My cockatiel is shedding feathers all over the place? What can this be?

Question

My cockatiel is shedding feathers and I am a little worried. This problem been happening over two weeks. She's missing some feather on the edge of her wings which is exposing her skin. I have given her a shower so that hopefully it can help some. Also she stay inside of her cage throughout the duration of the day sits on the bottom of her stick facing the wall. What can this be I'm worried. Any suggestions? Help!

Answer 1

she's probably molting

Answer 2

   Hello 'jane' :

     (1) Not to worry about all the feathers. It's called "molting" . It's natural that during warm seasons, these birds shed any extra feathers.

     They'll even pull out their own feathers, purposely, while grooming themselves.

     (2) You're doing the right thing by giving your bird a shower. I own a budgie, and he gets a shower once a week in the kitchen sink under the tap with luke warm water.

     (3) My budgie is at least 15 yrs. old and he'll sit all day in his cage without getting any exercise  ...  if I let him. So, I take him physically out of his cage and make him fly around the living room for 10 - 15 min.

      Domestic birds are really full of feelings. They don't like feeling ignored. So, give him/her as much attention as possible.

      Whistle like it does or talk to it. Cockatiels are very aggressive birds and learn words and sounds quite readily.

Answer 3

Sounds to me like she is lonely you may think about buying her a male to bond with.

Answer 4

maybe its molting

Answer 5

If she's young, she could just be molting. Young birds lose their feathers to grow in new ones. This only noticeably happens the first time, but it does happen for the rest of their lives, a lot less noticeably.

She sounds as if she's sick, though, with the facing the wall and being on the bottom stick. Is she sitting with her feathers poofed out? A healthy bird is active and usually wants to be as high up in the cage as possible. You should probably take her to a vet who specializes in aviary care.  

Answer 6

Birds molt from time to time.  I have two pet chickens and when they molt in the fall it almost looks like they were run over by a power lawn mower.