Our male cockatiel is plucking out the feathers of his 2 and a half week old babies. We don’t think he’s driving them out because when we took them out he desperately wanted them back. We are also giving him lots of salt.What do we do?
Hi Isadora,
I would not give him salt! I’ve never heard of this and can’t see any benefit, but there can be a lot of bad effects on his health. He will get any sodium he needs from the foods he eats. The salt may be causing him to have excessive thirst which can make him nervous because he doesn’t want to leave the chicks to drink during his shift. Something like this can seriously damage his kidneys and other organs. Please stop giving the salt immediately.
As for the plucking, this is very normal. Some parents just get a bit overzealous when grooming their chicks. Unless he is biting their skin and causing them to bleed, the plucking is fine and the chicks will grow the feathers back once they are away from the parents. You might see a spot of blood here and there if he plucks a new feather, but again, unless he is causing wounds on the skin, everything is fine. Keep in mind that parents need plenty of privacy and can get nervous when they have new chicks if there is too much noise or activity near them.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
