If you're going to do it, either a Q-tip, light cloth or your fingertips would probably be best. You'll probably have to wrap her in a towel to do it because I doubt that she'll cooperate voluntarily. Personally I would just wait a while to make sure that it's really a problem. Can you post good clear pictures of her feet here?

Oi... What a time to forget doing that. Yesterday, I thought it was a good idea to have her out of cage session without going in my room. Thought she was ready for it. Apparently she wasn't. She was so grumpy today, she didn't want to step up altogether.

I did manage to get her out though, and put her on my shoulder. She flew to the top of Dudley's cage. I got her to step up with no problem after that, and we went to my room. She was perfectly fine. Accepted scritches, hung out. She was happy.

I think she just didn't like the change. I decided not to pressure her by taking pictures (plus, lighting is horrible in my room). I'll get it tomorrow.

However, I did notice her feathers were looking a bit shaggy on her lower belly area, so I'm wondering if feet chewing could be the beginning of an over preening habit. I've watched her closely, and she hasn't actually pulled any out yet. I introduced a toy to her, which simulates preening. Hung it outside of her cage and she was already interested, so I put it in there, and she seemed to take to it. I hope that will stop the habit. I may tempt to find a way to get her washed, too. Carolyn, how do you bathe your tiels?

I usually give them a mist bath. The chicks always hate it at first but then they start to enjoy it. I don't remember whether she started to enjoy it during her time with me or not. One way to make a bird take a mist bath whether they want to or not is to do it while they're inside a fairly small cage where they can't run or hide. Take out the food first so it doesn't get wet, and consider whether you want to leave the papers in the bottom or not, because they'll get wet too.

Another alternative is to provide a wide shallow bowl of water and let the bird decide whether it wants to take a dip or not. This is something that the chicks generally enjoy, but there's no guarantee that they'll go for it on any given day. I always had the water bowl out of the cage not in it. When they want to take a bath inside the cage they go for the drinking water and turn it into tiel soup lol.

Cockatiels rarely pluck for psychological reasons. When it happens it's usually due to a medical problem, like giardia. If her belly feathers are looking rough it's more likely that she hasn't been preening them enough, not that she's been overdoing it. A bath will encourage her to preen. My birds always look prettier after a nice bath. It washes the dust off and makes them pay more attention to their grooming.

thing is, she preens a lot, when out of the cage, especially in that area. So I'm wondering if it might have to do with the foot problem that may or may not be there, or she's getting stressed out while out of the cage, and have developed a nervous preening habit. She doesn't usually seem stress when she's playing with my hair, or enjoying scritches, though (which is the majority or her time with me).

I'll try with the bowl though. I've tried misting her before, though she didn't seem to appreciate it. I'll try the bowl approach, though.

So I finally got around to trying to trying to give Lucy a bath. I got a small shallow container with enough water for her to stand in.

She got in, walked through it, and got back out.

Other than for drinking, she didn't really pay attention afterwards.

So while she didn't actually bathe, at least she got her feet wet, which should help with the dryness.

She's learning how to bathe! Give her some more time.