my cockatiel is fluffy & losing feathers??

[ilikeyoshi]

hi! i got a cockatiel recently (april 12th) and overall she's been doing pretty good, i think! she doesn't seem to be hand-tame at all, because she moves away when i put my hand in the cage (or lunges (never bites though), cus she's learned i flinch easily—i'm getting better though!), so i've been gaining her trust and trying to be gentle about it. her name's zelly and she's the prettiest cockatiel i've ever seen.

but i'm used to dogs and cats and the occasional small rodent, like a rabbit or rat or something, and birds have all these behaviors i couldn't have HOPED to know about going in, lol, so i've been looking stuff up nonstop for a month! but there's some stuff i just can't get a clear answer on? or at least, answers that make sense to me, haha. so i'm hoping the friendly people here (who helped me with my research before i got the bird! ) can help me out?

right, so, for the first couple days of having her she was completely quiet, which didn't surprise me because new EVERYTHING. she started shouting a lot every day after that, then in the last week, week and a half, she's been much quieter again. she fluffs up often (and has for weeks) but her face is clear (no runny nose, no cloudy eyes, she's very alert and attentive when i talk to her) and she eats and plays as recently as yesterday.

she's been crankier and more averse to my attempts to befriend her lately (more hissing, moving away and lunging), and about a week ago i noticed a few feathers on her cage floor. yesterday i woke up to a BUNCH of feathers—like, 10 or 15, mostly small, but 2-3 big ones. her "coat" is pretty as ever, no bald spots or anything, and she preens and grooms and stuff, but i've never seen her pluck any out. just kinda runs them through her beak like she's cleaning them. i read cockatiels molt a lil all year, with 2-3 heavy molting periods, but i can't find information on when those periods are? would molting right now (may 21st) be normal?

her poos are also REALLY big sometimes—i read that can be a sign of her maybe laying eggs soon, but it's only 2-3 big ones over the course of 2 or so days, and it's been that way for weeks. i don't know how long the "pregnancy" part, where the eggs exist inside the bird, lasts? (also, i'm unsure if birds CAN have eggs if they live by themselves. she's the only bird i have, and she doesn't have a mirror or anything. she's put her tailfeathers up in the air a lot for no reason i can figure out, but i'm not sure i've seen her rubbing on anything?)

lately (last 2-3 days) i haven't seen her standing on one foot, but she will perch with one foot on a perch (or her dishes) and the other on the cage wall?

i'm hesitant to take her to the vet because, while the car trip home when i got her went okay, getting her into her cage was obviously REALLY stressful for her. (screaming, flapping—she bit my dad THROUGH a (not especially thick) glove and his finger bled!) i was hoping i wouldn't have to force her out again until she was tamer and trusted me, and since i'm getting so many mixed signals (and it's been weeks and she hasn't gotten worse) i don't wanna just be a "parent-with-a-newborn-baby" kind of panicked and put her through the stress of a vet trip to find out she's fine?

her poo is fine (just big), she eats, she plays, she's attentive, she talks (even though she's quieter lately—should i be worried about chirrups that sound kind of, like, garbled? like if i spoke with a tickle in my throat?)—she doesn't really strike me as sick, and i'm okay with writing this all off as molting (cus her only symptoms are the feather loss, lethargy, fluffing (which isn't ALL the time, just, a lot—maybe because she's tired/uncomfortable because molting?)), i just am kinda paranoid and don't want to be wrong.

i've been trying to put her on a pellet diet (why don't breeders start them on pellet diets... why do they put them on seeds... why) cus i know it's soooo much better for her, but if i don't give her any/enough seeds, she barely eats the pellets and goes hungry (she scared me to death, making herself super weak early on) and i don't know what to do except make sure she has enough seeds too, but then she JUST eats those any leaves the pellets. does anyone have any recommendations for dealing with that? i really wanna get her off the seeds entirely (except as treats or snacks), but she's freaking me out starving herself when i try to wean her off the seeds!

ok, sorry, long thread... she was coughing/sneezing earlier, for a few minutes, but she stopped, and that's the only time it's ever happened, so i think she just got some dandruff in her nose or something. (there ARE feathers all over the place.)

anyways, thanks!

 

[ilikeyoshi]

teeny update: i just saw her standing on one foot!!! which i know (99% think?) means she feels strong enough to balance and rest her feet, so that's a good sign i think? she's fluffy right now too, but i'm really glad she's balancing on one foot without the cage bars. :')

 

[ilikeyoshi]

also, she keeps discharging this odd yellow substance? i've seen it twice in her water dish (she's standing over it right now because she just looooves to make me clean it 500 times a day, lol). it's yellow-y and looks like it'd be gooey & sticky if it wasn't in the water and i could get it on my finger? i might be able to get a picture before i clean the dish out... it's only a little bit. like the equivalent of a drop or two.

 

[Greycloud]

I suggest you get her to a vet ASAP. She sounds like she is ill. Do you have an avian vet in your area? We can suggest one if you need help.

 

[ilikeyoshi]

I suggest you get her to a vet ASAP. She sounds like she is ill. Do you have an avian vet in your area? We can suggest one if you need help.

i have an avian place i can take her, yes! i made sure i knew where one was before i got her. do you have any recommendations for making the process of moving her from her cage to her carrier and vice versa less stressful? she really hated it last time and it's why i absolutely didn't want to take her to somewhere unless i had to.

 

[Greycloud]

Sometimes we have to bite the bullet and towel them to get them in a crate. You can try putting millet in the crate and see if she will walk in. Good luck and let us know what the vet says.

 

[sunnysmom]

How is she doing today? If she's ill, let her eat all the seeds she wants. She needs to keep up her strength. Also, the "best" diet for a cockatiel is often debated but I personally feel that a cockatiels need seed in their diets. An all pellet diet can be hard on their kidneys just as an all seed diet can be hard on their livers. They should also have vegetables too- and fruit if they'll eat it but most tiels won't eat fruit. I hope she's doing okay.

 

[Tanya]

I can see that you really do care and are trying to do the right thing!

It could be any number of things... the yellow discharge is very concerning. Also, a healthy cockatiel won't spend much of the day fluffed and on one foot. Maybe only for a short nap in the afternoon, if even that. How old is your new friend? If she's a baby, than a little bit of steadying herself on the bars could be normal. But not standing that way for hours. And if she isn't a baby, that's a VERY serious symptom.

There may not be an easy way to transfer her... Catching her with a towel and then doing the transfer smoothly and quickly may be as good as it can be at this moment. She will hate it, yes. But it could save her life. A delay in getting to the vet could mean treatment is harder and the outcome not as good. With successful diagnosis and treatment you will have lots of time to build a relationship. She will forgive you for this catching!