# Eating feathers??



## Ezzie (Jan 19, 2010)

Hi all, just had a quick but ever more concerning regarding Penny my 1yr (aprox) male tiel'

Not sure when this had started happening but i am sure as **** noticing more and more that lately Penny seems to take a feather that's fallen out (i'm almost positive that he ISNT pulling them) and will proceed to pretty much eat the said feather...

More then once i have pulled a half swallowed feather from his mouth and more then once i have seen him almost bring a feather back up thats all slimey and gross.

My biggest concern is that if he *is* actually swallowing these feathers then he has a chance of becomming impacted or blocked, and thats the last thing i want to happen. The other is that im not sure if hes doing it while hes in the cage when im away OR if its just when hes out as an attention grabbing technique...


Now, this isnt normal, right, so what could be causing Penny to want to eat his feathers?


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## Ezzie (Jan 19, 2010)

Might also add that he has the same thing with paper, he will eat it if he gets the chance (which is a shame because i cannot have shredder toys in the house or any toys with paper)


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

oh yikes, thats a scary bad habit. i would think its possible for a tiel to get impactions from feathers. 


only things i can think of, what is his diet like? maybe he is lacking something?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

It's common for birds to chew on the quill of molted feathers, but not to eat the feather itself. I agree that it might be a diet issue.


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## Ezzie (Jan 19, 2010)

His diet had been almost the same since i recieved him and its the same for all my birds, mainly seed (i KNOW ITS UNHEALTHY, no need to tell me again, i have tried for years to get them to eat other veggies, to no avail) and more often now, wild grasses (with their seeds) and some parsley, NONE of the other boys do this either, just Penny. Im actually going to look for some different greens to see if they become interested.

He has never shown this habit before moving to this house and since he has been moving into adolescance.. I am starting to think that its an attention grabbing technique considering when i see him with the feather i have to get him and take it out of his mouth, maybe its taught him thats its almost like a game and me "chasing" him is fun :blink: ??


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

i dont know, it very well could be nutritional as his diet isnt the most varied due to typical birdy stubbornness lol

seed itself is not unhealthy, just not as the only diet. have you tried supplementing their diet with pellets or nutriberries?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I think that since he might be hormonal (he's at the right age) that could be cause for the nutritional issue. Being stubborn and not eating. Have you tried offering them veggies for a couple hours when they first wake up without any seeds in the cage. Kind of gives them no other option then to eat that stuff. Of course, you put the seeds in after so they don't starve. It definitely does sound strange and it very well could be a combo of attention and deficiency.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> have you tried supplementing their diet with pellets or nutriberries?


They're located in Australia so nutriberries aren't an option. If the bird will eat mash or birdie bread, it would be possible to slip some pellets into that.

I might be wrong, but feather-eating makes me think of protein deficiency. A small amount of cooked egg a couple of times a week could help with that, and egg is loaded with other nutrients so it still might help if the deficiency is really something else. Most cockatiels LOVE to eat egg, so if you can get him to try it at least once there's a good chance that he'll keep up with it.

I make scrambled eggs for my flock by nuking a beaten egg in the microwave for 45 seconds. I let it cool then chop it up and freeze it in a sandwich bag, then when it's egg day I take out a small amount, thaw it, and serve.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Tielfan I think your right, I'm pretty sure its a protein deficiency.


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## Ezzie (Jan 19, 2010)

Unfortunetely Australia doesnt really have much of a wide variety of pellets like i have seen you guys in America are lucky to have, even in the bird specialty shops, neither do we have these amazing and perfect sounding nurtiberries..

I have tried them on pellets before and they still wanted nothing to do with it, i even gave JUST the pellets even after showing them its edible (they tried a few) but they were not touching it at all. I can always hunt around and see if they can try it again and maybe make the pellets smaller and put them with the seeds so they might think its a seed ..

Maybe i can crush up a multivitamin and sprinkle a little over their seed? considering i myself take a multivitamin daily.

I will definately try the egg though!


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

mineral block. take a mineral block and see if it helps them


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Roo eats feathers (and paper and other non-food items) like that and it's never caused her a problem. In her case I don't think it's dietary, because she did it when I first adopted her, and she still does it just as much now when she's on a healthy diet with pellets, veggies, and a mineral block available. I think with her, it's because she was starving for so long that she developed a tendency to eat non-food things.  So, I'm not saying that this is desirable behavior, just giving an example of one case where it's been going on for a while and hasn't caused any problems. I do worry about obstruction sometimes, though.


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## aliasalie (Aug 25, 2011)

Random pellet tip that worked with me: try Vetafarm's Nutriblend pellets (if you haven't already) and do what I did initially-- crush them up into a powder and dump it into the seed mix, they end up eating it by accident especially if there is heaps of the powder! A few of my birds wouldn't even touch the pellets originally because they were new but once they were tricked into eating it they fell in love XD

Vetafarm seem to be the only decent pellets available in my area here in Sydney and if you send them an email telling them you want to try a particular type out on your bird they'll send you a free sample! =) Alternatively, here is the wholesaler I use to get mine delivered when I can't be bothered to drive to the pet store: http://www.wpproducts.com/food4birds.cfm


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

If you want to use a vitamin supplement, get one that's made for birds. Human vitamin supplements have too much iron and zinc for birds.


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