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Snapped Feathers.

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Re: Snapped Feathers.

Postby EleriDragonfly » Sat Jan 04, 2014 1:11 pm

Well I don't think I can give enough attention to two Cockatiels. My Budgies are easy, they preffer each others company. But two Cockatiels would be to much for me, plus I'm comfortable with the amount of birds I have now.
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Re: Snapped Feathers.

Postby cml » Sat Jan 04, 2014 6:12 pm

How close are their cages? Perhaps move them closer so they feel more like a flock?
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Re: Snapped Feathers.

Postby EleriDragonfly » Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:15 pm

Their cages are about a foot apart, when they're out of their cages Luna tends to stay away from the budgies. She isn't keen on them, but they're quite curious about her.
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Re: Snapped Feathers.

Postby Pajarita » Sun Jan 05, 2014 10:49 am

EleriDragonfly wrote:Well I don't think I can give enough attention to two Cockatiels. My Budgies are easy, they preffer each others company. But two Cockatiels would be to much for me, plus I'm comfortable with the amount of birds I have now.



Most likely, you won't have to give them any attention whatsoever. Tiels do great without human intervention when they have companions of their own species.

I would not put the tiel with the budgies. Budgies are pesky little things and will most likely bother her more than make her company.
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Re: Snapped Feathers.

Postby EleriDragonfly » Sun Jan 05, 2014 3:16 pm

The reason I got Luna was so I could have a bird who would enjoy spending time with me, my budgies preffer each other. When I first got Wheatley I tried having him tame enough to enjoy my company, but he's never relaxed enough to enjoy my company.
I also don't have enough room. Luna's cage could house two cockatiels easily. but I don't have enough room for a third cage to keep a new bird in quarantine for a month. If I lived on my own I probably could, but I share a house with my sister and there just isn't space.
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Re: Snapped Feathers.

Postby Wolf » Sun Jan 05, 2014 8:09 pm

Hi

There are many people more qualified than I to help you with this and perhaps they will chime in on this. If you are not finding the broken pieces of feathers, I find myself thinking that they are being consumed, which leads me to think of a possible nutritional reason for tis problem, a deficiency of some sort.

hope this will point you in right direction.
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Re: Snapped Feathers.

Postby KimberlyAnn » Sun Jan 05, 2014 8:21 pm

Let's back up a moment. What happened two weeks ago? This would have been Christmas right? What changed in the routine? Was the cage moved closer to the other birds? Could that be steessing him out? Did you have people over? Was he left alone for awhile? Weather? Were candles burned? Is he getting baths or was there a period where he didn't get a bath? Sometimes we forget the small changes that to them, are large changes.

Have you noticed any other feathers barbed?
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Re: Snapped Feathers.

Postby EleriDragonfly » Mon Jan 06, 2014 3:26 pm

@KimberlyAnn I did move their cages to a warmer part of my room, I'd had Luna for a month and she wasn't bothered by it, and she and my budgies have always had cages close together and they just tend to ignore each other. I did put up a christmas tree, but she was more curious of it rather than scared. I'm not one for candles, unless we have a power cut. My sister burns candles, but on those days I don't take Luna downstairs with me.
The only people who come into my room are my sister, mum and my boyfriend. Luna gets on well with my mum and sister, and probably would get along well with my boyfriend, but as I said before he's afraid of birds and hates them.
She is left on her own for about 9 hours while I'm in work, but I have plenty of foraging toys for her, and always bring her out to spend about 3 hours with me.
I do have a bird bath, but she never uses it. I have tried using a spray bottle, but she's afraid of it. I've checked out her feathers, and it looks to be the first 3-4 feathers on her wings have been barbered, while her tail seems to have one that's snapped in the middle but hasn't fully come off.

@Wolf I have tried introducing her to fruit and vegetables, but it's a slow process. I'll eat and apple and hold a piece in my mouth, but she just tends to lick ir more than take a bite. I'm still working on getting her to eat healthier. If she is eating her feathers, then that's something I never knew they did.
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Re: Snapped Feathers.

Postby Wolf » Mon Jan 06, 2014 6:48 pm

If she hasn't had a bath in a while it is possible that she has dry itchy skin and that could be a contributing factor. Don't know how she is reacting to sprat bottle but I do Know that sometimes it feels so good to a bird to get spritzed down that they are all over their cage and that their extreme excitement leads us to think that they are afraid when this is not the case. You are there and know your bird much better than I, so you are better able to say if she is scared or not, but if her actions are different than her normal fear reactions , it may be that it feels so good that she can't contain herself and remain still or even calm.
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Re: Snapped Feathers.

Postby KimberlyAnn » Tue Jan 07, 2014 2:22 am

When you say warmer, do you mean near a heater or away from a window? This may be a factor.

What I would do is monitor the feathers. See if this is a continuing thing. It's so sad when something is wrong and they can't tell us. :/
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