I need help gauging my new tiel's stress level, please.

[chasy]

I'm not sure if my Tango-bird has a bald spot under his wings or if there's not supposed to be feathers there...I'm trying to identify his level of stress (he's only been with us for five days) and I don't SEE him plucking a ton of feathers out, although there were several feathers on the bottom of his cage when he came to us and there are approximately 30 tiny downy feathers under his perch where he sits (since Monday, when I changed his corn-gravel).

He's my very first cockatiel so I'm new at this. I'm reading a ton online about the care of cockatiels and frankly, though I'm a newbie, it seems to me that my birdy-guy is above-average stressed. There are no bald spots VISIBLE on the rest of his body so I thought he was doing well and maybe the feathers on the bottom were just from preening. Yesterday, however, I saw him toward the end of a heart-shaped stretch of his wings and I glimpsed a bald spot under the left wing. My hunch was that it was the spot all the feathers are coming from and that the bald spot isn't supposed to be there.

If I'm right, please give me tips on how to help his stress level go down. Like I said, we've had him five days. I haven't tried to take him out yet, because I read that they need time to adapt. He gets a slip-cover at night when we sleep and he seems pretty happy. He sits on his perch a lot but he also walks all over his cage. He IS eating and he gets fresh water every day. He took some nuts from my fingers Monday. If what I've read is correct, then his mostly half-mast crest means he's happy. I do see it go straight up sometimes, and I think it's because he's startled by loud noise or someone walking by...I have not yet seen it lie flat down so that's a good thing, right?

All of that to say, he SEEMS to be acclimating, but feathers on the bottom of the cage seems bad! So I'm looking for expert input, please. From what I've read, some stress is normal for the first week or so when they first join the family but I'm not sure what constitutes as normal and what might be above that.

Thank you for your help!

 

[chasy]

Also, 1) is there a reason I couldn't edit my post and 2) should I have posted my thread in the "Questions and Answers" section, "Behavioral" section, or this one?? Or does it maybe not really matter?

 

[MikeyTN]

Your section of posting is fine! You should of been able to edit your post.

Here's the deal with Cockatiels, you'll always find some sort of fuzz and stuffs like that with them as they're dusty birds to begin with. And it seems like they're always going through with more fuzzy downs. Did you get him as a hand fed baby?

 

[chasy]

Thank you MikeyTN! I am using Tapatalk so I suspect it's a problem with the app and not the site. (ETA: I just edited this post, so it was a problem with the app. Good to know.)

I didn't get him as a hand-fed baby, unfortunately. I got him from my neighbor who spent a year and a half rehabilitating him because he was found in a tree, skinny and featherless (no crest, even). She says he's completely rehabilitated now. So that's good.

I just don't know if the amount of feathers on the bottom of the cage is normal or if it indicates stress. So are you saying that it's probably normal then?

 

[MikeyTN]

IF you can provide a picture in here it would be very helpful! I would say it's pretty normal. By the way, I wouldn't use those corn cob on the bottom of the cage! I would change it to newspaper or paper towels.

 

[chasy]

Really?! That's good news for me, actually! One less thing that costs money. I can provide a picture:

Just out of curiosity, why is it better to use papers over corn cob stuff? My neighbor gave it to me and it's actually almost gone -- should I just throw out the rest and switch to papers?

 

[chasy]

I just found this online:
"Corn cob is commonly recommended but tends to develop a great deal of bacterial growth (which can cause your bird to end up with problems such as Aspergillosis. Also, if your bird ingests the pieces of corn cob, it can impact their crop and cause death."

So I will be throwing the rest out and I am changing his cage bottom NOW.