rueben breaks off his feathers

[ljsudnik]

:aiwebs_01 rueben my sc, 4 months old has broke off several of his feathers, a couple of them tail and yet another is one it's way, i fear. i am not sure why this is happening, they break and are not pulled or plucked out. what causes this and will they grow back?

[Monica]

Sounds like you have a young clumsy sun conure. If he remains very active and clumsy throughout his life then his tail feathers will become raggedy and worn out from all the wear and tear of everyday play. As most birds mature, they learn to control themselves better and usually take care of their feathers better, even their tail feathers, so its only a matter of time for him to mature some and molt out his raggedy tail feathers.

[ljsudnik]

Originally Posted by Monica

Sounds like you have a young clumsy sun conure. If he remains very active and clumsy throughout his life then his tail feathers will become raggedy and worn out from all the wear and tear of everyday play. As most birds mature, they learn to control themselves better and usually take care of their feathers better, even their tail feathers, so its only a matter of time for him to mature some and molt out his raggedy tail feathers.

rueben can be clumsy sometimes, so do you think that his feathers will go back? i hope so he is really getting to be such a pretty bird. i had to take his mirror out of his cage because he didn't ever want to come out, he fell in love with himself. but now he come to me anytime i go to his cage again. thanks jean

[Monica]

Glad that you have easily recognized that mirrors can cause problems. Once he molts, he will grow his feathers back more beautifully, if he doesn't keep ruff housing! Birds molt similar to reptiles, though rather than shedding their feathers at once (such as scales with reptiles) they progressively shed feathers. Birds and reptiles have a common ancestor, being that they were dinosours (which is why if you think about it, birds and reptiles are quite alike!).

[BirdsUnlimited]

If the flight feathers were clipped too short and the bird isn't able to fly a short distance, 6-10 feet, and he drops like a rock it's possible that he is landing hard and damaging the tail feathers. If the bird was clipped prior to learning how to fly well it also may drop too quickly and break the tail feathers. Let the bird go through a moult, learn how to fly well, grow tail feathers back in, then get the birds wings trimmed properly. A too small cage w/ too many horizontal bars can also break feathers, vertical bars allow tail feathers to pass through when the bird climbs. That's my 2 cents worth.