Lucy's been really grumpy for the past few days, She's been refusing to step up, and just kinda screetches at my hand if I show have it in the cage. It's not a loud screetch, nore is it really a screetch. I guess it's just a "grumpy bird noise", other than a hiss.

I still manage to get her out and take her to my room, and she lightens up, but still not willing to step up as much. She also hasn't been as accepting with scritches (today especially).

Do you think something is wrong? She doesn't chew on her feet as much as she did before, so I don't think her really think her feet has a problem. I've managed to take a picture though. I hope the lighting's well enough.





It's not so much that her feet are raw, more so that they're a bit of a darker red than what I've seen in cockatiel feet. Could this just be the natural color, and I haven't noticed until the time she started chewing on her feet?

She doesn't seem sick, though I'm still worried. I wonder if she's getting enough sleep at night (I tend to stay up late). Should I try covering it at night?

Also, what should I do, if she doesn't want out of her cage? Should I just leave her in there? I'm afraid we would set back to step one and have to go through all of that taming process, if I let her stay in her cage for too many days.

It bugs me, because I can't afford a vet. Plus, my mom doesn't believe in avian vets, because she thinks she can cure everything by herself. On top of that, I don't think there are any avian vets around my part of town. Out of all the vets I searched up, none of them mentioned birds. Some animal hospital results did come up, but I would imagine that would be even more expensive.

Does anyone have any idea on what might be going on?

It looks like she might have a small sore spot on the "knuckle" of her long toe, just in front of the nail. Otherwise her feet look OK to me, and if she's stopped chewing on them the sore spot should heal (if it actually exists at all).

If she doesn't want to come out of the cage you could try to change her mind and jolly her up so her attitude improves. You can talk to her and offer her millet spray and/or scritchies for a bit before you ask her for the step-up. Vlad is a cranky old guy and I regularly have to sweet-talk him to get him to start acting cheerful.

She's reaching the age now where she might be starting to feel a little hormonal, and long hours of "daylight" would contribute to that. You're probably off at school for a big chunk of the day and she can catch up on her sleep then if she's in a quiet location while you're gone. But if her hormones are starting to kick in she'll need actual darkness to help keep them under control.

Rub a spot of pure olive oil, or pure coconut , over the top of his feet... not to much or it will be very greasy... just looks a little dry... I do this on times for my birds...

I just bought nutri-berries, and she seems to love them. Ironically, she didn't like the ones Carolyn gave me. Maybe they weren't as fresh?

I'm hoping the nutri-berries could be a butter-up, as well as keep her healthy. Dudley seems to love them too, so maybe it can work to my advantage for training both of them. It's finally a treat that Dudley's not picky about.

Maybe she was feeling more shy and nervous in the beginning. I have to buy more Nutriberries frequently so they're always pretty fresh. She chowed down on them plenty while she was here.

the nutri-berries are keeping her occupied right now while I'm in my room. For some reason, she decided yesterday that she wanted to try and chew whatever she can break off my keyboard. Now she's making a mess on my bed. Ironically, I gave her a paper plate with nutri berries on it but I guess she decided that the would do better deconstructed on by bed.

I'm honestly wondering if she's really starting to get sick. Her appetite is normal, and other than getting a little grouchy, her behavior is overall normal. However, I've noticed the white part on her wings have started looking a little yellow/green, and she seems to have a stain around her vent.

This is so frustrating, because we can't afford a vet! I want to take her to one so badly, but I can't. I don't even know if she's really sick or not, let alone how to treat her.

I'm going to ask my mom if her friend, who is a retired veterinarian, specialized in birds at all, or at least worked with birds. I think that could be the closest I can possibly get to veterinary care. Not sure if he would be willing to examine her at all though...

She sounds healthy to me. It's not unusual for birds to have a slight stain around the vent. Yellowing on the feathers can be a sign of fatty liver disease (basically bilirubin gets into the preen oil staining it yellow and the bird smears it on their feathers). But FLD is something that develops over time, and even if you were feeding her an all seed diet (which you're not) it's unlikely that she would get it this fast. It usually takes years to develop.

What can it be though, if not fatty liver disease? I don't know of anything else that could cause this other than genetics. Since Shodu's a whiteface, I doubt she has such a gene. Would Buster have it, by any chance?

There aren't any genes that are known to cause fatty liver disease, and I think bilirubin (a liver chemical) is independent of feather coloring (which uses psittacofulvin for the yellow). Does she have any green or yellow toys? They aren't colorfast, and if they get wet at all the coloring can get on the feathers, causing the bird owner to freak out. It's basically food coloring.

Nope. The one big toy she has is a big pink one.

What I meant by genetics, was more along the lines of split emerald. Cockatiels aren't able to actually be green, but I read that apparently it's when the yellow king of blends into the grey, or whatever color, and make it look green, which causes the emerald mutation. Now, I doubt either Buster or Shodu could possibly be split emerald, though I wonder if it's a gene that could cause a similar occurrence to the whiter part of the wing. I've also heard that some teils may develop the coloring before their first molt.

... Then again, the information I got it from was from someone whom you've said isn't always accurate.

I have felt though, that the greens I give her aren't giving her enough nutrients, as she doesn't like to eat a lot of it (just a few nibbles), which is why I bought the nutri-berries. She hasn't lived on a full seed diet, but it has been mainly seed. I do want to switch to pellets though. Hopefully I can find some good cockatiel pellets at the next bird expo.

If anything, her energy is definitely that of a healthy bird. She just tried to climb up my face, slipped, and flew all the way to my dresser.

I still love her, but man, she drives me crazy, sometimes.