Ask Lafeber

Feather splitting, while preening

I have a seven-month-old hand reared cockatiel. I have noticed that while he’s preening, especially his tail feathers, he ‘splits’ the feathers. Is this a simple case of a lack of experience in preening that he needs to learn over time and possibly due to him not having had the chance of watching other birds preen?
In contrast, aviary cockatiels seem to be a lot more proficient at preening at that age.
If it makes sense, he essentially ‘half preens’ the feather. Instead of preening along the entire shaft, he only preens one side of the shaft and also stops halfway. Where he stops the feathers get split from each other, giving them an unkempt appearance.
I would think that this would not have any bearing on the feather condition itself?

Hi Andre,

His feather condition sounds pretty normal for a hand fed cockatiel of that age. They tend to still be a bit clumsy and are notorious for breaking and damaging their tail feathers. Preening is a natural behavior and not something that has to be learned from other birds. However, it can take practice to perfect effective preening. He probably has not begun his first adult molt, so his feathers are very worn out at this point. It’s also important for his cage to be large enough, with toys and perches spaced in a way that he doesn’t damage his own tail while moving around the cage. Of course even in the largest cage, a young cockatiel will cause some feather damage. Just give him some time and wait for that first heavy molt. New feathers won’t be as brittle or break as easily.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda