Is my cockatiel stressed?

[becc]

Lately my cockatiel has been eating less food, not cleaning himself and pulling out this feathers. His behaviour has changed from friendly to slightly agressive.
He's still fairly young and was an aviary bird until attacks on him were so bad he had to be seperated, but has been with me for over a year.
He also socialises with other birds.
Is it just stress, or is something else wrong with him?

 

[Terri O]

He is probably stressed with the daylight getting more intense. All birds are thinking about mating time now...especially if he used to have mates and does not now. Or he might just be reaching maturity now. Depending on his age. Are you sure that he is a male? IF you are then at least you dont have to worry about being eggbound...has anything else changed in your household? New pets, new job, kids? A lot of things can stress out a bird so they start to pull feathers. Have you seen him actually pull them? He is not just molting? If he is actually getting bald from plucking you need to get him some toys that he can play with. Switch his cage around to keep things interesting. Make sure he has plenty of time with you if he is tame and used to it. There are so many variables to consider. There really isnt enough information in your original post to help you too much! Terri O

 

[becc]

Quote:
he is pulling out his feathers, but their are so many things that could of happened when I am away that could effect him, so I can't be too clear or certian to what it is.

 

[MomtoSyd&Emma]

I would get on a spray bath regimen with him, spary him down really well with a spray bottle and soak him a couple times a week at first (make sure the room is warm and draft free) Also try changing his seed, I have found that to be the case with our parrot and she is doing much better since the switch.

Also I am not sure how old you said he is but he could be getting sexually mature and coming to "terms" with that lol

 

[downtime]

Get him toys, the favorite of the two pluckers I had (and we managed to cure) was called "Cotton Candy". It is a pink cone with string that hangs from it. It gives them something to focus on, to separate each strand, other than their own feathers. This works well for the ones doing it from bordom or habit.

Also, be sure to spritz him down if he doesn't bathe himself (my Cockatoo would take a bath in his water dish whenever it rained). Epecially in winter, birds get dry just like us, and when they get the itchies, they sometimes start to pluck.

Be sure he's getting enough nutrition, and not just things like sunflower seeds (My 'too was a bigtime peanut addict when I got him, as well as a plucker. I got a vitamin spray that smelled like peanuts, and sprayed all of his food with it to get him to eat other seeds, as well as adding fresh veggies and fruits). Even if he's got a variety in the dish, make sure he's eating the variety! My 'too would toss the stuff he didn't want out, and mostly eat just the peanuts and sunflower seeds.

The quicker you can get him to stop the better, because it gets to be psychological for a lot of pluckers (even once the reason it started is resolved, they keep doing it out of habit).

 

[becc]

thanks every one for the advice, I got him some new things to focus on and switched his eating...
So far no plucking, but his behaviour has changed... his seems threatened by anything and attacked my sister's canary when it got too close.
He regularly jumps off his perch, then climbs up again just to jump off again.
The only person who he doesn't threaten at all is my young nephew- which is odd because he is a fairly new thing for my cockerteil.
Occasionly he will act normal and stay on his perch and talk to me without the 'threatening' display.
We have alot of different things that might scare him- feral cats, lots different birds of prey and strangers.

 

[macdoogle]

Hey Chillen, do you have chickens as well? I think I've seen your name on chicken sites. I have 4 cockatiels. Two boys and two girls, I think. One of my boys does occasionally pull his feathers out. Blood all over the place. It doesn't seem to be caused by anything in particular. You say your bird came from an outside aviary. Maybe just lonely. It is spring and love is in the air.

 

[becc]

Quote:
who's chillen?

 

[redhen]

Theres a bird spray with aloe in it.. thats good for them to help stop plucking..it soothes their skin... its better than just plain water.
Also.. like the others said.. lots of things for him to shread and play with..
Even cheap things such as new coffee filters strung on one of his toys... newspapers...
anything that can keep him busy...