Ask Lafeber

Cockatiel with 3 toes

I bought two cockatiel parrots male and female. They har hand tammed and their age is approx 3.5 to 4 months.
I have noticed that the male has only 3 toes and female has 4 .
Is there any problem for male as I search that cockatiel has 4 toes.
Plz help…

Hi Gaurav,

Sometimes the parent birds will damage or bite off a chick’s toe. Usually this happens with inexperienced birds. If he is meant to be a pet, then I would not worry about it. If you plan to breed him when he is old enough, the missing toe could affect his balance.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda