAD diet!)

Check for stressors in the birds life: drafts, preditors, boredom, loneliness, etc. Environmental stressors could be poor location (away from everyone, in the middle of everything, too sunny/too windy, hot/cold, etc), chemicals being used in your house, teflon on your pots/pans, his cage or toys could be made out of toxic metals.

THEN you can purchase toys he can "groom" or tear apart. My bird loves peacock feathers, bird pinatas, and his absolute favorite is a product called "shredders" - its woven dried palm leaf.
if you go to birddiaper.com they sell "sweaters" that protect the feathers from being plucked.

This is a serious problem, you should put your energy into trying to fix it!

Answer 5

regrettably male cockatiels will do this--acquaintances of mine who owned a pair of cockatiels forever ended up with 0.5-bald lady birds, and that i had to cut up my very very own 'tiels by using fact the male saved attempting to tear the female's head feathers out; she somewhat did extra injury to him in the process the direction of retaliation (I continuously theory it made him look like Igor), yet nonetheless, they have been ripping each and every others' feathers out! isolating them is somewhat the only way you may lead them to give up.

Answer 6

Tiels generally don't pluck because of psychological reasons. They are pretty content with most situations..my guess is that it's medical. Take it to the vet and have it tested....specifically for giardia.

Answer 7

Depressed

Answer 8

it can be a medical condition or diet problem,or even a mental thing like stress ... sudden changes in birds life can cause stress..their are bird vets/avian vet they are very expensive too..try to reduse stress if their is any...even if you simply moved the bird to a different spot in the house can be considered a change...get a premium cockateil food..and vitamin supplements too...and clean the cage at least once a week

Answer 9

probably becuase its goin 2 another bird stage n its gonna grow new hair..feather

Answer 10

get you're bird a mate. I breed all types of birds.
all the other answers are also good, but trust me that's how i make a living. i depend on my birds.