Tail Question

[tweetiepiesmom]

Buddy lost both his long tail feathers a week or so ago. Since then he understandably has trouble flying. He can't get much height. When he does attempt to fly out he goes a short distance out, turns and squeals all the way back to his cage. It looks to me like his tail feathers are growing back. Do they grow like our hair or fingernails, a little bit everyday or just shoot out all at once? Here's some pictures of his tail today. He wasn't being very cooperative!

[Hezz]

Like our nails; it takes about two weeks for a new feather to become obvious and about a week, maybe a bit more, for the feather to develop completely. Now that you can see the new feather, you should see it grow a little every day. In the second photo you can see his new black feather, about the same length as his coverts, the other tail feathers.

[tweetiepiesmom]

Thanks Hezz. I've felt so bad for him not being able to fly around and watching Tweetie Pie sail out and in the cage. Poor little Buddy once landed on the floor as he was trying to fly back. I got him on my finger and put him on the perch outside of the cage. Little guy didn't stay there and hopped back inside.

[jellybean]

I can sympathise tweetiepiesmom, I had the same scenario with Ben a few months ago, he lost all his tail feathers, then all his primary feathers on one side, and before they grew in he lost them on the other side, he looked like a bird who'd had it's wings clipped, broke my heart when he tried to fly and couldn't.

What a change in him now, he can zoom about, and chases me round the room if I'm holding a mirror 😅😅

I'm sure it won't be long before this little guy is up and flying again.

[willowsmum]

tweetiepiesmom it sounds like he'll be whizzing about again very soon, thankfully. Poor boy, it must be very frustrating for him

[criswell]

It can really disheartening for them when they have a mishap like ending up on the floor. Randolph Carter isn't a great flyer and if he does venture out and lands on the floor he won't come out again for a couple of weeks. I'm sure Buddy will get his confidence back as soon as he has his new tail feathers.

[tweetiepiesmom]

Turns out little Buddy is a fighter criswell. Yesterday he came out of the cage and kept flying up aiming for the top of the cage. A couple of times he got high enough but didn't land. Poor little guy was doing that scared squealing just about every time he flew down and landed on the door opening. He didn't fall to the floor. Today he came out again and this time he flew up to the top of the cage and landed. He walked around and then flew back into the cage. He came out some more, flew to the top of the cage door and perched, flew to the top of the cage, flew out and looped back into the cage. No squealing! I think his tail is long enough that he get some lift. Sweet guy just kept trying until he could do it. His tail feather is still about half as long as Tweetie Pie's. Once it gets to its full length, there will be no stopping him!

[blue48]

I hope hs tail soon grows back tweetiepiesmom. BertieB is a very noisy flyer, chirping and squawking as he goes.

[tweetiepiesmom]

It seems that his tail feather has grown out enough for him to fly more confidently. Yesterday he flew out of the cage and up to the top and landed. He walked around a bit and then flew back down - all without squealing! He did this over and over again several times in a row looking very pleased with himself. One happy bird!

[willowsmum]

Glad to hear it tweetiepiesmom. There'll be no stopping him now