# What causes a Crest to become really short?



## atvchick95 (Sep 17, 2007)

Over the past couple of weeks, I noticed Pearls crest got really really short , it looks like some one took a pair of scissors and snipped straight across and cut it 

But I know this isn't the problem because no one has cut it 


here is the best picture i have for the moment, She moved on me when i went to take the picture 


She's the one standing on the play gym ,looking toward the camera


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## Plukie (Aug 26, 2007)

Could you have a barber disguised as a tiel?


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## Bea (Jul 26, 2007)

What's his feather quality like? I know that poor quality feathers can snap easily when bumped. Or you could have a crest puller hidden somewhere in your flock.


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## atvchick95 (Sep 17, 2007)

Her feathers are great, she's been in a cage with Hop a long for a while now we just opened the cage middle of last week, they've been in it by themselfs for over a month 

I haven't seen him plucking her, I don't find those feathers in the cage 

I thought maybe she was molting, but wasn't sure if it would cause her to lose so much of the crest it used to be tall ( i know some have short ones), but I don't see any other signs of molting

and it's not raggid looking it's actually a 'clean cut' is the only way to explain it, like some one took a pair of scissors and a comb and just cut straight acorss 

since they've been caged seperatly I've been spraying them when the rest take a bath, or i'll just spray them all while i'm at it, 

she eats great, she eats all her veggies , she uses her cuttlebone correctly,




> Pluckie Could you have a barber disguised as a tiel?


lol that is what i thought 


I'll go see if i got a better pic of her crest from when I 1st got her to show at one point it was longer/ taller which ever is the correct term 


ok i found one here's what she looked like when i got her back in october 









and I'll try to get a better picture in the next couple days to show her crest better - if she'll hold still long enough for a picture


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## Aly (Jul 30, 2007)

Not to say it's directly anything you've done at all but if she's not molting, it has to do with her diet. If genetically she's able to have a longer crest as in that pic and then it's gotten shorter over time there's something lacking affecting the feather quality. There was an article on it-I'll try to find it for you.


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## xxxSpikexxx (Jul 30, 2007)

I would think she is molting


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## DeBree420 (Nov 14, 2007)

i have seen one of my tiels preening anothers crest to the point where he 'snipped' off the tip of a crest feather on her head, but i have only seen that happen once...

about a food problem, because you have multiple birds, like i do, it is easier for a 'picky' eater to slip under the radar by only eating its favoured bit out of the food mix...

i periodically take a pair and let them live in the living room for a week to watch their feeding and behaviour more intensely 

they are a light feather, the crest feathers, so she could just be moulting and the moulted feathers are being blown away (or another of your flock is picking them up an playing with them, then dropping them somewhere)


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## Aly (Jul 30, 2007)

Hey, I tried to find that bit about the crest size and diet but I don't remember how I came across it. I think it was on a site explaining show tiels but can't find it now. Will keep looking...


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