Help , my female cockatiel has been losing neck feathers !

[Lexigwt]

Hello Readers,

My female cockatiel , Piper, lives with her mate, Lupin, in a cage together . When I was picking up Piper to put her back into her cage, I noticed that she had some feathers missing from her neck . I know Lupin sometimes grooms Piper , is he plucking her feathers or is it some type of disease?? Here is a picture below.

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

That is quite a loss of feathers. You should spend a good bit of time observing them from across the room and see if he is indeed plucking her. If he isn't then I would suspect something else going on health wise. How long have you had them and where did you get them from?

 

[Cynthia & Percy]

I would take her to the vet to rule out any physical problems

 

[Lexigwt]

[QUOTE="Mockinbirdiva, post: 3211182, member: 530"

Hello, thank you for responding! I got the pair from our local pet store about 2 years ago. I just noticed her neck feathers missing a few weeks ago . I’m quite confused because I’ve never seen this before in her . Yes he is indeed preening her every night. Do you think this is a health issue ? If so , what could it be ?

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

[QUOTE="Mockinbirdiva, post: 3211182, member: 530"

Hello, thank you for responding! I got the pair from our local pet store about 2 years ago. I just noticed her neck feathers missing a few weeks ago . I’m quite confused because I’ve never seen this before in her . Yes he is indeed preening her every night. Do you think this is a health issue ? If so , what could it be ?

If you don't see your male actually pulling feathers off her ( mutual preening is normal) as in plucking her feathers out then I would think she does have a health issue. We can't guess what the problem could be, you'll need to take her to an avian vet and give them the full details of her appearance when you bought her, when you noticed all the feathers missing, how your pair are together and whether or not the other tiel pulls feathers out. The more information you can provide a vet ( including the exact diet), they will likely want to do a blood panel, check for bacteria present, giardia test.

@Monica @enigma731

 

[enigma731]

Have they been mating?

 

[Monica]

It does look like over-preening to me but a vet can confirm that.