Abnormal facial feather loss

Dear bird lovers,

My 2 month year old cockatiel has been showing facial feather loss as if he had been shaving (please see the attached picture) in the last couple of days. Also the feathers on his cheeks are not as abundant and thick anymore.

We believe this has to do with his accidental ingestion of chocolate and caffeine because he had been eating on an oatmeal ball (a traditional unbaked Swedish pastry) for a long time until we realized that he should not have eaten it.

It is unclear whether our cockatiel did show any neurological signs but his wings were shaking a little bit the day afterwords, however, it has subsided.

Droppings look normal, however, their frequency has increased and is a bit more watery.

Once again, the only palpable abnormality we have found is his facial feather loss.

I am now asking you, the parrot forum community, if you have had any experience with such characteristic feather loss or your bird ingesting chocolate and caffeine? If so, what was the outcome?

Thank you for your time.

Kind regards,
A worried bird owner.

N.B! I have yet not taken him to an avian vet. We lack those in my area. If need be I'm going to have to travel further to get him to one.

Does he have a cage mate ?

The feathers around his beak look like pin feathers to me. That's a good sight that the feathers are growing back in.

I would guess that a cage mate or the parent's are over preening him.
Is your bird 2 months old ? or 1 year and 2 months old?

If 2 months only the parents may very well over preen him as a method of forcing him from the nest. I had that problem with the Cockatiel babies I raised. Parents were plucking the feathers off the babies and I had to separate the babies from the parents.

Just my thoughts as I don't see any easy way for your bird to do that to himself.

I agree with above, those are pin feathers growing g back, from loss of some kind.
I like to make myself chocolate coffee, and my two qusjers have snuck a beakfull to my horror! They were fine. My Penny got i go my ciffe a second time s d took a big drink, she was fine thankfully, now coffe always has lid!!

One worry with feather loss in that area is an infection in the sinus so keep an eye on it,

You can offer a thumbprint size of fish live culture yogurt with no artificial sweetener, this can help balance gut bacteria you can offer twice a week or so.

Itzybean one of our members here has experience with raising hopeful shge eill see your post and offer advice

texsize said:

Does he have a cage mate ?

The feathers around his beak look like pin feathers to me. That's a good sight that the feathers are growing back in.

I would guess that a cage mate or the parent's are over preening him.
Is your bird 2 months old ? or 1 year and 2 months old?

If 2 months only the parents may very well over preen him as a method of forcing him from the nest. I had that problem with the Cockatiel babies I raised. Parents were plucking the feathers off the babies and I had to separate the babies from the parents.

Just my thoughts as I don't see any easy way for your bird to do that to himself.

Click to expand...

We have a cage but he's not using it yet since he has difficulties navigating in the cage and sometimes falls.



He's only two months old (I see how the word year in my sentence mad it confusing) and he's been hand fed by us since 2-3 weeks of age. Therefore, there's no parents present to preen him. Good thinking, however.



Thank you for the input about the pin feathers. I was thinking that they might be regrowing too, but I wasn't completely sure.

Laurasea said:

I agree with above, those are pin feathers growing g back, from loss of some kind.
I like to make myself chocolate coffee, and my two qusjers have snuck a beakfull to my horror! They were fine. My Penny got i go my ciffe a second time s d took a big drink, she was fine thankfully, now coffe always has lid!!

One worry with feather loss in that area is an infection in the sinus so keep an eye on it,

You can offer a thumbprint size of fish live culture yogurt with no artificial sweetener, this can help balance gut bacteria you can offer twice a week or so.

Itzybean one of our members here has experience with raising hopeful shge eill see your post and offer advice

Click to expand...

Okay, we'll keep an eye on it. Fortunately, there hasn't been any discharge from his nostrils thus far.



Will live cultured yogurt be enough, or does it have to include fish? Also, I tried searching for fish live cultured yogurt, but couldn't find anything.

Thank you for your input.

I don't think it contains fish--- It may be for fish, or perhaps that is the brand or a typo...Maybe she meant fresh??? but I would wait to hear back from her.

Some people say yogurt works for birds. I am not sure I agree with this because 1. it contains lactose and they are lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerant people still can't really eat yogurt in most cases (unless their case is very mild). So I just hesitate on this one. Also, birds have a unique gut flora, so I am not sure that the bacteria in it would benefit them in the same way it benefits humans....They are a lot of mixed opinions on the internet about this, but my biggest hesitation is the lactose intolerance thing. Many knowledgeable people say it works, but many other knowledgeable people say it doesn't. I have never tried it for the reasons stated above.

There are other things that contain similar bacteria that are non dairy- e.g., apple cider vinegar (with the mother/raw). You would want to give it diluted with water or something. You could potentially mix some with water and then mix that with a food (if you think your bird would eat it better that way). Never give it straight and never sprinkle it straight onto food (you need to dilute it w/water no matter how you give it). You don't want to give too much or for too many days, but it's pretty safe from what I understand. If you add it to water (which is not something I normally suggest) then you need to make sure your bird isn't avoiding drinking in order to avoid the taste. You will also want to change water frequently (even though, technically, vinegar should actually reduce bacterial growth). The ratio of vinegar to water varies...some people do like a cap per gallon, and others do more...I have read 1 tsp per quart more commonly. Read up on it or call an avian vet for suggestions on mixing etc.

Also- don't heat vinegar around birds. It can produce fumes in things like coffee pots, dishwashers, during pickling processes etc.

They also sell a product called Benebac...You would need the powder, not the gel. My vets over the years have had mixed opinions on how well this stuff actually works....Most recently, my CAV indicated that each species has it's own special flora and that something designed to work for birds and lizards couldn't possibly be specialized enough to work for all parrots, let alone lizards as well. That having been said, he said it wasn't harmful, so if it made me feel better, I could keep giving it. I DO think she seems to have fewer bacterial infections since taking a bit of it every other day or so, but it could be a coincidence.

Its a huge misconception that a bird has to have a discharge from the nostrils or be sneezing to have a respiratory infection. Birds often have a thick dry or thick crumbling cheese like response to infections. They are less likely to get the wet oozy type of infections that humans and other mammals get. There are exceptions like chlamydia infection tend to be very wet with eye and Nasal discharge.

Instead some signs of a sinus infections are swelling under The eye or on the face, feather loss over the infected area, rubbing or itching the face or nose a lot because of the infection.....

Respiratory infections often are linked with an all seed diet, because vitamins are lacking in that diet. Especially vitamin A which is closely li ked with respiratory health.

Ok just wa t go push that Information out.

I'm not saying your bird had or has a respiratory infection. But if he had been rubbing his face to the point t of feather loss it is a possibility. Especially common for a young bird to have yeast overgrowth. That's why a probiotic like yogurt would help. It would help balance the natural flora of both the lining of the respiratory tract abd that gastrointestinal tract.

Hand fed chick's arent getting this natural good flora from their parents each time the parents feed them . They would naturally pass on the flora mixed in with the foid they regurgitate for the chicks We learn more and more how having the right population flora, helps prevent infections, aids digestion , abd plays a role in immune health.