My cockatiels smell really bad.

[dogus12345]

Hello everyone, i have two baby cockatiels one is 5weeks old now and the other one is 7weeks old and today i realised how bad they smelt and i didn't like the smell, they smelt like the ugly version of curry! Anyway i decided that i should wash them in the shower as they never had a shower/wash so i did it and it took atleast 3times for the smell to disaper a bit. so i pretty much washed them 3times in one day to get rid of the smell, they smell a bit but not alot.


Is there any reason to why they smelt really bad?

[enigma731]

That is a lot of stress on such young babies. In the future, I would not recommend bathing birds this young.

We need a lot more info to help you.

Where did you get them? Are you handfeeding them? Birds that young shouldn't really be sold.

What do you keep them in, and how often is their environment cleaned?

What, specifically, was it that smelled? Was it their feathers, their breath, their poop? This is very important, as foul smells on birds are often a sign of illness.

I would recommend you get them checked out by an avian vet. This does not sound normal.

[lperry82]

Hello and welcome to the forum... Iv never herd of curry smelling before unless mine jump in my food ha ha hopefully other members will help you

Are they active, playful and their poop ok?
what foods are you giving them

hope to see some pics of them

[morla]

Hi! Welcome to the forums! I hope you like it here! My first cockatiel, Sunny smelled bad a little but one time. I don't know what it smelled like. It just smelled bad.

[mellowyellow]

Originally Posted by enigma731

That is a lot of stress on such young babies. In the future, I would not recommend bathing birds this young.

What age would you recommend for a first bath?

[enigma731]

Originally Posted by mellowyellow

What age would you recommend for a first bath?

I think I read on here discussion of misting babies at around 8 weeks. It's been a long time since I've had baby birds myself.

My concern with this post was that sticking birds in the shower not one, but three times in one day, at as young as 5 weeks, seems very stressful. Not all birds like bathing, and I've always heard it recommended to start with gentle misting or offering a shallow dish of water before full-on immersing them in the shower or sink. It also concerns me that these birds were soaked multiple times when they may be ill -- that's never a good thing, as working to keep body temp up will deplete the bird's ability to fight illness.