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Cockatiel Loosing Tail feathers

We adopted a Cockatiel, about 3 months ago. And he was late because he was still being hand fed. When we first got him he was doing fine and was acting normal. Then we noticed he started falling backwards on his back. He lost a lot of feathers due to the falls. He currently has only 3. We tried everything but nothing seemed to work. Everyone in the house was always busy, but we had enough time to give him love and care. He started having blood feathers. We are worried. What can we do?

Hi Molly,

I would take him to an Avian Vet. Falling over backwards is not a good sign. It can happen if his perch isn’t secure or is much too large or too small. But to keep happening, I’m concerned there is a health issue going on. If he breaks a blood feather, he can bleed to death if you can’t remove the broken feather. Something could be scaring him, or if he only does this at night, he might need a night light. But since you have seen him do this, it sounds like it is during the day and again, this type fall over and over is not normal.

Take care,

Brenda