Since your papa Tiel is the one doing the plucking of his youngsters, then it is most likely caused from stress. A papa Tiel is a very devoted daddy. Tiel papas help to incubate their eggs and brood their babies. They feed and preen their babies. Your papa is over-zealous about preening his beloved youngsters. At 20 days old they are getting ready to fledge (leave their nestbox) and become independent of their papa and mama. Tiels usually fledge at about 6 weeks.
Usually babies will beg by bobbing up and down in front of their parents to be fed until they are about 6 weeks old. The loving papa Tiel will gladly pump food into his baby's crop. However, if a daddy Tiel is overly-stressed he will become nervous and pluck his babies while attempting to preen them. Baby Tiels lose their original downy feathers which their parents preen and sometimes will overly-preen by plucking them out. This happens occasionally if the parent bird is new to being a parent or if the parent is over-bred and stressed.
The babies' feathers will grow back. In the meantime, be sure to provide sufficient fresh seeds, fresh green leafy veggies, quality oyster shell and mineral grit, cuttlebone, mineral blocks, and Iodine blocks. Tiels, Toos, Budgies, and Finches (Australian birds) require Iodine from blocks to prevent hypothyroidism. A low level of thyroid hormones can cause a bird to become stressed which might be the reason your Tiel is nervously plucking his youngsters. Always provide your Tiels with ample mineral grit, cuttlebones, mineral blocks, and Iodine blocks which are absorbed in the bird's small intestine rather than in its crop and proventriculus as the liquid form is. It will take a few days of him eating the Iodine block before you will definitely see a difference in your papa Tiel's behavior. He will have more energy which will make him feel less stressed so that he won't pluck his babies.
http://www.junglegoldlimited.com/iodine_nibbles.htm
It's not a good idea to over-breed your Tiels. Two clutches per year is sufficient to prevent your parents from becoming stressed.
Edited by morekare on April 24 2006 at 5:40 AM
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