Strange cockatiel behavior

[SmokeyJef]

Recently, I adopted my late grandmother's cockatiel, Buster. Due to the circumstances of the situation, he was without food for no longer than a day. When I got him to my house, I noticed he had been molting quite a bit. I figured it was stress molting, given the fact that he didn't have food and suddenly found himself in a new environment surrounded by new people. I talk to him daily, he even cat-calls me when I enter the room. After a while, he started looking better; however, as of late, he has been looking worse. In addition, he's been chirping at my parakeets in a very odd manner. They like to sing to the radio, so more often than not, the radio is on and they're chirping away. However, Buster has started chirping at them immediately after they chirp. In addition, he spends a lot of his time on his food bowl.

Is this innocent bird chatter, or is this some sort of conflict? They aren't in the same room, would it help any if they were in the room together? While I'm worried about Buster, I don't know why he's behaving this way. I thought maybe it was because of hearing the other birds and not seeing them.

Something I also just thought of: he had a mirror at one point. He started stress molting because he thought it was a mate but wasn't getting the response he wanted. (At least that's what I was told). I dunno. Trying to provide as much information as possible as to get the most accurate answer I possibly can.

Sorry if this is a larger issue that I should contact a vet for, and I'm also sorry if this was the wrong board. I won't be offended should it need moving. Thanks in advance.

[Pajarita]

Well, for one thing, I don't believe there is such a thing as a 'stress' molt. This was a phrase often used instead of soft molt but it was not really caused by actual stress, it happened to birds that were kept at a human light schedule and/or fed too much protein.

Now, molt is a perfectly natural thing for birds to go through on an annual basis, the problem is when the bird's endocrine system is not attuned to the seasons (molt should always happen at the end of the breeding season and in preparation for the resting season, aka winter -my birds are molting right now) or when the bird has had a bad diet. I got a sun conure that started molting a few weeks after she came to me even though it was not the season for it but that happened because she had not been given enough protein in her diet for a couple of years so, when she started getting enough (feathers are made of protein), she went into molt (she is also molting now which tells me that now her endocrine system is in tune with the seasons). Sometimes, parrots go through a partial molt around mid-January (this is because the winter solstice happens at the end of December and there is a difference in daylight hours of more than 20 minutes by mid-January). And, sometimes, parrots molt just a bit all the time (this is called 'soft molt'). This is very common with budgies and cockatiels when they are given too much protein and little else to eat.

Why don't you tell us what his light schedule and diet is so we can try to determine the reason for his molting and behavior? But, if the molt is happening right now, it's perfectly normal.

[SmokeyJef]

His light schedule is actually 100% solar. I set him right next to a window, so when the sun comes up, he gets up. However, I work 3rd shift, so I tend to come home at 4-5am, which may not help. As for the diet, he eats the Bonanza brand food. I don't fill up his bowl all the way, only enough to cover the bottom of the dish. As I mentioned before, I talk to him every day, which does involve feeding him. It tends to take him a day or two to go through what I give him, so he isn't starving by any means, but he isn't overfed either.

Edit: I did want to mention that the dish is a pretty big dish for cockatiels. I'm fairly certain his cage is meant for parrots as it is quite large, so the bowls that come with it are also parrot-sized. That's why I don't give him a ton of food.

Also wanted to point out that my parakeets don't seem to be acting any differently. They're shy, but they're acting normal.

[liz]

I do believe that birds of different species will try to communicate with each other. Putting them in the same room will give him a little enrichment just to watch them.

[Wolf]

I am in agreement that the cockatiel will be better off in the same room as the budgies, but only after quarantine is over. If you have had the cockatiel for 30 days or longer in a different room, then it should be safe to move him into the same room as the budgies. Of course a vet check during the initial 30 days to make sure that he is healthy would help as well.

A cockatiel is very flock oriented and is going to want to be part of whatever flock that is available to them, whether it is other cockatiels or budgies or any other species of bird. But I also always get concerned about cockatiels and other parrots as even budgies are more aggressive than cockatiels and can easily bully them. A cockatiel can not defend itself from any other species of parrot that I am aware of.

