Cockatiels ??? Over Preening

[Paulette]

This morning Zazu is missing many feathers around her ear area, so much that you can see the ear canals. I'd wrapped ea bird in a towel to trim nails and I looked there to see if I was the cause of the feather loss (because Zazu fought the most), but there were none. I'd cleaned grates and trays yesterday too so I looked in the bottom of their cage, but no little orange cheek patch feathers there either. But...then I saw him preening her in that ear area this morning, she had her head tilted and let him have at it, and thus have separated them and moved her to the other side of the room. Jack rarely preens her ever. He is my whistler and is usually very sweet. All of my tiels are very sweet. Is this unusual? They came with their own separate cages, but have been together in one cage for 2 months and gotten along fine. Jack snaps at anyone who walks by, but he's a big faker. What do you guys with tiels think?

[Paulette]

Ok.....you guys are making me bonko......lots of readers, but no replys.. :x ...come on now.....somebody has got to have an opinion. :whistle:

[sdgilley]

Hey Paulette,
I know nothing of tiels, but I have a question: Did you find feathers in the bottom of the cage at all when you noticed Zazu missing feathers? Peter started plucking himself when I did some deep cleaning that stirred up dust. The feathers landed where he sat by himself.

Is she still missing feathers? If so, I'd take her to the vet. If not, maybe it was an incident. I'm such a worry-wart, I headed to the vet with Peter. It was worth it for me, my vet's great and was real accessible by phone regarding this for me.

I think with Peter, it was a reaction to the dust. I had moved furniture, but I have done that off and on, and am fairly certain it was a reaction to dust. Have you done anything that might have caused this as a reaction?

Good luck.

[Paulette]

Hi Suzanne, thanks for your reply. I did do thorough cleaning the day before. Vacuuming the room, cleaning grates and trays. I have to use a little vac to get the seeds away from the baseboards, it does have a strong exhaust and I try to keep it pointed away from the cages. I could not find the missing feathers anywhere and did look in the cage, it was as if they'd been eaten. She looks better today and the missing feathers are at the back half of the cheek patch so the ear canal can be seen and some around the back of the head. I am no where near an avian vet, however the vet I take my dog and cat to is very practical and very good. I just haven't gone that route because when I called up there before I adopted Bam-Bam (another tiel) they said they've seen a few birds....well I guess that's better than them saying no we won't help you. And probably animal doctors know other animal doctors and could get some advise. When I saw the male biting at her and she had her head layed over so he could do so, I assumed he had pulled them out. She was perfectly feathers in tact the day before the cleaning, but I thorough vacuum every 2 or 3 days depending on how messy the birds are. Thanks.

[Paulette]

Ok....it's 6:45 pm CST....and I was letting them have some quality out of cage time together.....and fighting!!!!much to my surprise :x .....so I don't know what's going on....and have sent them to their individual cages. Sheesh!

[sdgilley]

It sounds like maybe the missing feathers were from the interaction between the birds. Keep watching (like I really need to tell you that :) ) and if she's not missing any more, it was probably just an incident.

If you look in the "Your Attention Please" forum, I think there is a link for looking up avian vets. It'd be good to have.

I hope she's doing okay!!!

[Paulette]

Thanks Suzanne.....The closest Avian Vet is 3 hours one way from me. My vet is very good, practical and well priced. I can seek help there. I wondered if it could be an ear mite thing? The articles I read said unlikely, but I saw Jack shaking his head yesterday and he's never done that before. I found some ear mite stuff in my pet stash and treated ea tiel yesterday. They are all doing fine today, even my cronic head shaker Bam-Bam (I got him 6-4-05 from a shelter and had done some research on head shaking, but what I read viewed it as a mannerism). I was hoping to gain lots of information at the bird show I visited recently, like meet breeders and visit with them and see who they use for their birds. You know make some connections for future use, (vets,breeders,clubs..etc.)but there was so much going on and I was distracted to say the least. There is another show coming in early October and maybe I can settle down and get some good information without buying any birds?!? Yea Right!!! I really wanted to get some cages too, the prices were unbelievable cheap; cheaper than used cages.....thanks

[Paulette]

I went to the Birdsnways site and linked into "Tiel Talk forum"...And I'm thinking I'm going to get some information from some tiel owners, right??...that forum is insane to try and follow!......you have to scroll through a zillion postings....it's not divided into categories at all.....it's not user friendly.....and when I asked about it or how to manuever there and even find my post/replys....the moderator just told me my post was in the archive section (and a cute little wings high at the end of her post, which I guess is suppose to excuse her not answering any of my questions about how to manuever the site) & their site SUCKS!....so I guess a cute little wings high is all you get... :rolleyes: ... because there are so many postings.....so I had to scroll through there only to find no one there as replied to my message other than a wishy washy one. Uhggggg!!! :x :x :x I really enjoy our lovebird site, and I spend too much time in here, but at least you can find your post easily......Thank you Flock Leaders/Adm's. for making this site fun and informative.

[Paulette]

Ok...I finally got some tips on manuvering the "Tiel Talk" forum at the birdsways site. If anyone is tired of reading about this....just say so and I'll get on with my life, with birds.....one tiel owner told me to remove the (8 in 1 Bird Protectors) immediately because they are moth balls and will kill your birds, I have used this item for years without any ill effects....another person said to not house lovebirds and tiels together (so I explained that they are not, only have play time together out of cages).....but she said use 1/3 aloe juice to 2/3 parts water in spray bottle to help irritated skin where feathers will be coming back in (apply daily while weather is warm & 3 times a week in winter for comfort and healing)....may have to refrigerate aloe juice.

Then I read a post that said "What's wrong with my bird" he's in the bottom of the cage hiding in a corner under a food cup. It was suggested the bird might be sick, but the reply was, No he's perfectly healthy.... and someone suggests this is nesting behavior, defending the cage. I put Zazu and Jack together for a few minutes today in one cage and this is the exact behavior Jack is displaying....plus hissing and pecking at the side of the cage. So, now I'm wondering if I have 2 hens together. Zazu is definataly a hen, she layed one egg right after I got them end of June and she is very quiet and only says "peep,peep" now and then. Jack is a whistler and says "Pretty Bird & Sweet Heart", so I assumed he was male and the lady I bought them from said they were female and male. She is letting him preen her head and squawks at him if he's too aggressive, and I saw him pull 2 more feathers so I've separated them again. My little blue parakeets have 2 eggs....so nesting is definately in the air so to speak.

[Paulette]

Update.....I'm finally getting somewhere with this plucking issue.....Sometimes the male will pluck the female if he wants to mate and she does not, or he will pluck because he was plucked and is repeating this behavior, and in doing so he might not be a good dad and may pluck any babies.......So advice was to keep them separated, but close so they can talk and possibly put them together at a later date and see how things go.......Whew!!...&....Sheesh!!!!...
and I finally got enough tips to use the Tiel Talk site.....it was almost rocket science, I tell ya! :rolleyes:...I guess I should have assumed it was mating behavior, but I've only had tiels since April.....but the bird room has been kind of crazy since the parakeets did the swishy-swishy dance.....and obviously each species does it a little bit differently. :p