# My cockatiel can't fly



## uno (Apr 25, 2011)

hi, I have a Cockatiel(male) not sure of the age but we've had him for almost 1.5 years. There seems to be a problem with his wings, his feathers dont grow. His pin feathers come out and start bleeding and never really grow any longer than couple of inches at best. Anytime he attempts to fly, his wings shiver for a long time afterwards and he seems to be in pain. He eats and does everything else normal and has figured out his way to maneuver around the house quiet easyly (our cockatiels are not caged). We think that his wings are probably broken (at least one of them) but not really sure. Can someone please advise. 
Thanks.


----------



## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

hm... this sounds familiar for me 

ok, do any of his feathers grow in short and fall out?

and do they look like this? look at the end of the pin on these... theyre stunted and funny looking. and very short.










and i zoomed in for you










if so... its a complicated issue that not many people know what it is. ive been trying to figure it out for months with my tsuka. hes JUST started to be able to fly after 9 months. the feathers just spontaneously grew in again. post some photos if you can. if any other feathers but his wings are coming in like this, have him tested for PBFD. but you may want to check for this regardless just to rule it out


----------



## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

uno....was your bird clipped when you got him? If so has he had night panics (use of a night light will help with this) of clumsy and banging the wings into the cage bars as new feathers are growing in. If so over time there could be permanent damage to the feather focillces and new feathers would be unable to grow in.

Dally....next time you get any of those odd feathers maybe you can send them to me. I just got a high powered digital microscope. I'd like to scope the inside of the shaft and quill to see if possibly a mite can be the cause of this.


----------



## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

sent a private message to you about that


----------



## uno (Apr 25, 2011)

yup,
Its his feathers looks exactly like the picture.and when the feather fallen off it has blood at the end of the pin.he had no tail feathers before but now has 4 or 5 short tail feathers.
when we got him he was very weak and was scared of everything around him especially us,(as he was caged before we got him) he use to bite and hurt my finger couple of times,I think its just because he cant fly and try to defend himself.
I'll try to post his pictures.
I just join the forum to figure out whats wrong with my bird.because i can't see him in pain and i love my cockatiels(8).


----------



## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

if srtiels can figure it out after she sees the feathers, we will give you an update.

theres hope. tsuka couldnt fly for 9 months! now he is starting to do laps around the room and he just randomly recovered. so it may happen to you as well. try to post photos for us


----------