I don't know anything about Bonanza brand foods, but most food manufactures produce many different food products, so for us to say more than a general statement about commercial parrot diets, we would need to know the exact food that you are using. Generally speaking most commercial feeds are not up to the task of providing any of your birds with an adequate diet especially if that is all that they get to eat. Neither pellets nor seed mixes are recommended to comprise more than 30% of any parrots daily diet. In addition to this free feeding parrots pellets or seeds is not good as they are too high in fats and/ or proteins and this often leads to problems such as liver disease, heart disease, kidney failure and diabetes in parrots. So I would recommend that you do some research on your birds natural diet and to ask lots of question in regards to their diets.

[SmokeyJef]

He gets fed the cockatiel diet "balanced nutrition" food. If that isn't specific enough, I'm not sure what I'd be looking for, as those are the only subtitles I can find. It slipped my mind at the time, but I also give him a small handful of Kaytee Nature's Benefits treats (papaya, peanuts and mango) that "help to support general health" (quoth the box). I plan on taking him to the vet as soon as I'm able to afford it.

My main concern with putting the birds in the same room is that Buster can be a tad aggressive. He's not a fan of hands, and as far as I know, has been by himself a majority of his life (he had a partner that, incidentally, I let out about 12 years ago. I was a little brat). I'm not sure how he would react to seeing these new birds all of a sudden, my main thought is that he thinks they're competition for food. As I mentioned in my original post, he sits on his food bowl while they chatter. It's only been a week or two, so I'm going to give it more time before I even consider moving any birds around.

If you had to recommend food(s), what would they be? Should there be more to his diet than there already is? I was thrown into this cockatiel thing rather unexpectedly, so I'm less knowledgeable about cockatiels than I am about my budgies.

[Pajarita]

Bonanza is the name Hartz gives to its bird food and I have to tell you that it's not a good one (it's nothing but low quality seeds and the 'complete nutrition' claim is not true). The treats you mention are dry fruits treated with sulfites - again, not good. You see, the thing about bird food is that because the industry is unregulated, manufacturers can claim anything they want even if the food itself is not good for the bird.

I had a flock of more than 30 cockatiels and they all ate gloop with greens for breakfast (they are not big on fruits but they LOVE greens and would eat all the veggies in the gloop) and a good quality seed mix for dinner (I used ABBA 1600 C).

Now, I don't know exactly what you meant or if I misunderstood so, please, correct me if I am wrong but putting a bird's cage next to a window doesn't mean the bird is kept at a solar schedule because for this to work it implies no artificial lights at night (sometimes, a street lamp light shines into the room and you need to be careful about that -I cover the cages with a black out material) or during dawn, artificial lights (which should be a good quality full spectrum) when the sun is already out and rising high - then, lights off about 2 hours before dusk (this time of the year it's at 5 pm), dinner one hour before the sunset and no lights whatsoever all night long and until the next morning when the whole cycle starts again. This means that, if you get home at 5 pm from work, you won't be able to interact with him in the evening at all - which would be terribly lonely for him. Have you considered getting him a female for companionship? It's actually quite easy to stop them from reproducing because all you have to do is switch the real eggs they lay for fake ones (they sell them online) and they are so much happier when they have a mate...

[SmokeyJef]

No, artificial light from the outside isn't an issue. Artificial light during dawn/dusk also isn't an issue. I interact with him in the mornings and afternoons, generally between 8am-3pm. The room he's in generally doesn't have lights on, as the window in the room is a majority of the wall. I would get him a partner, but he's very old and I'm very broke. As far as I can remember, my grandmother has always had the birds; then I, the little prick that I was, let one of them out. Ever since, he's been a single bird. That was a long time ago.

[Pajarita]

I see... well, you might get lucky and find somebody who wants to give you a bird for free.

[SmokeyJef]

Update: I've moved the budgies into the room with the cockatiel. Initially they were all thinking "What the....?" but they've mostly been chirping and acting normally. Yay.

However, Buster's feathers haven't been getting better. I've been putting small slices of apple in his food bowl along with the Bonanza food, but he won't eat the apple.