Anxiety Disorder Cockatiel

[Allears]

Billy gets a high quality cockatiel seed mix, which has both white and black sunflower seeds (mostly white). He was previously on a diet of 2 tablespoons of black sunflower seeds a day. Shocking I know and I don't think he was ever introduced to veg or fruit.
I've been putting apple in the cage for two years. His mate used to love it, but he won't touch fruit or veg. I thought he would have at least nibbled it out of curiosity, that's how teh female started eating apple :-( The only greens he does chew is grass seed.

 

[tielz]

Have you taken him to an avian vet to rule out any physical causes (bacteria, fungus, parasite)? This would be the first step to helping him to heal. I have a hen here who is 3 and for the first year decided to over preen. This turned into random plucking of her down feathers. The vet ruled out anything physical. We had her on metacam for the discomfort. I also purchased a Lilly collar made of soft fabric to help keep them from plucking. The maker is on Facebook, Kim Fargo in Canada.

Try introducing a pellet and some fresh greens. Kale is a hit with my tiels. Get some of the organic just veggies dried veggies. It is peas, corn, and peppers. My tiels love it.
Goldenfeast makes good dried greens and veggies blends. I use Roudybush pellets. You can start with a tiny size that is the same as seed that they call nibles.

Feel free to PM me if you need any help. I have kept tiels for over 20 years now.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Billy gets a high quality cockatiel seed mix, which has both white and black sunflower seeds (mostly white). He was previously on a diet of 2 tablespoons of black sunflower seeds a day. Shocking I know and I don't think he was ever introduced to veg or fruit.
I've been putting apple in the cage for two years. His mate used to love it, but he won't touch fruit or veg. I thought he would have at least nibbled it out of curiosity, that's how teh female started eating apple :-( The only greens he does chew is grass seed.

Seeds are not enough. I think this is the likely source of his plucking. It sounds like over the years he has become malnourished.

If he does not like fruit or vegetables at the moment, try other foods. Dry plain cereal or pasta is good. Unflavored yogurt is also good if you can get it. You can also give scrambled eggs or cooked meat. Cockatiels can eat many things. Variety is good for them.

Try eating food in front of him. Sometimes parrots see a new food in their cage and do not realize it is food until they see someone eating it.

Read this for more food cockatiels can have:

http://www.cockatielcottage.net/diet3.html

 

[Allears]

Thanks very much for your advice. I do not know how old Billy is, but if you thought teaching an old dog

new tricks was a challenge..... I'll let you know once he's decided to test the "foreign matter" that I keep introducing to his cage.