Broken tail feathers

[RocketBo]

My sun conure Roger had broken 2 tail feathers since we brought him home. Today he broke another one! Now when he flies there is a big gap in his tail. All 3 feathers were broken at the stress bar close to the root, so there are still bits of those feathers attached but none of it would contribute to breaking and landing in flight.

Roger is still learning how to fly. I wonder if I should bring him to the vet and have those 3 feathers pulled out so he gets new ones sooner or leave it til first molt? Conure tail feathers are a little too thin so imping is not an easy task (plus they never stay still...) I am leaning towards to letting it molt out but Roger is currently getting less keen to explore than Pip, maybe this is due to increased difficulty in landing?

He is definitely more gifted in flight than Pip is though.

What's everyone's thoughts?

 

[Wolf]

I don't have any birds with such long tails, but for me the answer would be to leave them alone unless they appear to be bothering him, in which case they would need to be removed.

 

[karen256]

I don't think you want to go to all the trouble of imping just for tail feathers. I would trim the broken feathers off just above the break so there aren't broken bits of feather attached and just leave them to molt naturally.

 

[RocketBo]

He snapped the feathers clean so it's no trouble at the moment. I also can't see anything wrong with his flights - still better and more in control comparing to his little brother. Maybe I'm just worried about Pip exploring on his own. Roger wants to stay with me most of the time which is not a bad thing.

 

[RocketBo]

Another tail feather is about to go

But then his steep landing on me hand was great, unlike Pip who missed my head (again)