Naked Neck Cockatiels?

[65browneyes]

Anybody ever heard of these? Or did the ones I saw today have issues? They almost looked like Mr. Magoo with a lllllllllllllllllllllllllot of wrinkles.

 

[silkiechicken]

Never heard of it.. sounds like a pecking stress problem.

 

[65browneyes]

No clue. They all had a few 'top-knot' hairs as is standard with cockatiels (that I've seen), but their little heads and necks were totally bare otherwise. Very strange looking little beings.

 

[Wooden_Pony]

They are plucking eachother. Stress, mites, ect is the cause. Poor things!

 

[fallenweeble]

it doesn't sound good!
where did you see them?
were they being marketed as such?

i do some avian rescue and i have a bird who is "plucked" but the plucking is on his belly and legs. most birds who pluck have feathered heads and faces because they can't reach those feathers with their beak.
another idea - maybe the bird(s) have pbfd? this causes a malformation of feathers. it is a horrid disease that is easily spread.

do you have any photos of these birds?

f. weeble

 

[65browneyes]

These birds were in a local feed store. The cage seemed large(ish), and there were several birds in it. I'm not a 'house bird' person, so I didn't recognize it as a problem, assumed it was a similar thing to the Turkens or Naked Neck chickens I've learned of here.

The majority of the birds seemed fine, there were 3 or 4 bald-headed little things, and the one in particular seemed afraid. Again, not being around these kind of birds, I didn't recognize a problem.



Edited to add that the display of fear was not unlike displays I've seen from animals in the past. Many of the other birds seemed flighty, again not unlike behavior I've seen in the past. This little guy sat on his perch and eyeballed me the whole time I stood there.

 

[tx_dane_mom]

Yea, I'd like to know if they were being sold as 'naked necks' or did you just notice they were missing feathers? My grandma raised cockatiels (at 1 pt we had more than 50) and they will pluck them out (sort of like molting) or like during breeding or stressful issue (like others have said) but this is not (unless it's NEW) a breed trait to my knowledge.
Kristi

 

[AussieSharon]

I had a cockatiel once that had a naked neck. It looked all old and wrinkley for one reason... He was 18 years old! Never heard of a cockatiel that had a naked neck unless it was stressed, unhealthy or very old.

 

[65browneyes]

I actually don't even remember seeing any kind of sign or pricing of any sort on the cage. I didn't ask about them or anything. Just assumed this was something normal that I'd never seen before.

 

[SunChick]

You could always contact the American Cockatiel Society and ask if this is a new trait. I used to breed tiels many many years ago, but never heard of the naked neck trait in them before. I would think it was a feather picking problem myself.