Not a blood feather, then what?

Chico was preening herself and start acting strange: loud Wee each time she was doing right wing.
We wrapped her in the towel and inspect her carefully. No broken or blood feathers.
What else can it be? Can she just have itching from growing feathers and react like this? She is a bit of a drama queen, that's why she confuses me sometimes.
Later on a day she have been on a walk with us twice and she was OK Any idea?

Cockatiels sometimes do that. I'm not sure why. Maybe a bad feather day?
Capt? Josie? Anyone else?

Might just be one of those large primarys breaking thru.

My female cockatiel bitched, honked, and WEEEEED everytime she preened. She was loud and grumbly. Juniper will let out a loud honk preening too.

If it's a primary breaking through or general sensitivity, might an extra bath help?

Screaming while preening can sometimes be a sign of Giardia, though it's usually while preening back or rump feathers and that will often lead to plucking, especially in the smaller birds like Cockatiels and Budgies. If the screaming continues to occur while preening and you can't find a source of the discomfort, I'd take the bird to a vet for a fecal panel.

However, since this is wing discomfort, it could just be that a new feather is growing in. Cheney Bird has a face full of pin feathers that he's unable to preen. If I touch them, he screams and tries to bite. Most of them I can't see unless I move his feathers or give him a bath.

patdbunny wrote:

Cockatiels sometimes do that. I'm not sure why. Maybe a bad feather day?

That's what I think, today she is an angel. Preening herself with no problem. Occasionally she did laud: Wee! once in a while.

henpecked wrote:

Might just be one of those large primarys breaking thru.

Maybe, and considering that she always has to be in a center of attention

Julsiebean wrote:

My female cockatiel bitched, honked, and WEEEEED everytime she preened. She was loud and grumbly. Juniper will let out a loud honk preening too.

Good to know for a future. It's just first time happened, that she was bitching that much. That cough our attention to towel her and check her.

ScooterNScotty wrote:

If it's a primary breaking through or general sensitivity, might an extra bath help?

She is showering with me now once in a while, but I'll do it more often.

KayLayUh wrote:

Screaming while preening can sometimes be a sign of Giardia, though it's usually while preening back or rump feathers and that will often lead to plucking, especially in the smaller birds like Cockatiels and Budgies. (...)

I hope it was only false alarm, but if she will still do that, we will go to vet.
Thanks guys!