# Lost Tail Feathers



## illya (Sep 12, 2011)

*Hi all I never knew a site forum for Cockatiels existed but im glad it dose, we have a 16 month old cockatiel by the name of Tony, hes fantastic talking many words staying by our side all the time on our shoulder, he has hes own toy cars which i spin him round the room, he loves it, I will post photos and video later, but the small problem we have at the moment is he was sat on top of the front room door and someone came in the front door and the draft slammed shut the front room door trapping Tony's tail feathers he gave a quick squeal and flew from the door losing all the feathers, and now looks like a little Grouse, he's still flying around the room and remaining with us on the shoulder and eating and drinking, but will the feathers grow back we love him to bits and they say the love you give you get back three times over which we do from Tony. *


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

welcome! and dont worry the feathers will grow back


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## munnith (Aug 28, 2011)

illya first of all welcome to the forum  regarding the tail feathers there's no need to worry. it will grow with time  hope to see the pics soon


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## Tyander (Sep 12, 2011)

illya said:


> *Hi all I never knew a site forum for Cockatiels existed but im glad it dose, we have a 16 month old cockatiel by the name of Tony, hes fantastic talking many words staying by our side all the time on our shoulder, he has hes own toy cars which i spin him round the room, he loves it, I will post photos and video later, but the small problem we have at the moment is he was sat on top of the front room door and someone came in the front door and the draft slammed shut the front room door trapping Tony's tail feathers he gave a quick squeal and flew from the door losing all the feathers, and now looks like a little Grouse, he's still flying around the room and remaining with us on the shoulder and eating and drinking, but will the feathers grow back we love him to bits and they say the love you give you get back three times over which we do from Tony. *


It depends. The practise of actually pulling a feather from the shaft has been long abolished by board certified avian veterinarians even if the shaft is cracked (commonly known as a broken blood feather). The shaft is cut near the follicle and silver nitrate is applied to the shaft to stop the bleeding thus the broken blood feather will molt naturally. The reason behind this is when a feather is pulled the end follicle may sustain permanent damage and a new feather might never emerge or a feather cyst could (ingrown feather) form. You might want to consider a visit to an avian veterinarian to get a professional opinion.


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

My Lucky had lost her tail as she was scared of a rug  here is my thread on it http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=16812 
gladly they grew back lol


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## morla (Aug 15, 2011)

Hi! Welcome to the foums! I hope you like it here as much as i have! Good Luck with everything!


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Birds can release their tail feathers to help them escape from predators who've grabbed them by the tail. That's probably what happened here - the feathers weren't yanked out by force, the bird felt a tug on the tail and let them go. The feathers will grow back in about a month.

This sort of thing frequently happens if you grab a bird by the tail to stop it from flying away, even though there's very little force being used.


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## Tyander (Sep 12, 2011)

I know lizards do that but never heard of birds doing that. Was there blood inside the shaft? did the whole shaft came out?


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

Yes, they will grow back! When my tiel was a baby he used to break a lot of tail feathers because his wings were clipped, he was a bit clumsy and the feathers were sort of soft... They all grew back. He still breaks them occasionally, but doesn't even seem to notice (his feathers are much stronger now that he is an adult though). Good luck!


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> I know lizards do that but never heard of birds doing that.


It's a lot easier for birds since they just drop the feathers. Lizards drop a big chunk of flesh and blood.


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## Tyander (Sep 12, 2011)

tielfan said:


> Birds can release their tail feathers to help them escape from predators who've grabbed them by the tail. That's probably what happened here - the feathers weren't yanked out by force, the bird felt a tug on the tail and let them go. The feathers will grow back in about a month.
> 
> This sort of thing frequently happens if you grab a bird by the tail to stop it from flying away, even though there's very little force being used.


Wow! How did he/she lost all the tail feathers? Looks like a conure...so cute!


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## illya (Sep 12, 2011)

*Thanks*

thanks for the reply and I think this forum is going to help me a lot I will let you know how Tony gets on cheers


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## illya (Sep 12, 2011)

*Thankyou*

Thank you for the welcome the site is great for all help cheers


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## illya (Sep 12, 2011)

*Thanks*



lperry82 said:


> My Lucky had lost her tail as she was scared of a rug  here is my thread on it http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=16812
> gladly they grew back lol


Thanks for the reply, love the photos of your birds


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## illya (Sep 12, 2011)

Thanks for the advice on the feathers eveybody is a great help on the site I hope I can help others when needed, many thanks lol


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> How did he/she lost all the tail feathers?


I was doing a little grooming and he started to slip out of my hand. I didn't want him flying off wildly for fear he'd get hurt, so I grabbed his tail even though I knew there was a risk he'd drop all the feathers. Sure enough he flew off and left me with a handful of tailfeathers, but fortunately I was able to catch him quickly before he got into trouble. The tailfeathers grew back in a month.


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