Trouble flying.

[EleriDragonfly]

Yesterday when I let Wheatley out to fly, he seemed to have trouble. I noticed he couldn't get much height, I usually have him about shoulder height and he'll fly to his cage. But yesterday he ended up flying to low and ended up hitting his cage and landed on the floor.
I tried again to check and when he flew towards his cagee, he turned away at the last moment and ended up landing on my bed. Also when he flew he lost some of his flight feathers. He is molting at the moment, could that be affecting his ability to fly?
I looked at his wings and tail and noticed that there were two feathers that were off. I couldn't take a picture of the one on his wing as he wouldn't let me, but I managed to take a picture of the one on his tail. I'll have to wait till tomorrow to make an appointment with the vet, but can someone tell me what may be wrong with him? Oh and sorry if the picture isn't clear, I don't have the best camera.

[marie83]

Can't really tell from that pic which feathers he has missing, could do with a full spread wing shot.
If he just has a couple of feathers missing it shouldn't be affecting his flight that badly unless it was his first flight since losing them and he hasn't adapted yet or he wasn't very good at flying before hand.

[EleriDragonfly]

That picture is mostly to show this one feather on his tail that seems to be covered in a plastic casing, there's one on his wing as well. Having a full spread wing shot is difficult as he doesn't like being held in my hand, but I took a closer look at his wings and he does seem to have enough feathers for flight.
He's always been a good flyer, it's just at the moment he can't seem to gain much height. At the moment I have him on my finger, but he keeps flying away to his cage but he seems to miss it, and circles back. And ends up hitting his cage and falls down.
The feather on his wing has fallen off, and has blood on one end. Is this type of feather normal?

[Eurycerus]

Wow I've never seen such a long feather with the sheath still on, I thought the sheathing (the stuff that looks plastic) would have come off already. I am not certain if that's normal but it sounds like you're doing the right thing going to the vet. There are diseases that can cause feather growth problems. Your budgie is probably moulting and it broke a blood feather.

Is your budgie bleeding still? If so put corn starch at the bleeding area to stop it from bleeding out. You can also gently roll the sheathed feather to break off the keratin sheath. If it hurts your budgie just stop.

[Polarn]

about the sheath being so long.. I have the same with Gila (the galah) she doesnt start preening a new feather until i've started em for her, so I gotta break that "plastic cover" a bit and then she will continue, thought she woulda learnt by now but every single new one I gotta do this with and I usually let em grow quite far just to see if she will start it herself... The vet has told me to keep helping her with them until/if she starts doing it all on her own...

[EleriDragonfly]

After much complaining from Wheatley I had a check on his wings, and I can't see any bleeding. I also double checked the tail feather with the sheath still on, and it's not as long as the one that was on his wing.
I won't be able to see the vet till Friday unfortunetly, but how would I be able to help him with his sheathed tail feather? He doesn't like being held and will bite and screech if I do. He's just sitting in his cage now, ignoreing me.

[Polarn]

well, a galah is quite a bit bigger and so is the feathers but i basically rub it between my indexfinger and the nail on my thumb, you dont want to pull ot away really, you kind of want it to fall apart.

[Polarn]

oh I just wanted to add, I still think its worth checking with the vet, couse you shouldnt have to help em with this really. I have no idea really but can only guess as to why Gila needs my help. But she doesnt start off any feathers at all and hasnt done for the diration shes been here and had full of these feathers when she came so the vet helped me clean em up the first time around since it was most of the tail and wings looking like that.

[EleriDragonfly]

I managed to get the sheath off of the tail feather, though Wheatley kept moving about. I'll be sure to call the vet tomorrow. I hope it's nothing serious, and I'm hoping I don't need to give him any medicine. He really doesn't like it when I give him medicine xD

[marie83]

Good luck at the vets, please keep us updated