My cockatiel is smelling like infection around the preen gland area (not an “old book” smell). Is that normal?

We started noticing the smell about 1 month ago. The bird is energetic, playful with nothing out of the ordinary (excellent appetite). Diet includes cooked spaghetti, slightly sweet cheerio, broccoli, bok-choy, corn, mixed seeds, boiled eggs, calcium block, grit, non-sweet cheerio, organic pellets and some protein powder.
I mentioned that smell to my vet. He said he wouldn’t know whether the “infection” smell was normal as he didn’t have a “reference” smell. He also said that if the bird was indeed having an infection, then it wouldn’t behave the way its behaving. Well, that makes sense too.
I must emphasize once again that it smells exactly like an infection from a wound and it smells strong. The bird is bathed about 3 times a week. Everytime after bathing, the smell slightly reduced but always came back the next day. Does it have anything to do with not getting enough sleep (about 7 hours a day) or is it a looking-for-a-girlfriend smell? Please advise. Thanks.

sounds like it is a smell from the foods you feed it. we raised cockatiels and didnt feed it all the stuff you are. we gave grated cheddar, broccoli, coliflower, the hardboiled egg, fresh spinach leaf, of course the millet as a treat, the regular cockatiel food, coddle shell (all the basics). but no rotten cabbage, protein powder (unless your talking about the vitamins you put on their food) try removing the sweets, the rotten cabbage and protein powder. it is getting protein from nuts and the egg. might try some fruit and other veggies like carrots, apples, pear…”normal” stuff like that.

kind of like the people that eat too much cumin and it coming out their pores.

coyote eats bird seed block