Cockatiel may be overpreening?

[Cailyn Dv]

Hey
I have two cockatiels and I have recently noticed that with my one, Stormy, it seems like she may be overpreening. I don't know much about this as I have never had a bird pluck or preen like this. She is not plucking or barbering but rather roughly preening the feathers. The strands on a feather are held together and she seems to be pulling those strands apart on mostly her long tail and wing feathers. I don't know if this will lead up to plucking. I have done a bit of research and people say some reasons this may be happening are enrichment, diet and health. They have shredding toys in their cage, preening toys and foraging toys. They also have a foraging tray and are out of the cage quite often and fly around a lot. She seems healthy although I know that they can hide illnesses. Since they are not on the healthiest diet, I ordered better pellets and they arrived today. They also eat some veges but not a lot. Any ideas on what this could be and why she could be doing it. Anything is appreciated!

 

[Shezbug]

Can you share a video of the behavior?

Do you still feed seed to your tiels or just pellet and veggies?
Tiels are not commonly known to feather pluck or barber but that does not mean it does not ever happen with them, photos of the feathers and video of the behavior will be very helpful.

 

[Cailyn Dv]

Can you share a video of the behavior?

Do you still feed seed to your tiels or just pellet and veggies?
Tiels are not commonly known to feather pluck or barber but that does not mean it does not ever happen with them, photos of the feathers and video of the behavior will be very helpful.

I do still feed then seeds as well as pellets and veges but the pellets only arrived today so I am still introducing them. She is the top one and even though it looks very minor I just wanted to catch something before it gets worse.

 

[Shezbug]

Glad you are still feeding seeds too- tiels need them in their diets just as budgies do.

I can't see how she is actually preening but from what I do see in the pics her feathers do not seem to be barbered or damaged in any way - video may help if you say she is preening too roughly or splitting feathers while preening etc When they are preening properly it is serious business for them.

 

[Cailyn Dv]

Glad you are still feeding seeds too- tiels need them in their diets just as budgies do.

I can't see how she is actually preening but from what I do see in the pics her feathers do not seem to be barbered or damaged in any way - video may help if you say she is preening too roughly or splitting feathers while preening etc When they are preening properly it is serious business for them.

Yeah, it is hard to see as when I came to take a picture she stopped preening her and I had to wait a bit for her to start again and she didn't start preening the feathers which are worst. I will monitor her and if it gets worse I will send a video.
Thanks again for trying to help!

 

[CrazyKozmo]

The air tends to dry out in the winter (also the use of forced air heat is drying). I would suggest adding a humidifier to the area...their feathers and skin can get dry and itchy. Also, increase bathing opportunities can help. My mom had a cockatiel who loved to be misted daily...he had gorgeous feathers!!

 

[Cailyn Dv]

The air tends to dry out in the winter (also the use of forced air heat is drying). I would suggest adding a humidifier to the area...their feathers and skin can get dry and itchy. Also, increase bathing opportunities can help. My mom had a cockatiel who loved to be misted daily...he had gorgeous feathers!!

Thank you for this, I will get a humidifier. Out of my two tiels she is the one who doesn't like baths as much. Each day I give them the opportunity to bath and my other bird Marshmallow does but she does not. Since I live in Australia she may have dry skin because of the heat as it is summer now.

 

[CrazyKozmo]

@Cailyn Dv, I didn't realize that you were in Australia. I'm in Washington state, USA...totally different weather! It's winter here and we finally got snow! I believe that @Shezbug and @Zara are in your neck of the woods. You may want to try a gentle misting on your cockatiels....they might like it (or, at least, get used to it).

 

[Zara]

@Zara are in your neck of the woods

Sorry, I´m in Europe but I live on the Med and we have hot summers here too. I´m always sure to have plenty of bathing opportunities for the birds.

 

[Shezbug]

@CrazyKozmo Zara is in Spain

It’s really warming up here in Aus and depending which part of Aus will greatly depend on the humidity levels.
It’s definitely perfect weather to offer extra bathing opportunities though!

All my birds are molting like crazy and many other I know of with birds here all have homes that look like their pillows exploded- all my guys tend to preen more seriously and really appreciate the extra water while they’re molting.

 

[Cailyn Dv]

@Cailyn Dv, I didn't realize that you were in Australia. I'm in Washington state, USA...totally different weather! It's winter here and we finally got snow! I believe that @Shezbug and @Zara are in your neck of the woods. You may want to try a gentle misting on your cockatiels....they might like it (or, at least, get used to it).

Yeah it is very hot here these days so we usually have our aircon on and the humidity is usually around 70% where I live.

 

[CrazyKozmo]

@Zara I apologize. I don't know why I thought you lived in Australia! I just knew that it wasn't in the USA....

 

[Cailyn Dv]

Hey again,
I managed to get a picture of her feather's and she has kept preening like that. It's probably nothing major but I just wanted to make sure. The photo is her feathers after preening and I also tried to get a video but I wasn't able to attach it because it wouldn't let me. Also her wings used to be trimmed but have been growing in for a while now so that is why there may be some shorter wing feathers.