My cockatiel has just started plucking his feathers today. I’ve hard that they can pluck out of boredom, however, the previous owner had him for about 3 months and he had NO toys in his cage. I have had him for about 4 months and I have never seen him do this before. He just molted a little while ago and his new feathers are starting to come in, could that be the reson? He has a few toys so it shouldn’t be boredom. I play with him every day and I have him on a pellets. What could the reason be?

最佳回答：

Feather plucking is often associated with boredom, or other issues within their environment, but the cause of this problem is not always known and highly debated amongst avian experts. Making sure he is not bored is a good first step.

One good way to keep your bird busy is by making them work for their food. Birds in the wild spend most of their time foraging for food. Instead of just putting food in their bowl, you can hide it, or put it in puzzle toys that require them to do some work to get the food out. I fed my parrot almost exclusively this way.

Other enrichment options include putting a mirror in the cage and putting him in other environments. It's best to give your parrot as much possible space that you can to let her fly and roam around. You may consider getting perches or other cages for different rooms, or outside. If you can afford to have a flight cage built, this would be even better. Below is a link to some more information about enrichment ideas:

parrotenrichment.com/

It's also good to make sure he is getting enough sleep. This is best achieved by keeping the bird in a dark room during sleep time. Birds should have 12 hours of sleep a night, so don't feel bad about putting him in a dark room for that amount of time.

Diet is also very important. He should eat mostly a formulated pellet diet like zupreem. Make sure he is not eating a seed, or nut based diet as these are too fatty and can cause issues leading to feather loss. For more information about diet, read the article at the link below.

vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/cockatiels-feeding

Lastly, make sure he is bathing regularly. Dry feathers can itch, break and cause them to pluck. It's good to put a bird bath in the cage as much as possible (once a day would be best).

I hope that helps and he gets better soon.