# night fright damage



## lynzross (Apr 28, 2012)

We got home late on friday night and before I could do anything, my young daughter crept into the living room to cover up the birds. They all took fright and flew around crashing into the cage and each other, I quickly turned on lights but it took around 5 mins for them to calm down, they looked okay, no sign off blood but they were all panting so i figured the sensible thing to do was cover them up so they could calm down.

The next day i noticed they had all lost some feathers (could see them on the bottomof the cage), but Charlie, he's 2 year old, has lost all the long flight feathers on one wing so is having a hard time flying. What's worrying me is the amount of time he is sleeping (nearly all day), and he won't leave us alone unless he is eating, he's snuggling up under my neck. Is he so tired because of the effort of flying , or should i be worried about something else? He seems fine, eating and drinking normally, just very tired.

Lynz


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## Kellianne (Jul 13, 2013)

Aw, poor babies. I've only had a few incidents of night frights - but none were too damaging, thankfully. I've seem some horrific pictures from Tiels having night frights.
If he seems lethargic, you may want to give a vet a call and see what they say. As for the flying trouble, I would recommend clipping the broken feathers to they're even if they're broken up, and clipping the undamaged wing even, so he doesn't hurt himself flying lopsided and such. That's what I've done in the past when flight feathers were damaged in some way.
You could try to wait and see if he improves any - but I would atleast try to talk to a vet about it and see what they think. He may just be pretty exhausted - but I'd be worried about any unseen trauma if he was really bashing himself about. Keep a close eye on him, at the least.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

6 months ago, Luna, one of my ‘tiels, had a night fright and lost all of her flight feathers on both wings. I would keep an eye on him, as long as he is eating and drinking, he should be okay, see how he is tomorrow, hopefully he will rest well and be much better tomorrow. It is a good idea to have a night light for them during the night to lessen the chance of them having a night fright.


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## lynzross (Apr 28, 2012)

thank you - some good advice and reassurance - i will get his other wing clipped (makes a lot of sense) and get him checked over by the vet, i couldn't bear to lose him


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Definitely get a vet check if you're worried about how he's acting. If it's a big difference from his normal behaviour especially. I hope the others are okay! Night-frights can be so freaky for both us and them. I was scared stiff when Honey went through a patch of having night-frights every week, but she hasn't had once since and her feathers are growing back nicely.


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## Buddy's Mom (Nov 28, 2012)

My Buddy had quite a few night frights when I first got him (he is almost a year old now) the first time he had it I uncovered him in the morning and all I saw was feathers and blood. He was acting really lethargic for a couple days so I brought him to the vet. She found a couple scrapes under his wing and gave me some probiotics to put over his food, he was fine after a couple more days. I actually bought a baby monitor and was able to stop the next couple of night frights he had after that. It has been a few months since he has had any (still turn on the monitor at night), and we actually had a tornado touch down the other night a couple of miles from here and it was so loud I almost had a night fright, but he was fine. I am sure he will be fine, just give him a couple of days.


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## Fredandiris (Nov 27, 2012)

After really bad night frights it's normal for my birds to be lethargic for 1-2 days after. Anything longer than a 4-5 days and I would definitely take them to the vet.

My male is more prone to bad night frights. Twice he's lost several flight feathers. One morning I woke up to blood all over the cage bars and big drops on the floor. He was very tired afterwards but perked up 2 days later. Make sure Buddy is eating and getting plenty of water! Maybe some extra millet to get more protein in. Good luck!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Don't get his wing clipped!!! Whatever you do, leave it alone. The other feathers on the wing that fell out will start growing back almost immediately so by clipping the other wing you will still make him off-balanced. Leave the wings, they will grow back on their own.

Night frights can be scary and take a lot out of a bird. How do his droppings look? If they're normal I would just keep an eye on him.


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