# High Stress and Depression Leads to Missing Crest Feathers?



## Puppetfunk (May 27, 2010)

My female Cockatiel recently lost her friend a companion, a male Budgie, about 2 months ago. Since then she has become depressed, she sits on the bottom of the cage and the other day I noticed she is missing her crest. This was very distressing to me and I'm now very concerned. There seem to be some pin feathers in the crest area so I'm hoping they'll grow back. Because of this I have gone out and bought a slew of new toys and try to spend all waking hours that are not dedicated to school or work with her, and I am now looking into getting a new Cockatiel friend for her (Which will lead to more questions).

Might she have somehow torn them out in some creative manner? Or they just fell out on their own due to stress? How long might it take for her crest to return?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Could her crest have gotten caught on something that pulled the feathers out when she moved away? Do you have any other birds who could have yanked them out? Because it's basically impossible for a bird to pluck out its own crest feathers.

Is she losing feathers from anywhere else on her body? If so, she might be molting, although tiels don't usually lose all their crest feathers at the same time.

It's a good sign that the feathers are already growing back. It seems likely that the feathers were somehow pulled out by accident.


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## Puppetfunk (May 27, 2010)

Since her companion died she doesn't have any other feathered friends, and I can't really find anything she might have caught her crest on...


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## Dmcflygirl (Jun 4, 2010)

Puppetfunk said:


> Since her companion died she doesn't have any other feathered friends, and I can't really find anything she might have caught her crest on...


*An idea would be that she might of rubbed up against her cage or something. Did you ever find her crest feathers in the first place?*


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