Cockatiel problem
After seeing me with my conures, my boyfriend became interested in buying a bird. My aunt use to breed cockatiels, so I knew that they would be a good starter bird for him. After becoming to old, my aunt had to sell her birds to another breeder, so we contacted her to buy a hand-fed baby from her. He’s had the cockatiel for a little more than six months and he’s been doing really well. Just recently, however, I discovered a little bit of blood splattered around the cage. I checked the bird to make sure he was okay, and it seemed like everything was in order. Before my two conures, I also had to cockatiels. I remember that on a couple of occasions with them that I would find blood around the cage. We are a bit worried about what happened and would like to prevent it from happening again. We thought that maybe it became to hot in the room and perhaps had a bloody nose (Like what would happen to a human in a dry, warm room). We were wondering if it would be best to take him to the vet, or perhaps do something else for him. Any advise is welcome. Thank you.
Elizabeth
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You should take him to the vet straight away to find out why this happpened. I don’t think tiels get blood noses in heat, they’re pretty tough in hot weather as long as they have plenty of water.
kim
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Nope, cockatiels do not have nasal hemorrages so you will need to check the bird thoroughly to find out where the blood comes from. Check his feet -sometimes their nails get caught and they can pull one off; his wings -ditto about their primary feathers so you’ll need to open them up-; check his cloaca (his behind), check the base of his tail for infection in his preen gland (although it should not bleed even if infected); his chest -he could be plucking or mutilating himself. If you still don’t find anything, watch him for any signs of abherrant behavior or sickness. If he is eating, eliminating and behaving normally, most likely he is OK. If still in doubt, take him to an avian vet.
Good luck!
Bibi
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I’ll bet the cockatiel had a night fright and broke a blood feather.
I have seen that happen…and I have yet to see a cockatiel that has never had a night fright.
hall