Cockatiel health

[RohanL]

I left Picasso with a friend for a few hours as I wasn't feeling well. He has 4 birds but Picasso was in a separate cage. When I picked him up I noticed his face had a dark stain around the beak and I think he had some missing feathers, also his tail feathers where all messy. He's going through his first molt so he lost his longest tail feather the day before, but they were still neat. He's preening as normal and has a healthy diet of green leaves, veggies, pellets,seed mix, cuttle bone and.millet as a treat. He said it was from him probably trying to push his face through the bars. Hence why his face his dirty and I noticed it looks like some feathers are missing around the beak. Also because he was climbing the bars his tail got messy. He's happy, eating and seems fine. I just wanted to check.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

What do you think happend? It seems odd that his face would get dirty rubbing against the cage bars but his face is white so maybe. You ought to take a clean damp white cloth and wipe the bars inside and out⁰and see if the cloth comes up soiled. Whay else could it have been? He sure is a cutie!

 

[RohanL]

Well he was put in the neighbours cage not his usual one, he's not as dirty looking as he was yesterday, I do think it was from him trying to put his face through the bars, he's normally out of his cage and with me during the day. So he doesn't like to be inside if he sees you when he's inside. I was wondering also how long until his feathers grow back around his beak?

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I think that explains it. It doesn't take much to get a white bird dirty. The facial feathers will grow in as they molt. I hope he hasn't got any photo shoots, modeling jobs, or cockatiel beauty contests coming up in the next month!
When I went to an English Budgie Exhibition show in October the main reason a "quality" bird wouldn't win or place in the show was missing or disheveled plumage. The judge would say they looked "rough".

 

[JjEjFjF]

The only time one of my cockatiels had missing face feathers was when he had a night fright and repeatedly ran/flew into the side of the cage. The feathers grew back quite fast.
The dirt is a mystery. I cant image a cage being that filthy.
The ruffled tail feathers is also a mystery. If tail feathers got messy from climbing around as you friend says, then all birds would have messy tails. Something is fishy.
If i were you id never leave my bird with that person again.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Cockatiel abuse by a bird sitting friend? I find that hard to believe and scary. What could someone do to him?

 

[JjEjFjF]

Cockatiel abuse by a bird sitting friend? I find that hard to believe and scary. What could someone do to him?

Never put anything past anyone. There are sick jealous people in this world. The “friend” had an excuse for everything.
You actually believe those excuses?

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Any real "abuse" I would think would have killed or visibly injured Picasso, not just messed up his feathers. I think in an exciting strange environment, in an unfamiliar and dirty cage, with other birds in the room, Picasso probably climbed around a lot and tried to find a way out, messing up his feathers. I don't like to believe a friend would hurt a friend's birds. I have a casual work friend who I pay $50 a day to come twice a day when we are out of town to take care of my budgies. She feeds them and lets them out for the day. 10 hours later she comes back, services their food and water, and gets them all back in their cages. She's been great with them and I don't want to have to worry about her abusing my birds. I don't spy on her with cameras. A reliable bird sitter is very hard to find, especially here in Maine where birds are not popular pets.