# father plucking baby



## nathan

Hi,

I have noticed that my male cockatiel has started to pluck the head feathers off the 3 of his babies. What can I do to stop this? They look a bit ugly with a bald head (hahaha)

Thanks


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## Darkel777

While breeding offer salt wheels or celery for them to eat. This is usually related to a lack of salt in the diet. If the chicks are about two weeks old, its best to remove the offending parent and try co-parenting with the mother. If that doesn't work out you can hand-feed until weaning.


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## nathan

Thanks for the reply,
I forgot to mention that the babies are a few days from leaving the nest, I'm not sure if it's just him plucking them, the baby sits at the nest hole and the father sits in front and plucks around the head.

What is a salt wheel?

Thank you


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## Darkel777

A salt wheel is something usually fed to hamsters and rodents. But I am thinking there is another cause. It sounds like the parents want to double-clutch and are pushing the chicks out.


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## allwinaark

This happens when male is interested in next clutch and female is not interested because she has chicks to take care of. So better remove the male until the chicks wean. Or else he will be keep plucking. This happens because of sodium deficiency also.. It that case parent birds eat pin feathers which is high in sodium content. Since u mentioned that your chicks are fully grown, this must be mate aggression of male bird which is usual to cockatoo family.
Update us if it works.
Regards 
Allwin
India

p.s: My interpretation by reading about your birds problem might be different from what actually it is.
Those who have come across this problem and found a solution pls correct me if i am wrong.


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## nathan

Thanks for the help really appreciate it,

the father doesn't seem to be aggressively plucking the babies, just seems like he is bored and that keeps him occupied, he does it more so to the second oldest baby only. 

Will the head feathers grow back or will he damage the head and stop feathers from every growing again?

Thanks


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## Chipper&Trillie

I didn't know sodium deficiency can be such a problem. Why can't they just be fed some a little bit salty food? My tiels go crazy for tortilla chips (I only have good brands with low sodium). Right now I give them a bit of multigrain and sweet potato chips (brand "food should taste good") - those are extremely delicious and have pretty little sodium. Is this OK for them? 

our father never plucked the chicks.


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## nathan

i feed them multi grain bread and wholemeal bread, broccoli, carrots, corn, bok choy, spinach, 

They eat budgie seed and have been eating that since i purchased them (male 1 and a half years and female 8 months.) would the budgie seed possibly be a problem?


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## urchin_grey

I don't think the budgie seed would be a problem. My birds eat small bird/parakeet seed and I've only had one set of parents pluck the babies (and I'm almost certain it was sodium related).


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## SilverSage

If the male is plucking he babies he should be removed at least until they leave the nest. Plucking other birds can become a habit and you don't want that. Once the babies leave the nest he can be returned to double clutch. This is especially a problem for birds who are used to having their babies pulled for hand feeding. I do not encourage co feeding babies unless the mother seems to be struggling to take care of them all, because a baby who is not hungry at the right time is likely to get bitten by his mother.


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## Chipper&Trillie

SilverSage said:


> I do not encourage co feeding babies unless the mother seems to be struggling to take care of them all, because a baby who is not hungry at the right time is likely to get bitten by his mother.


hmmmmm, something to think about. 
Last clutch I had no problems until age 4 weeks, when parents decided to double clutch and stopped feeding the babies. It was their first clutch and my first clutch, so it took me a bit of time to maintain handfeeding, and it was extremely difficult to do because they were old enough to fly from me and they wanted mommy and daddy. Later on parents improved and fed them again, plus I was feeding them 1-2 times a day. some chicks accepted it from me, some never did. I was said that handfeeding was so problematic because I didn't start it early enough. 


Now I have the second clutch, the youngest chick is 3 weeks old today and the older one is 4 days older (nobody has fledged yet). I see that parents feed them less and hen wants to mate again, not attending to the chicks as well as before. But its not too bad. Chicks cry when parents are nearby but otherwise they are OK. 
Should I assist or not???


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