# Tail Feathers Have All Broken Off - It's a Real Problem



## EClark (Mar 21, 2013)

We have a beautiful little baby cockatiel named Zara. She was born at the end of October 2012. Before we brought her home (mid-December) they (the breeders) clipped her wings. She has never been able to fly since we brought her home, even though she sure tries and wants to. As a consequence, she just drops to the floor and has broken off all of her tail feathers. We have tried to keep her from flapping her wings trying in vain to fly, in the hopes that if we can keep her from crashing to the floor or into things perhaps her tail feathers will grow out as well as her wings and then she'll be able to fly. But, she'll also flap her wings in her cage and end up crashing to the bottom of the cage. We want her to be able to fly some, but I'm worried that she'll never be able to. Our poor little girl looks so frustrated and so are we. Does anyone have any suggestions what to do? Has anyone else had this problem? We're going to let her wings grow out.


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

Poor little girl. This thread should help: http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=32235 Hopefully she'll get the hang of it soon.


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## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

I had this exact same experience with my Freya. But in the end, she grew her flight feathers back and the tail feathers followed. She went from this










to this










in only a couple of weeks.

I was really starting to despair, too, because like Zara she flapped around in her cage and kept knocking all her new feathers out. Eventually she managed to grow her flights, though, and then she was fine.


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## flippityjib (Dec 13, 2012)

My 2 lost all their tailfeathers too. And some flights on their wings due to frights but they are starting to grow back in now....finally! Kona much better than Mica but I think eventually they will all come back. Mine are klutzy too. I think that will get better with time and maturity too. Fingers crossed.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## EClark (Mar 21, 2013)

*Thank you.*

Thank you so much. That gives me a lot of hope. Right now she looks more like a duck than a cockatiel. Take away the long feather on Freya and that's all Zara has right now. We "jokingly", although sadly, refer to her as little duck butt. Freya is just gorgeous!


echolalia said:


> I had this exact same experience with my Freya. But in the end, she grew her flight feathers back and the tail feathers followed. She went from this
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## EClark (Mar 21, 2013)

*Thank you.*

I am so relieved to know that we're not the only ones that have experienced this. We have felt so awful that we haven't been able to prevent this from happening. Zara is a little klutzy, too, but I just thought it was because she's still a baby. She's getting better & better and her latest "fun" thing to do is hopping around. She reminds me of a small child that will be calmly walking one minute and then start skipping the next. Very comical. She's got a lot of personality - just no tail!


flippityjib said:


> My 2 lost all their tailfeathers too. And some flights on their wings due to frights but they are starting to grow back in now....finally! Kona much better than Mica but I think eventually they will all come back. Mine are klutzy too. I think that will get better with time and maturity too. Fingers crossed.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## Korvia (Aug 3, 2012)

Cookie was the same, he's just finally keeping his tail feathers. Worry not they will grow back before you know it.


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## necromancer08 (Mar 19, 2013)

I am going through the exact same thing. My cocktails were both born in October. I got then in February. Wings clipped and they keep breaking their tail feather. 

This thread might be helpful. 

http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=39030

Please keep me updated as we are both going through the same thing.


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## OOwl (Dec 5, 2012)

Evian lost all her butt feathers, too, when she was a baby. She, too, like so many adolescent cockatiels waddled around in a duck-butt for a couple of weeks. They must feel so vulnerable when like that, so probably even more jumpy than they'd be with flight capabilities. Good luck growing feathers back. I'm sure she'll be fully feathered in no time.


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## Tequilagirl (Mar 4, 2013)

Luckily I've never encountered this problem but I see people talking about it constantly, you're definitely not alone. She will grow her feathers soon!


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## Mezza (Feb 19, 2013)

Skiddles is going through the same thing. I think she breaks her in her cage. Yep - she's currently got a duck butt.


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