Welcome to Avian Explorer. For those of you that are new to this blog, I started blogging last April as Cockatiel Chaos on blogspot. I imported all those posts to Avian Explorer, so this blog is complete.
This blog has two interesting features. On the homepage, you can see a slideshow at the top. When you click on the picture, it takes you to the blog post for that bird. On the About tab, there is a slideshow of cockatiel pictures.
I hope you enjoy the new blog!
I have a cockatiel who is about 15 years old. About a year ago she started losing her head feathers. She is practically bald now and looks funny. She is in good health otherwise and I give her vitamins in her water daily and she does not pick at herself and lives alone. Any ideas on how to get her head feathers to grow back?? Thanks for your response. Fran
Hi Fran. There are many causes of feather loss in birds. Based on the information that you provided, we can rule out another cockatiel plucking her and vitamin deficiency. Does your cockatiel have an all-seed diet? Fatty liver disease can cause feather loss. So can heart problems.
It’s also possible that she has a follicle problem, mites, or lice, although these factors are unlikely since the feather loss is limited to her head and you said that she isn’t picking. Have you inspected her wingpits? If she’s also losing feathers there, it’s more likely that she has follicle problems, mites, or lice.
You can find some information here: http://www.avianweb.com/featherdisorders.html#baldness
but I recommend taking your cockatiel to the vet to determine the problem.