# Cockatiel with reversed chest feathers



## allwinaark (Sep 25, 2014)

Hi all. 
I got a new Cockatiel. It has few reversed chest feathers. Is there any frill Cockatiel mutation already??
Chinese owl pigeon is a mutation like this Cockatiel. 
What do u think?? Can i selective breed them n recreate these feather patterns??:wf cinnamon:


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## ParrotletsRock (Oct 8, 2013)

Wow I don't know... How old is your hen? If they come back in like that after her molt then I think test breeding her would tell if it is something she can pass on to her young... Quite exciting!


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## Janalee (Jul 25, 2012)

*chest feathers*

That really is odd. I know there are chickens and (as you said) some pigeons that have mutations like that. Is it possible she could have had an injury before you got her? Maybe old scar tissue could cause feathers to grow twisted like that.


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## shaenne (Apr 19, 2014)

Wow, this is really unusual!

Has she had a vet visit since you got her? If not, it's highly recommended. An avian vet will hopefully be able to tell you if this is because of any physical injury she has sustained. 

If a vet check comes back OK I would recommend waiting until after her next molt to see if she molts in new feathers correctly.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

It looks like follicle damage to me, unfortunately. My bird who is a chronic plucker has had some of her previously-plucked feathers grow back in like that.


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## Jaguar (Jul 11, 2014)

enigma731 said:


> It looks like follicle damage to me, unfortunately. My bird who is a chronic plucker has had some of her previously-plucked feathers grow back in like that.


Yeah, Phoenix broke off his entire tail as a baby and some of them grew back twisted completely upside down as a result of constant breakage. 

You can see it on the right in these pics...



















Here you can see they are mostly straight again. I figure in another molt or two they'll be completely fixed.


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## Schubird (Jun 12, 2015)

I don't think it's a mutation. Every once in a while, Schubert gets some ruffled feathers that look just like that on his chest. They may last a day or two, once I saw them last almost a week, and then they flipped right-ways again. 

It may be that the bird had a fright or fell and brushed something along the way that caused those feathers to get ruffled


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## Shockadine (Sep 2, 2014)

It could be from an injury or something, but I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility of it being a mutation. I'd have her checked by an avian vet and also see if they grow back the same after a molt. If she's healthy and the feathers always grow back like that, a test breeding is still probably the only way you'll know for sure. I was just talking to someone a couple days ago about how I never see feather mutations in cockatiels and wonder what we might see develop one day. Very interesting.


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## allwinaark (Sep 25, 2014)

Its more than a year old. I got the bird a month back. Doesn't look like it has some sort of injury. Lets wait till next molt. And anyway I'm going to giv it a try by test breeding it.


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## Shockadine (Sep 2, 2014)

Cool. I'm interested to know what happens.


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## Snack or (Sep 15, 2020)

ParrotletsRock said:


> Wow I don't know... How old is your hen? If they come back in like that after her molt then I think test breeding her would tell if it is something she can pass on to her young... Quite exciting!


I have a cockatiel 21/2 months old that the vet online said she is deformed her feathers by her mouth and around her eyes and ears are not right. The orange part sticks straight out most of the time Nd her ears are not covered on one side . The feathers around the mouth are not filled in like the others. When she was born , I didn’t think she would make it. She was very weak and looked much smaller than the others. But she made it and I hand fed at 8 weeks , the parents very protective of them. I stared feeding Charlotte a little earlier , she is my pride and joy!! People say how ugly she is , but to me she beautiful, she is spoiled . But she has had a runny nose since she was few weeks old and I worry if she gonna be ok. 
I can’t afford a vet and he seemed to think she needs
Antibiotics and the closest place to take her is an hour away and they charge double what a reg vet does. Didn’t know if there r home rememdies or something you can do at home?


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