Help! My cockatiel is having muted chirps

[Milodatiel]

Im a fairly new bird owner and I have a cockatiel about 6mth old. Recently (1wk ago), I went out and came back in the evening, there were a few specks of blood at the bottom of her cage, it had come from her wing. It was clotted so I thought it was alright (vets near my area are really expensive). But recently, her chirps when she is really happy in the evenings, sound muted and not that loud, she is still trying to. But her screams when I go out of the room and others sound alright, please help I'm worried, I'll bring her to the vet if it's really dire. she preens, eats and plays well

 

[noodles123]

Hello and welcome- sorry this is going on.


Birds hide illness, so this sounds fairly serious. If at all possible, I'd get your bird to a certified avian vet (or even an exotics vet if that is not an option---although exotics vets often miss a lot because they aren't trained specifically to deal with birds). Do not wait to get to the bottom of this.

Are you using any chemicals or things that could be impacting your bird's respiratory system? They can get very sick over things that are fine for us (e.g., Teflon/ptfe/pfoa/pfc's, candles, fabreeze, air fresheners, glade plug-ins, most cleaners, essential oils, vaping, smoke of any kind, finishes/ stains/glues, aerosols, cologne/perfumes etc)


If she had a broken blood feather, I don't think the chirping issue is related. I suppose she could have had a night fright and injured herself if it was dark when you left, but the chirping seems like something respiratory...Did her head seem injured at all? Any changes to movement?

 

[noodles123]

Hoping others reply!

 

[Laurasea]

hi, welcome to the forum. Hopefully everything ok today?

Sorry to have missed your post, I know how scary it is to worry about your baby.

The forum has been so busy that some posts get missed. And a lot if new people haven't started replying in posts other than their own yet.

I hope you stick around, lots of great people.
Hoping your burd is ok.

 

[Milodatiel]

Hello and welcome- sorry this is going on.


Birds hide illness, so this sounds fairly serious. If at all possible, I'd get your bird to a certified avian vet (or even an exotics vet if that is not an option---although exotics vets often miss a lot because they aren't trained specifically to deal with birds). Do not wait to get to the bottom of this.

Are you using any chemicals or things that could be impacting your bird's respiratory system? They can get very sick over things that are fine for us (e.g., Teflon/ptfe/pfoa/pfc's, candles, fabreeze, air fresheners, glade plug-ins, most cleaners, essential oils, vaping, smoke of any kind, finishes/ stains/glues, aerosols, cologne/perfumes etc)


If she had a broken blood feather, I don't think the chirping issue is related. I suppose she could have had a night fright and injured herself if it was dark when you left, but the chirping seems like something respiratory...Did her head seem injured at all? Any changes to movement?

Thanks for the useful info, I do have candles at times but not always. To my relief, yesterday evening she chriped like how she usually does, head movements are alright, I will bring her to a vet anyways for a checkup

 

[Milodatiel]

It was just her mating behaviour:60:

 

[Laurasea]

Looks like I forgot to share one of the best tips. Get a digital kitchen gram scale snd weigh weekly, and daily if you feel something is wrong. This will help catch illness early when its easier to treat and save them..save them. Birds will hide being sick , until they are so very sick that's its life or death. But they burn more calories when they are sick so you often see them start dropping weight. So having a scale and weighing your bird regularly can be life saving!"
( weight lost in grams) ÷ ( normal weight in grams) × 100 = % of weight lost
Greater than 3% make an appointment with a veterinarian, even if zero other symptoms.