Are these feathers normal???? He's got me worried sick. My grandad passed away recently & this was his bird. So I'm totally inexperienced with cockateils. Ive read up on alot of stuff but I'm still not certain what is wrong with the feathers round his head and neck. Any advice would be great and appreciated. Thankyou
ADVICE NEEDED! NOT SURE IF SOMETHING IS WRONG
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The feathers do look unusual, and this is not an area where birds can easily pluck themselves. The odd look of the feathers gives me the impression that he might have gotten something sticky on them and it wasn't comfortable, and he damaged the feathers by scratching at them or doing other things aimed at making it feel right. If you can handle him, you can feel the feathers to see if they feel stiff or sticky.
If there's gunk on the feathers, you can try to gently wash it off (especially if it seems to still be bothering him). If it's not bothering him, it's OK to just leave it alone and wait for him to molt out the damaged feathers.
I'm not an expert on feather diseases, but my impression is that this isn't a disease because the rest of his feathers look normal. But I could be wrong, so it wouldn't do any harm to see a vet to get their opinion. The biggest risk is that it might be psittacine beak and feather disease. PBFD can make the feathers look sort of like that, but it usually causes other abnormalities too.
If there's gunk on the feathers, you can try to gently wash it off (especially if it seems to still be bothering him). If it's not bothering him, it's OK to just leave it alone and wait for him to molt out the damaged feathers.
I'm not an expert on feather diseases, but my impression is that this isn't a disease because the rest of his feathers look normal. But I could be wrong, so it wouldn't do any harm to see a vet to get their opinion. The biggest risk is that it might be psittacine beak and feather disease. PBFD can make the feathers look sort of like that, but it usually causes other abnormalities too.
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Feathers don't grow continuously the way our hair does, and when a feather gets damaged it will stay damaged until it is molted out and replaced by a new feather. So you might not see any changes in the next month if he doesn't molt during that time period. It looks like some of the feathers in the cheek spot area might be new pinfeathers that are coming in, so you might see some improvement in that area.
You could try spraying him gently with a mister to see if a bath helps. Spray it above him, not directly at him, so it falls down like gentle rain. If he hasn't had a bath like this before then he probably won't like it the first few times, but most cockatiels will love it eventually.
You could try spraying him gently with a mister to see if a bath helps. Spray it above him, not directly at him, so it falls down like gentle rain. If he hasn't had a bath like this before then he probably won't like it the first few times, but most cockatiels will love it eventually.
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Don't be too disheartened if your bird doesn't go near a bath. I've tried all different sizes going up to an extra large parrot bath, but my girl is pretty lazy & will only get involved if I spray her. At that point, she spreads her wings & let's me cover her all over. My boy on the other hand, is the complete opposite. He hides when the spray bottle comes out & yet he's in & out of the bath, throughout the day. Best way to look at it is like us humans, some prefer baths, other prefer showers 
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