HELP! Tail feathers lost.

[beefenhauzer]

My maroon bellied conure was walking around the floor today, like normal. Next thing we know, ALL of his tail feathers are laying in a pile, he never made a sound, nor did we see him pull them out. He has been acting completely normal since then... He seems completely fine, but looks a bit retarded with no tail feathers. I know that changes in schedule could lead to a bird plucking their feathers, and this past week i was not home as much as i usually am, but would a bird pluck all the tail feathers at once like that? Is there anything else that could cause this?

[Michael]

He had a scare, they fell out, they'll grow back. Feed him a predominantly (80-100%) high quality pellet diet for the next month to ensure they grow back healthy (presuming he's accustomed to pellets). Should grow back within 4-8 weeks.

[Eric&Rebecca]

Michael is right. Birds including tiels and conures (it happened to Eddie) have the ability to release their tail feathers. It's the natural reaction to if they were trapped by a predator, which will often grab at the tail feathers.

They should all grow back, our cockatiels did within 5 weeks. If you're in doubt visit an avian vet. Our tiel had a scare because the doorbell buzzer rang.

[Andromeda]

Birds including tiels and conures (it happened to Eddie) have the ability to release their tail feathers. It's the natural reaction to if they were trapped by a predator, which will often grab at the tail feathers.

Wow, I did not know this. You learn something new every day!

[pennyandrocky]

this happened to my a few years ago. my son was 4 and penny was clipped,by my cousin before she gave him to me, my son stepped on his tail feathers. they grew back.

[Eric&Rebecca]

Yeah we didn't know until it happened to Eddie, I found it on an avian article and our vet confirmed this for us. Luckily it was only 2 feathers which were unfortunately his adult ones which he had just grown . They all grown back now, once they appear and you can see them they grow to full length really fast. Providing there's no blood or broken quills/shafts it SHOULD be completely normal.

Might be worth a trip to the avian vet or a mention on the next health check but I wouldn't worry too much.

[Utoomom]

Same here, when I took my U2 to his first avian check up unfortunately I only had a medium cat carrier. Due to the stress and scare he lost his tail feathers....he looks pretty funny...he's not a plucker at all! it was simple fear induced. BTW:: with toos it takes a much longer time than some other species.