Hello all,

I’ve read a lot of information that says that birds will hide illnesses and injuries. Long story short, any time anything at all happens with our boy (e.g., a clumsy landing, night terror, odd poop), I’m terrified that he’s sick or injured and hiding it. So my question is, how well can a bird really hide these issues? If he’s eating, drinking, pooping, wandering around, preening, stretching, contact calling, getting into stuff, saying “peekaboo” and otherwise acting normal, could he still be hurt or sick and hiding it that well? Our boy is 10 months old, been with us for 8 months. He is very much loved and we spend a ton of time with him. I would just like to be able to relax a bit and worry a little less.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Hello Renee,
From reading your post, I would say relax and enjoy your boy! I'm no cockatiel expert by any means but I do have 10 and we are expecting our second clutch of eggs to hatch in the next few weeks. Again, your bird sounds perfectly fine. Common signs of something wrong is when they STOP eating for extended periods of time and if you come in and find them just sitting on the bottom of the cage fluffed up and not doing anything.....Then I would start looking for an avian vet. Do you have one fairly close? I'm one of the VERY lucky one's that has a vet less than 6 miles from my house. He has not only bread and raised cockatiels but also other types of birds as well. Post a few pics of your little guy if you can.

Robert

Did I miss it? What type of bird is this?
Also-- if you read my post on the following thread (roughly 4th MASSIVE reply) it discusses some common errors among new bird owners that could impact health-- I advise that you read it just in case---it isn't all widely discussed or even common sense- Hello! <---see 4th reply by me...sorry it's so long.

Robert,

Thanks. We do have an avian vet and Benny was in excellent health at his last visit. I think I tend to overthink and worry excessively about him. That being said, he’s in a bit of a clumsy and flighty stage right now, so he does have the occasional flying mishap in spite of our best efforts to birdproof the world.

Thanks again.

PS: tried to post a pic of him, but couldn’t make it work.

I might also add that if you let him fly around the house as I'm sure many of us do from time to time, just be VERY careful about doors and windows! I lost one of my ALL time favorite male cockatiels about two years ago to and open door! My wife ask me to bring in a 50lbs bag of dog food from her car and JUST as I opened the door to come in with it, Petey was right there and flew over my head, out the door and over the trees across the street never to be seen again! Lesson learned the hard way. either clip there wings as we BOTH new it was passed time to do so.....or be extra careful making sure ALL your birds are in a cage when going in or coming out.