I bought a cockatiel on sunday from a garden centre and he seems to hold his head down to the left all the time, at first i thought it might be he was a bit streesed out after the move to a new enviroment, but 5 days on he is still doing it.

I am aware of a condition called star gazing, but i wondered if anybody else had encoutered this condition with there cockatiel and had cured it.

any advice appreciated.

Hi OP
Lovely to hear you have a cockatiel. They are great pets. We have two!

I think that if your bird is doing this all the time you should take him to a vet, preferably one that is expert with birds. Cockatiels do "cock" their heads to the side at times but it sounds like yours is doing this all the time? Does he/she ever move its head back straight again or does it seem "locked" to the side?

It could be stress at being moved or it could be an injury. Was the cockatiel kept in an aviary with other birds (other breeds of birds as well as tiels?)

I think I would get an expert to take a look given that this has been going on now for several days.

Hi thanks for replying,
Yes cockatiels are smashing pets, i had one for many years that died about a month ago.

When he is walking around his cage he holds his head normally, but like now he is standing still and his head is down to his left,the thing is it do'snt seem to be hurting him and seems like its just a natural thing for him to do. i think i will take him to the vets.

When i bought him he was three other cockatiels in quite a smallish cage, but although i did have a good look at them through the cage i did'nt notice him doing it then.

Poeple say i should take him back to where i bought him from and exchange him, but he is a lovely bird and seems very happy, and i think they may well not bother to get him better.

The only trouble is i hav'nt got a lot of money,for if the treatment starts to get expensive.

If its just when he is staying still, he may need treatment, nothing majorly expensive. Usually drops that go onto the skin. Or it could be nothing, may just be that he needs a good ol scratch around the head area. When he was with the other cockatiels they would probably scratch each others heads. He is on his own now and sometimes cockatiels tend to turn their head when it needs scratching. Try scratching him and if he enjoys it he'll turn his head and close his eyes.