Female Cockatiel Problems

[CupcakeOwner]

Female Cockatiel Wing and Feather Problems

Hello people

I bought a female lutino yellow cockatiel 3 months ago and I noticed that she is not active as the male one. Today I found out that one of her feathers is annoying her and when she itches her wing sometimes she screams from the pain of her feather. It is annoying her especially when she moves to eat. Her right wing is down a little bit, this may indicate that she's injured? I don't know what to do, I put her into a separate cage near a window until she gets recovered. What should I do to help her get healthy again and more active (she never whistles). She just sits in her cage, eat, and sleep, while the male cockatiel flys around the area and is playful. Help me please.

Info:

Female Yellow Lutino Cockatiel
Untamed, scared of me
Eats rice, pasta. She haven't ate sunflower seeds for weeks.
Her mate usually annoys her by biting her on her back and sometimes bites her leg. The male cockatiel mounts on the female but she doesn't like it and then the male cockatiel flies off her, but they like each other. Whenever they get away they call each other. And my budgie annoys her too by putting her beak onto the cockatiel's tail.
She does not whistle, she just calls out her mate when shes away from him or when she is finding food.
I don't know her age.

Pictures

http://i47.tinypic.com/x38ev6.jpg

http://i50.tinypic.com/67ir7c.jpg

Notice the feather sitting next to the perch:

http://i48.tinypic.com/2cili1.jpg

http://i45.tinypic.com/1h80hj.jpg

 

[DebsFlock]

Is this a new feather that still has a blood supply (blood feather?) If so, sensitivity is normal to a certain degree. If not, I think a vet visit is indicated. Has she been less active the whole time? How is her weight and appetite? Does her poop appear normal? IF you didn't have her vetted when you first got her, it's not a bad idea anyway.

Some cockatiels are perch potatoes, and the females aren't known for being as vocal as the males -- they don't generally whistle or talk.

 

[CupcakeOwner]

Is this a new feather that still has a blood supply (blood feather?) If so, sensitivity is normal to a certain degree. If not, I think a vet visit is indicated. Has she been less active the whole time? How is her weight and appetite? Does her poop appear normal? IF you didn't have her vetted when you first got her, it's not a bad idea anyway.

Some cockatiels are perch potatoes, and the females aren't known for being as vocal as the males -- they don't generally whistle or talk.

It's her long feather that has a shaft and quill. I didn't know the female cockatiels do not whistle and sing. Her poop is water green and a little bit of white thingies. She eats rice and pasta. Her weight is fine last time I checked her 3 weeks ago. I have vetted her 3 weeks ago and she was ok but needed a diet change. So I changed her diet and yesterday she had wing problems, but she is still stretching her wings so it is not broken. I'm now keeping her in a separate cage in the kitchen (because its warm in there) with her mate, who doesn't want to be alone and the cockatiels call each other if they are a meter away.

 

[DebsFlock]

Did you change the diet all of a sudden? Are you sure she is eating?

 

[OtterKin]

I'll leave the medical stuff to someone else, as I don't feel helpful in that department. However, my female tiel is not very active, and is only vocal when contact-calling for us in another room. If your tiel doesn't particularly care where in the house you are, you might never hear a peep from her. She spends most of her time, inside or outside her cage, just sitting in one spot watching the world go by and begging for scritches if someone gets close. Oh, she does get active when she sees my laptop. She likes to pull the keys off and it's a fun game (for her) to be chased to get them back.

 

[lene1949]

Does she eat other things besides rice and pasta?

 

[CupcakeOwner]

Does she eat other things besides rice and pasta?

Sunflower seeds, some small nuts, and millet sprays.

 

[CupcakeOwner]

Did you change the diet all of a sudden? Are you sure she is eating?

I put mixed seeds with rice at the first week i started the diet. then after a couple of days she liked the rice. Yes im sure shes enjoying her rice

 

[MonicaMc]

She looks sick.

Did the vet do any tests such as a gram stain or blood panel? How old is she?

 

[CupcakeOwner]

She looks sick.

Did the vet do any tests such as a gram stain or blood panel? How old is she?

The vet said that he can't test her blood because she is not a big bird. But he said that she's okay. Her feather is out and her wings are fine now.

 

[MonicaMc]

I'm sorry but that's complete and utter bird poop! If the vet isn't comfortable taking blood, I can understand, but to say that she's too small? I call bird poop on that!

Here's an image of my bourke parakeet. She weighs around 40 grams, give or take, which is under half of what most cockatiels weigh (~90 grams). I had blood work done on her prior to surgery. The image below was taken about a week or so before she went into surgery, and you can see, she's a small bird! (I'm also a somewhat small person)

Blood work has been done on smaller birds before, as well as surgery on a finch to stop her from laying eggs.



I hate to ask, but are there any other vets capable of doing blood work in your area if the one you are currently seeing is refusing to do so? She looks abnormally yellow, which is a potential sign of liver failure. Her wings have some feathers that are white, but they are mostly yellow. She *should* be a white bird with a yellow head, unless she's carrying some other mutation, which I can't see one.

Liver Disease/ Fatty Liver

Bird Doctor Blog (scroll down to yellowing syndrome)

This website has some good photos. Top row, third to the left, shows a normal lutino vs a lutino with liver failure. Scroll down, and there's another cockatiel with the same health problem.
Melbourne Bird Clinic

 

[CupcakeOwner]

I'm sorry but that's complete and utter bird poop! If the vet isn't comfortable taking blood, I can understand, but to say that she's too small? I call bird poop on that!

Here's an image of my bourke parakeet. She weighs around 40 grams, give or take, which is under half of what most cockatiels weigh (~90 grams). I had blood work done on her prior to surgery. The image below was taken about a week or so before she went into surgery, and you can see, she's a small bird! (I'm also a somewhat small person)

Blood work has been done on smaller birds before, as well as surgery on a finch to stop her from laying eggs.



I hate to ask, but are there any other vets capable of doing blood work in your area if the one you are currently seeing is refusing to do so? She looks abnormally yellow, which is a potential sign of liver failure. Her wings have some feathers that are white, but they are mostly yellow. She *should* be a white bird with a yellow head, unless she's carrying some other mutation, which I can't see one.

Liver Disease/ Fatty Liver

Bird Doctor Blog (scroll down to yellowing syndrome)

This website has some good photos. Top row, third to the left, shows a normal lutino vs a lutino with liver failure. Scroll down, and there's another cockatiel with the same health problem.
Melbourne Bird Clinic

Maybe you're right. She is having this watery poop with a long green stripe. But the vet has measure her weight and it was .9 kg which was normal and in good health. Her breathing was good too.

This cockatiel can be seen here too, just to show you that there are full yellow cockatiels.

Lutino Cockatiels

 

[MonicaMc]

To me, that cockatiel looks different.

What you described with the feathers sounds like what my hen went through and she had a failing liver. Unfortunately, I lost her earlier this year, but she was taking medications for her liver. Just because a bird is a healthy weight doesn't mean they might not be severely sick, and you mentioned she isn't very active, has loose watery droppings, her feathers do not look healthy and she appears a bit listless in photos... it concerns me.