Shake those TAIL FEATHERS!

[LeilaLuv]

ok................ Im actually really upset. In less than a week my punkin pie manages to break FIVE tail feathers! She only has 3 left. Everyone else has perfect tailfeathers so I dunno whats up. He is always so fidgetyin the cage, even when we take him out to play, he hurts himself, its like a kid on caffeine! Hes always bouncing off the walls, he picks at 3 o 4 toys at once and tries to be on both of our shoulders at once.
I cant explain to well but he seems undecisive, he doesnt know how to stay in once spot for 2 minutes like everyone else does WOuld it be a problem if he ended up breaking all of them?? Its a shame cuz his tail is so pretty I just dont know why they break so easily, all the other tiels do acrobatic acts just like him and the never break one feather.

If anyone has any advice please help!

[Irish]

Snips, snails and puppy dog tails.....

That's boys for you! Arthur broke one just yesterday. Dang!

Unless a blood feather gets broken and needs pulling, he'll probably be just fine. His flying skills might suffer for lack of tail feathers, but that's about it.

As for his hyper personality, I really don't know. Maybe he's the birdy equivalent of ADHD?

[RickNCheri]

Jessica was down to 3 or 4 before her last molt. This time around she has been more 'carefull' <read lucky> I just think it was a luck of the draw. Just managed to get her tail into places it shouldn't be. She dosn't fly so it was more a balance/looks thing for her. SO funny when she would stretch and preen.

[Mylo's Mama]

Sorry, I am not familiar with your flock. How old is punkin pie and what type of bird is he?

[Irish]

I'm guessing he's the male lutino or what looks like a male pied cockatiel in the sig?

[LeilaLuv]

Yep its the pie. Im thinking the behavior thing is beacuse I just got the parrotlet and the lutino which I am still handfeeding, maybe he feels like im not giving him enough attention?? Right now he is rarely on my shoulder cuz im sick and trying to stay away I dunno what's up with him if its not that.

[Babyblue033]

Miki (tiel) at one point had NO tail feathers. NONE! Luckily as he's getting older he's getting a little less clumsy, and now he actually has ALL his tail feathers back. I'm so proud!

How old is your boy? Baby tiels are just so clumsy...

[jimpierce7]

I don't know about tiels but my Sophies nic name has been "no tail feathers" for a bit. Finally they are growing back in!!

[Monica]

Young parrots are always clumsy and normally loose their tail feathers! Some may learn not too, but especially in young tiels, it's common for them to loose tail feathers... so don't worry about it!

Currently, I only have one bird, which so happens to be a tiel, who doesn't have much of a tail to begin with.... She's 7+ years old, somewhat of a plucker (well not a mutilator, but I guess she hasn't given up on plucking just yet? Hard to say for sure) and has HALF of a tail! When she came here, she didn't really have much of one... then she grew in some feathers, and had a rather SHORT tail (thanks for leaving me with malnourished starving birds! ) which is now a short half tail! And when I mean half, I'm not talking that the ends are broken off... I mean she has HALF of a tail where in her tail feathers are on the right side.... it's molting time now, so we'll see if she gets any more!

[tielfan]

I have a young tiel whose tail feathers were all broken off pretty short when I got her, and my other young tiel shredded what was left of them. The vet said to be careful and restrict her activities when new tail feathers start growing in, because without other long tail feathers to support them they will easily break off again. NOT a good thing, especially with blood feathers.