Bird lost tail feathers?!

[PhoenixKoi]

I was cleaning my birds cage and my mom walked around and didn’t realize that griffin (cockatiel) was on the ground and accidentally stepped on his tail. All I heard was squeaking and he was without tail feathers. He tried to fly away when she stepped on them and he ended up pulling them all out. By the grace of god there was no blood and he seems to be fine other than having balance issues. I will keep this updated on his feather growth. ( he currently has one pin feather)

 

[TTouch]

Healthy birds will regrow feathers, but there are times that they do not. Feathers grow from follicles like our hair does, but those follicles can become damaged - either due to poor vitamin intake or due to physical damage ( which is what happened) so if it damaged the follicle, the feather may not regrow.

Growing new feathers requires a lot of energy and the bird needs to be in physically good shape to grow them. If the bird is not receiving sufficient energy intake from its food (such as may happen in winter) the growth will be delayed until energy intake becomes sufficient. So it is important the bird is healthy and fed high quality food.........and hope the folicles have not been damaged.

 

[PhoenixKoi]

I hope so too. He had had a rough year with his brother picking his head feathers out. Learning that he gets Seizures when he gets handled too much. And dealing with breaking his toe nail and almost loosing too much blood. He is in pretty good condition beside the fact that if I’m not home to feed the birds all she gives them are seeds and Cheerios or grape nuts. Which a lot of times I have school or soccer which means I can’t be there all the time. I hope this all blows over and it’s not lasting though griffin was never huge of flying so even if they don’t grow back he probably won’t care. We are also hoping to get a larger cage for them so they aren’t so close to each other and don’t fight as often. ( we can’t separate them, we tried but they both got depressed and anxious)

 

[LittleGoldSnail]

Make sure he has calcium available (cuttlebone or something) and try to feed him nutrient rich foods (lots of bugs are really great because they are so calorie dense and nutrient rich).

I’d recommend mealworms, earthworms, bloodworms, grubs, beetles, etc.

 

[PhoenixKoi]

Here is the most recent update on Griffin! He is doing fine and all of his feathers are growing back in. I am very greatfull for all of your guys help and thank you all for taking the time to help me out. I’m the first pic his brother decided to attack him so it might look odd.

 

[PhoenixKoi]

Make sure he has calcium available (cuttlebone or something) and try to feed him nutrient rich foods (lots of bugs are really great because they are so calorie dense and nutrient rich).

I’d recommend mealworms, earthworms, bloodworms, grubs, beetles, etc.

I don’t know if cockatiels are supposed to have insects? Im pretty sure they only eat fruit,veggies, and seed?

 

[LittleGoldSnail]

I don’t know if cockatiels are supposed to have insects? Im pretty sure they only eat fruit,veggies, and seed?

Most birds (even birds with veggie, nut and seed based diets) are omnivores and will eat bugs from time to time (including cockatiels!). Bugs are extremely nutritious, with tons of omega 3s, healthy fats and protein.

Of course, keep the seeds n veggies the main portion of their diet, but adding a bug here and there will help with feather recovery, healthy reproduction, etc.

Generally it’s best to try to imitate nature‘s diet, so don’t overdue anything. It also depends on the individual cockatiel. Some cockatiels love bugs and will catch spiders and stuff around the house, others wont touch any kind of bug.

 

[PhoenixKoi]

Thank you for that info! I will deffinitly try giving them some bugs!

 

[Sokami_x]

Thank you for that info! I will deffinitly try giving them some bugs!

From what I can see it doesn’t look like you have many toys…You should also add some more foraging toys and just more toys

 

[PhoenixKoi]

We have been trying to get some new ones but they either destroy them the first day or dont touch them at all. We are working on it and they do both get about an hour to an hour and a half of free roaming almost everyday. I am working with my mother to find more and better toys and to get a bigger cage for the both of them (I cant aford the larger ones on my own) since they do fight often. (For some reason the bird toys in our petsmart are like 30 dollars each no matter the size or material) I will be making a trip to petsmart to pick up some soon though!

 

[Sokami_x]

We have been trying to get some new ones but they either destroy them the first day or dont touch them at all. We are working on it and they do both get about an hour to an hour and a half of free roaming almost everyday. I am working with my mother to find more and better toys and to get a bigger cage for the both of them (I cant aford the larger ones on my own) since they do fight often. (For some reason the bird toys in our petsmart are like 30 dollars each no matter the size or material) I will be making a trip to petsmart to pick up some soon though!

Ok good! I know idek why petsmart is so expensive!!

 

[Stevenmark]

It's not a problem . If the bird is healthy and take care of his diet, then it will grow it's feathers on its own. So, you don't have to worry about.