Reptile & Amphibian Forums

when i got my cockatiel all of his tail feathers were broken off. Well it's been about 2 months now and i think some of the smaller feathers are starting to grow in. Here is my problem, every day i let Sokar out of his cage he tries to fly. He has no wing feathers. This results in more broken feathers in his tail area. Should i just not worry about it till he gets his wings and then the tail can grow in? Or will all this breaking of feathers somehow damage the growth areas of those feathers. I'm sorry this question is oddly phrased, i'm not really sure what i'm asking. Thank you.

I have the same problem with my pearl hen! They told me her tail was gone b/c another bird was picking on her. But she likes to back up against the cage when she's scared. She finally grew them back - twice now! - but still does that and breaks them off again. I don't know why she does that. Every time she's scared or I first go to her cage to open the door and talk to her, she huddles in the corner. Then I open the door and talk to her and she comes out on her own! Birds...gotta love 'em! Sometimes I wonder if she'll ever have and keep her tail though!

Right now we have four cockatiels in. Three are in perfect feather never tear up their feathers, pluck etc. The last one on the other hand has perfect feathers except for her tail. She will jump around and smash her tail feathers up and then when it starts to look torn she will pluck it all out. Then she grows them back in and starts over again. She never keeps her feathers for longer than a few weeks before they are back out again. We have had her to the vet, blood tests, gram stains etc just to make sure there was nothing wrong with her health to cause this but she is in perfect health, eats well, etc just can't leave those tail feathers along

Awww...tho it is nice to know someone else has that problem! lol well, if you ever figure out a way to stop it, please let me know! i didn't even think that maybe that's what she's doing - when they're messed up or torn, pulling them out herself! i wonder if our babies will ever look like true cockatiel - or just the body with a stump of a tail!