[Jcas004]

Hi Everyone,
My 4 month old cockatiel is destroying his wooden ladder ... Here's a pic..is this typical? When I take him out and he's perches on my shoulder his is constantly looking for anything he can peck at including my neck, he just started doing this, he also just started to pace back and forth on the bottom of his cage and chirping non stop until I let him out, he doesn't do it all day long, is this just his way of saying "hey let me out!" Or is this anxiety? He will also chirp really loud like he's in distress looking for me if I'm not in the room he will come out calling for me. Sometimes it's like I have a puppy. Is all this typical?

 

[Robert Seale]

YES. It is all very typical. With him calling for you sounds like your bird may very well be bonded to you since I assume he's your only tiel. Some of his screaming may actually be hormon's or feather molting. The later can be uncomfortable for birds and put them in cranky moods. As to chewing on his ladder, that's very typical. Cockatiels love to chew on wooden things! You might consider putting more colorful ( bird friendly ) toys in his cage.

 

[Jcas004]

Ok thank you so much! I do have a colorful ladder but it's wood...and he has lots of colorful toys..I think I will wait til after hes done molting, because he is right now. And yes my first and only cockatiel. This helped! I have also been reading the threads in here on hormonal behaviors ..which I had no idea of.