Cockatiel aging

[gemkitty24]

Hello everyone,
I was wondering if anyone had pictures of cockatiels from 1-6 months old? I'm wondering if maybe the person that I got my cockatiels from lied to me about their age since they seem to have very few feathers under their wings and their feathers look ....uh....extra fluffy(?) not super sleek like a normal 6-8 month cockatiel. Also, Quinn seems to have less feathers around the ears than Harley does. The ears don't seem fully covered by the orange patches.
If you do have pictures, would you kindly label the age. Thank you so much.

-Squee

 

[sammybird]

i dont have pics but from your description it sounds like they might be 2-5 months old maybe more.

 

[Niner10Tango]

My profile pic is my little guy at 6 months old. Tango was homed April of this year and has went through a heavy molt about late August into September. After that molt, he did lose quite a bit of his fluffiness. I do have to agree with sunnybirds post and the description you provided sounds like your tiels are anywhere from 2 - 5 months old.

 

[MikeyTN]

Here's one at 15 days old.

Here's the same baby at 28 days old.

Here's he is after fledging time around 55days old.

 

[MikeyTN]

It really shouldn't matter on the age as their feather should be in good shape but they start their major molt around 9 months old.

 

[gemkitty24]

Thank you everyone for your posts of pictures and info.

 

[MikeyTN]

Meant to show you this picture too, this is during fledging time around 45 +/- days old. You see from the back that's how they should look like. For yours to be under feathered sounds like a malnutrition to me to begin with with late development. Or bad stock of choice raising babies out of parents that have poor genes to start with. Even bad parenting from the parents can be a cause of it too as one of my pair have that issue....

 

[gemkitty24]

Thank you for the pictures MikeyTN. They really helped a lot. I think you may be closer to the poor nutrition. I got my birds from a person who did very little for them. But I took them to the vet and she said it looks like they are going through their first major molt. She said they look like they could be somewhere between 6-8 months so I'll say they are roughly 7 months just so I have a starting point. Thanks again!

 

[gemkitty24]

You all have such lovely tiels.

 

[MikeyTN]

When they go through their major molt they can look a bit rough! Regular bathing will help them as well!!!

 

[gemkitty24]

i have been mist bathing them since they don't seem to want to bathe on their own. they don't seem to mind it so much anymore.

 

[Niner10Tango]

Regular bathing is a great idea. It helps soothes the new feathers coming in. Don't be surprised if your cockatiel is on the cranky side.