# My Cockatiel lost her tail feathers



## Adriennem30 (Sep 24, 2020)

Hello All,
I have a 18week old cockatiel that I purchased from a breeder. The breeder did clip her wings before I brought her home at 8 weeks old. Slowly she has broken every tail feather. I have rearranged her cage so there is much room as possible so she's not bending her feathers. What do I do, she's not bleeding but has two feathers left. I feel horrible about it . She is very sweet and affectionate to all of us, will she grow them back?


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## Daytontiel (Feb 24, 2019)

I will not worry about tail feather for now. Your cockatiel will molt in a few months, new tail feathers will grow out. I had wing clipped baby cockatiels before. At some point before their first molting, all tail feathers were broken. I am not big fun of wing clipping. So, once they molted, I just let them keep full feathers, and no tail problem after that.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Nice new feathers will grow in when she molts the old ones. It's common for baby cockatiels to break their tailfeathers if they have clipped wings, because they aren't very skilled at flying and can't land properly.


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## Geartmar (Sep 1, 2017)

So adorable! Surely, she will grow them back. She is still a baby so there's nothing to worry about.


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## aroosholandy (Sep 13, 2020)

Daytontiel said:


> I will not worry about tail feather for now. Your cockatiel will molt in a few months, new tail feathers will grow out. I had wing clipped baby cockatiels before. At some point before their first molting, all tail feathers were broken. I am not big fun of wing clipping. So, once they molted, I just let them keep full feathers, and no tail problem after that.


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## Giz & Godz (Sep 18, 2019)

Firstly, in the U.K, we can't allow birds to leave until they are at least 12 weeks, so to take it home at 8 weeks has shocked me, even for a different country.
Secondly, your bird looks a little like my little boy & he's only had 1 feather break, but it wasn't because of the cage being too crammed with things. I'm sure like other have said, the feathers will renew after a molt, so just keep an eye on her. Are you sure she's female ? I ask because I got told mine was female, but he definitely isn't as he does everything males do, including trying to mate with my baby girl.


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## justmeJulie (Sep 8, 2020)

As the others have said, don't worry about it. One of my tiels has a broken tail for a few years! When I first got him he was very young and not a good flyer. He'd molt, grow in new tail feathers and within a month would break them all off. For some reason he would always try to fly and fall to the ground and bounce on his tail. It was weird, and it went on for a few years like that. He did it so much that he actually damaged one of the feather follicles so that one of his tail feathers always grows out split in half and sticks out to the side. He got over that phase and is now 21 years old and a much better flyer.  But he still has that crazy tail feather to remind us what a goof ball he was.


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## Adriennem30 (Sep 24, 2020)

Thank you for all the replys I appreciate them. Shes down to one tail feather 😔 poor thing. All though I'm not sure the sex of my Cockatiel but her behavior is close to a females but until I have her DNA sexed its just my opinion 😊. Also @giz&godz, your Cockatiels are so pretty, yes here in my state birds (Cockatiel, parakeet, love birds,) are usually weened by 8 weeks and adoptable by then. All the pets stores, private breeders & bird fairs I visit allows this.


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## Giz & Godz (Sep 18, 2019)

*@Adriennem30 Their gender traits should be clear once you reach the mating season, so it might be worth saving money from the DNA test. Only females arch their backs, in preparation for males to get on top of them & only the females hang upside down like bats & spread wings, to claim nesting areas. Then of course, you have the length of tail which is much longer for females. If she's done/got any or all of them, there's no doubt she's a female *


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