Bald lutino babies?

[jasonpotpot]

Hi, i am a new owner of 2 very cute lutino cockatiels and new here in this forum. I need your expertise. My tiels are siblings, both 4 week old. I just notice that they dont have much hair on their head. They dont have that pointy crest. Is this normal? Is it still gonna grow? Please see picture

 

[Laurasea]

Hi. Do you have hand raising experience? I would return them until they are weaned, these guys are young.......what temperature are you keeping them at? Certainly they are cute and yes the crest will come in later. But babies this young need a lot of care.

 

[MonicaMc]

Yes, it's normal for lutino cockatiels to be "bald"... but some breeders have attempted to breed the "bald" patch out of the color mutation. It's quite possible that whoever bred these chicks might not have been attempting to remove the bald patch.

Those feathers may never grow in, but it wont harm them if they don't have those feathers, either.


With Laurasea, though... do you have experience raising them?

 

[jasonpotpot]

Yup. I have raised conures and agp all handfeed. Its my first time for tiels though..

 

[EllenD]

This is normal for a 4 week-old Cockatiel; even as adults they often have a bald spot on top of their heads, some larger than others...

I know you said that you've hand-fed babies formula before, but just to make sure for their sake, I want to make sure you're using a candy/cooking thermometer and are feeding them formula that is ONLY between 104-110 degrees F? Also, you have them inside a Brooder at around 90-95 degrees?