New Budgie- When will tail and wing feathers grow back?

[Alfie]

I got a new baby Budgie yesterday, and she came with a free wing clipping. However, it also looks like the largest feather on her tail, as well as a few others, got chopped off. The budgie was unable to flutter even 5 inches off the ground to the nearest perch, though she did finally climb up the cage wall to the highest one (Im worried about how she'll get down now.) I also think her wings may have been clipped improperly, I still see the main part of the wing but the feathers that on a normal budgie stick out from under the other layer when the wings are closed are gone. Was this dine right and how long until my budgie will be able to fly again?

[Wolf]

Alfie, some of these questions are too difficult to answer without having pictures to see. So if you could post some pictures showing the bird where we can see what you are talking about, it would help us to answer you.
The most frequent problem to posting pictures is the size of the file so you will need to resize the pictures and how to do that depends on what photo shop program you have. You can also post the pictures to a place like photobucket and then post the link to them here. Your bird should not be having difficulties climbing up the sides of the cage so please post pictures of your cage as well as of the bird.

[Alfie]

http://s1322.photobucket.com/user/lblabla75/library/?view=recent&page=1 Ok, I just made a photobucket- see if this works...

[shiraartain]

It says that the library is private.

[Alfie]

Ok, try again, I just made it public.

[shiraartain]

Yes, it is working now. I can't offer you any help on the clipping, but other people should be as soon as they see the post. It looks like a severe clip to my untrained eyes (my conure came with a light clip which the breeder never mentioned, but he flies all around the house as he pleases and I have no plans to ever clip him again).

[Wolf]

Thank you for posting the pictures, it helps a lot. I never clip my birds wings as it is not healthy for them, but I am also aware that most pet store will only sell you a bird that they have clipped. I also believe that whoever did this butcher job on your birds wings should never be allowed to touch any bird, at least until they learn about these birds and how to properly trim their wings. It will take two molts for this bird to regain all of its flight feathers again. Now hopefully this one will regain some flight ability as the feathers do begin to regrow, but I don't hold a lot of hope for that with them being clipped so short.
Next was you said that she was having problems with climbing the sides of the cage and due to the severity of the clip she is most likely off balance as that is also part of the function of their feathers, but this will also improve as time passes. I would also either get some new perches or get someone to modify the perches that came with the cage. This is a good type of perch for your bird...http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=15079
You can have someone to cut scallops all around and down the full length of the dowels that came as perches. The reason for this is that the dowel is completely round and because of this it always puts pressure on the same spot on their feet and can cause them foot problems due to this.
Natural perches made from the branches of bird safe trees and bushes are great for them as they also give the bird the bark to peel from the perch so it also becomes a safe toy for them. Your bird appears to have only one toy in her cage, I would suggest about two more for her as well as some foot toys for when she is out of the cage with you.

[Alfie]

Oh no! Well at least she'll never have her wings clipped again... do you mean that she will never in her entire life have all her feathers fully functional again? Or will it just take a long time? Also I do have a few other varied perches, only two are completely straight, and I plan to get new ones with Christmas and birthday money. I feel so bad now because I thought the store owner would know how to properly clip her wings and that it would only last a month, so I asked him to clip them for while she was being tamed.

[Wolf]

No, her feathers will all grow back and she will be fine, but it will take at least two molts for her to have all of them back. Because of this it will take at least a year for all of her flight feathers to regrow. Now she will be able to fly some much sooner than that, but not as well. But clipping is not good for them.

[Pajarita]

Well, I don't mean to make you feel bad because you obviously did not know any better and did not mean her any harm but I do hope you learned your lesson because that was a huge mistake. For one thing, it's hugely unhealthy to deprive a bird of its only mode of transportation, especially when they are babies because it could very well mean the bird will never be able to fly in its entire life (muscles never develop, tendons atrophy and shrink) but it's also quite detrimental to their happiness. Imagine that somebody took you away from your family and put you, all alone, in a cage in the middle of a giant alien household and tied your legs together so you cannot run away - how would that make you feel? Loved or terribly scared?

And yes, that was definitely a butcher job done on that poor bird. The clip is so severe, the person actually cut some of the secondaries instead of just trimming some of the primaries. Petstore owners are not animal experts or lovers, my dear, they are animal merchants and that means they don't care much for animals wellbeing (if the bird dies, he will sell you another one) or their happiness (they buy from bird mills).

You will have to pad the bottom of the cage and put ladders in her cage until she learns she can no longer move as Nature intended she did and you won't be able to put her on you shoulder or step up to your hand when you are standing up (if she falls, she will hurt or kill herself). The only thing you can do with such a little bird with a severe clip is put them on the floor but you would have to put her cage on the floor and allow her to come out on her own because grabbing is a no-no.

A shame you did not ask us in advance...