Cockatiel behavior

Question
I have a beautiful almost-one-year-old cockatiel. But I have a few questions. #1: My bird is really scared of ballons.My younger brother had a green one and neared my bird, suddenly, my bird's crest shot up, and he began to race around his cage, and hissed then finally flew on to my chest. Why?
#2:My bird poops a whole bunch (sometimes) after waking up from several hours of sleeping. Is this normal?
#3: My bird tends to preen himself everyday. Please tell me how many times he should do this a day.
#4:I have asthma.Is there anything that will trigger it about my bird?

Thanks!!

Answer
Hi there,

Thank you for your questions.

Firstly, strange objects are naturally going to scare your bird, especially something as threatening as a balloon, probably because its rather bigger that he is. A bird doesn't understand what it is, and all it. I have a bird that is scared of hats.

Your bird will poop allot first thing as the tend to do it less at night. The body slows down so tends to store it up a bit. My African grey almost seems to save it up on purpose as we seem to react to it.

Preening is a very time consuming task for a bird. Feathers are unique to the bird family and are probably the most important structure on a birds body. They regulate body temperature and, of course, allow for flight. To function correctly, a birds feathers must be clean, dry and in good shape. During preening, a cockatiel makes sure that every feather is in its place and zipped up properly. A cockatiel also has a glad at the base of the tail that secretes oil. Your bird will pick up some of this oil and run it on each feather. This oil keeps their feathers supple and water proof. In the wild, allopreening, which is a group preen, is a very important part of social bonding. Perhaps if your tiel is tame enough, he may let you help with his head. It reestablishes bonds in a society of tiels and is also useful for the hard to reach feathers. So yes, lots of preening is important on many levels. As for how often, I say as often as they like. It shows a contented, happy bird.

As for your asthma, be aware that your bird will be dusty and you will need to keep regular check on cleaning etc. Perhaps invest in an air purifier.

Hope this helps

Charlotte