[Ch.North]

Hi everyone. I wonder if someone would be able to help me, give any advice regarding my Cockatiel. He seems overall healthy, is eating and drinking but he started to perform these full body shakes, feather ruffles quite frequently. He sometimes twitches his head as well but is not often at all. He had also been acting bit hormonal lately, rubbing against his perch. He is 1 year and 8 months old.
Would really appreciate any suggestions as these feather ruffles start to concern me.

 

[Square]

I mean my bird also while preening takes her wings slightly apart and does a whole body ruffle as well. not every 5 mins but she does it somewhat often. If its that kind of a ruffle/shake you're talking about, its probably fine. And the rubbing part is basically masturbating. My bird does that too on soft surfaces.

 

[Square]

I mean my bird also while preening takes her wings slightly apart and does a whole body ruffle as well. not every 5 mins but she does it somewhat often. If its that kind of a ruffle/shake you're talking about, its probably fine. And the rubbing part is basically masturbating. My bird does that too on soft surfaces.

I am by no means an expert. so If your intuition thinks something is wrong, its best to take him to the vet.

 

[Ch.North]

I mean my bird also while preening takes her wings slightly apart and does a whole body ruffle as well. not every 5 mins but she does it somewhat often. If its that kind of a ruffle/shake you're talking about, its probably fine. And the rubbing part is basically masturbating. My bird does that too on soft surfaces.

Thank you for your response! How often does your bird do these body ruffles? Is it only when she is preening? Yeah, I figured regarding the masturbation, I just mentioned this as I thought maybe it could be related to the shaking. I read somewhere that sometimes the birds can shake their body in order to release stress.

 

[Square]

I havent seen her do it other then preening. Basicly she does a long preening and at the end of it she does this shake to fluff it out I guess. It could be that they do it to release stress like you said. But im guessing there would be other signs as well if shes constantly stressed.

 

[Ch.North]

I havent seen her do it other then preening. Basicly she does a long preening and at the end of it she does this shake to fluff it out I guess. It could be that they do it to release stress like you said. But im guessing there would be other signs as well if shes constantly stressed.

Yeah, mine does it more often than that and quite often I would say. He looks overall healthy and has no other signs of illness but will definitely take him to the vet to check this out.Thank you for your help and sharing ☺

 

[BirdistheWord]

Shaking out the dandruff. Tiels produce a lot of dandruff and the full body shake while ruffling all feathers shakes it out. Be advised that Tiels like people are all together individuals, so behaviors from bird to bird will not be the same. My girl shakes it and doesn’t break it. Mostly in the evening while preening. If your bird is doing this constantly 24/7, then I would look for a skin irritation, if none found consider his diet, what are you feeding him? Does he get enough exercise?