# No tail feathers?



## Fredandiris (Nov 27, 2012)

This little guy is from a clutch last November. For some reason, he has no tail feathers. From what his new owner tells me, his wing and tail feathers do not grow back. His tail feathers would break or just fall off. She tells me that there is no blood on the end of the shafts. He has gone through his first molt recently and is a happy bird, and besides this feather problem, seems healthy. Can anyone tell me what's happening? If he has a disease or some genetic abnormality? As the breeder, I feel responsible for him.
Any insight is greatly appreciated!


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## Tequilagirl (Mar 4, 2013)

What size cage does he live in? What is his diet like?


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## catalinadee (Jan 1, 2011)

You might wanna do a test for PBFD, just to be on the safe side


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## Fredandiris (Nov 27, 2012)

I'm not sure what size his cage is, because he's not with me, but I know it's not very big and it's wider than it is high

She says that he is only eat nutriberries.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

his tail looks broken, not missing. if it is broken, it will simply grow back with the next molt. baby cockatiels are very clumsy. and they often break their tail feathers. 

i notice he is clipped. was he clipped before he learned how to fly? if so, trying to fly but not knowing how, he may have landed on his tail and broke the tail feathers.

and, the small cage also may not help, as the long tail brushing against the cage bars would damage the tail as well


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## Fredandiris (Nov 27, 2012)

Yeah, I'll ask her to take a better picture of his tail. I told her that it could possibly be that his cage is too small, but she said he's out quite a lot. 


The strangest thing is that his wing feathers haven't grown out at all, even though he's gone through his first molt.

I made sure that he had several controlled flights before I began a gradual baby clip. But what's tragic is that he lost all of his flight feathers a few days after I gave him his first clip. I had only clipped 2 of his wing feathers. Some of his wing feathers had blood on the ends as if they had been pulled (but they were not broken) and the others had just fallen out or something. 

This guy is the only one with any feather problems out of the clutch of babies. The other owners have all told me their cockatiels are just fine. He's the odd one out


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Not every feather molts every time the bird goes through a molt, so it could take several times for them all to grow back. Also if he has all his tail feathers broken, it's possible that the new ones could be breaking too just because of lack of support from other feathers. It's not uncommon for younger birds to have this issue.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Poor little one. He's so cute.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

From that picture it looks like his wing feathers are growing back, they're just early to notice. The tail (at that angle) looks like a baby tail and until it gets support and he gets full flight feathers in, its going to continue to look rough. It took Pankakes two years to grow his tail out without breaking it and even though he can fly now, if my hubby clips him at all, even a little bit, he breaks every tail feather he's got. So I think its a combination of small cage and being clipped that's causing it.


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## Fredandiris (Nov 27, 2012)

Thank you all so much for your help! I hadn't known that it would take so long for his feathers to grow back; I assumed that most would have grown back after his first molt. 

Again, thank you all for your help, now I can give his owners a more definitive answer.


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