HELP!!! 8 yr old cockatiel plucked all his flight feathers

[StefanieBg]

It happened while my husband and I were on a 5 day vacation. My (adult) son was taking care of Winthrop, my 8 yr old cockatiel.
He has a 9 year old cockatiel and Winthrop loves my son.
One morning my son walked into the room where Winthrop was, and there were feathers all over the place. (I know nothing more about the circumstance).
Winthrop has never plucked all his feathers like this before now.
But now, I have a cockatiel that cannot fly or even flutter to the ground, he FALLS!! This terrifies me! I’m so afraid he’s going to injure himself!
I do normally keep his wings trimmed, but he’s a strong flyer, and a bit bigger than average, I think because he’s a white face pearl.
I normally have Winthrop out of his cage hanging out with me every day, so now, I don’t know what to do…I want him out with me but am so afraid he’ll get hurt.
My hope is that his feathers will grow back quickly…
Please, has anyone had this experience with their cockatiel? OR, any expert advice or counsel would be greatly appreciated! TIA
~Stefanie

 

[Xoetix]

Since he’s usually clipped, is it possible that a flight feather was growing in and felt uncomfortable to him so he ended up pulling them all out?

 

[StefanieBg]

I honestly think that he was put in a different room, possibly along with my son’s bird, and Winthrop isn’t used to other birds. So the combination of me (his flock) being absent, him being placed in an unknown environment, and another bird being present, he plucked all his flight feathers in a stressful craze.

 

[Shezbug]

You will want to pad up any area he is hanging out in and hopefully you can keep all his perches low and keep him on surfaces he is unlikely to fall from. Clipped and plucked birds are at serious risk for damage to their keel if they fall or crash so I really think the best you can do is to minimise his chances of being on anything he can fall off. Use blankets, pillows or a cage when unsupervised to keep him safe.
Plucking is not always a behaviour issue, it is often associated with pain so I personally would be considering an avian vet check up to rule out any physical issues.

 

[StefanieBg]

You will want to pad up any area he is hanging out in and hopefully you can keep all his perches low and keep him on surfaces he is unlikely to fall from. Clipped and plucked birds are at serious risk for damage to their keel if they fall or crash so I really think the best you can do is to minimise his chances of being on anything he can fall off. Use blankets, pillows or a cage when unsupervised to keep him safe.
Plucking is not always a behaviour issue, it is often associated with pain so I personally would be considering an avian vet check up to rule out any physical issues.

Thank you! I will place pillows, blankets etc around him until he regains the ability to at least flutter to a soft landing. I will also look into avian vet check. I’ve only had him seen once several years ago, but I think it was a regular vet with avian knowledge…I need to find a real avian vet.

 

[orphansparrow]

Oh I’m sorry
Poor Winthrop and poor you!

Is there a reason he is usually clipped?

I have no further advice but to love on him and for me, an appointment with an avian vet always makes me feel better in a hard situation…

 

[caspin22]

My guess is that he had a night fright and the flapping caused them to fall out. The same happened with one of our tiels last year...she flapped so hard against toys and perches that by the time we got in to her, every flight feather was on the bottom of the cage (but thankfully none of them were blood feathers).

 

[Aestatis]

I agree with @caspin22 . It seems pretty unusual for a bird to go right to plucking flight feathers. Usually pluckers start with areas like the chest and under the wings. It is very possible for a bad night fright to cause all flight feathers to be lost. It's possible that you guys being gone made the house sound different enough that he was extra jumpy at sights and sounds during the night.

Poor guy I am confident he will recover. Since the feathers fell out new ones will start growing.

 

[Pixiebeak]

It is very painful to pull flight feathers, even dedicated pluckers who have removed all body leg and back feathers often leave tail and primary alone , or barber them but don't pull them .

Is there any other pets in the home like dogs or cats that could have done this ?

Can you share a picture of your birdie?