Flight feathers on one wing too short

[aDORYble]

Hello all, I wanted to know if anyone was familiar with this issue. I have a pair of cockatiels, adopted from the same rescue. They were clipped, and It’s been over two years since I got them. One bird’s feathers have grown in beautifully and he flies well.

I thought the flight feathers should have grown in for the other bird by now (when I brought him in for his post adoption checkup the vet expected they’d be in by that spring) - it seems there are no more clipped feathers and yet on one side they are too short. This causes problems because of course, he can’t fly, and when he tries he’s imbalanced and crashes his tail feathers continually get wrecked because of this.

Here he is:



and here’s his brother for comparison:

 

[Lady Jane]

You could ask your avian vet about imping.

An Introduction to Imping, the Ancient Art of Feather-Mending

The practice has been described by kings, mentioned in Shakespeare, and is regularly performed at rehabilitation clinics everywhere.

www.audubon.org

 

[aDORYble]

Ooh I didn’t know that was a thing that could be done!

 

[BirdWorld]

An Introduction to Imping, the Ancient Art of Feather-Mending

The practice has been described by kings, mentioned in Shakespeare, and is regularly performed at rehabilitation clinics everywhere.

www.audubon.org

That’s interesting

I was just going to suggest clipping the other wing so both can grow out at the same time. Definitely don’t leave it like that, having one wing clipped and not the other can be dangerous if they try to fly.

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

I expect the follicles were somehow damaged so those feathers can't grow back in? That's too bad. I hope you find a solution.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Maybe they keep breaking? I would discuss it with the vet, but I wouldn’t clip the other wing.

 

[Lady Jane]

Yes, no more clipping until you find an avian vet that understands what happened to your Cockatiel and will perform imping if that is what you decide. Please let us know.

 

[aDORYble]

I hope they’re not damaged permanently... I will let you know when there is progress. Where I am a lot of things aren’t open right now, but I’ll see if I can email the vet and at least get some sort of consultation or something.

 

[Lady Jane]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjyzuubwOfrAhVjlXIEHVZuBrAQFjAMegQIAhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fforums.avianavenue.com%2Findex.php%3Fthreads%2Ffeather-imping-for-pet-parrots.27824%2F&usg=AOvVaw3H0WHdAKkyNw9CW-OxrYhW

 

[aDORYble]

COVID-19 and Curbside Service – Cinema Veterinary Centre - 661-253-9300- A full-service veterinary hospital servicing Valencia, Santa Clarita, Stevenson Ranch, Saugus, Castaic, Newhall and Canyon Country.

It looks like they offer curbside service - I’m a little unsure what this entails or if it’s a good idea with a bird? I’ll call Tomorrow and ask for more details.

 

[aDORYble]

Hi guys! Just letting you know there won’t be an update on the wing for a little while. Although they said they could give me referrals for another vet, ultimately I decided it would be best to just stick with the same one since she’s already seen him before and seemed gentle/nice.

But apparently it’s been kinda backed up so they won’t be seen until the 8th. BUT! I was able to get 3 appointments in a row for them (figure this covid thing won’t end soon so I better get them all seen anyhow) and they said it’s fine for the two tiels to be in the same room together so they don’t freak out. I’m not allowed to go in but I think they’ll be ok. :3

 

[aDORYble]

UPDATE:
I’m still sitting in my car while the three birds are in the vet’s office. The vet called me after examining them and talked to me about Peaches- she asked if I for sure knew what his age was and well, I guess I don’t because he was in a cage with a lot of other birds at the shelter. She says he seems like an older bird.

After talking to me about the nature of his accidents (how he flaps and crash lands- and then it occurred to me that he’s more poorly coordinated than Lychee) she suggested sedation and an X ray so he’s getting that done

Not really sure what to think right now. On the one hand it might be nice to have an answer but on the other hand I feel sad it didn’t occur to mehe might be handicapped for life with nerve damage, arthritis etc (these are possibilities she mentioned but I won’t know for a while longer... oof)

 

[Shezbug]

I had a budgie who had one wing much smaller than the other and it sat on a different angle than it should have been. She still flew very well though. She had a few other deformities too and it was suspected that she was not bred by a responsible or knowledgeable person

I hope you get some answers for your little guy and the vet visit goes well.

 

[Kassiani]

I know how hard it is to sit in your car and wait!! I hope for only good results Please let us know!

 

[aDORYble]

So some new info she gave me from his x rays - his kidney and liver I think she said look good. But his heart/vessels (she didn’t say it was bad) do show signs of being from a much older bird than I thought. This news does distress me a bit because I always assumed he’d be here for another couple decades...

They can’t really give me an exact number but she said that she guesses he’s up to 12 years old. 12 with some trauma, 7 if he had a really hard life pre-shelter, but definitely not 3 like I thought.

About his wings... turns out it’s not that the feathers are short. Some feathers are just NOT THERE at all. The x rays also show some signs of fractures- she suggested that they might be old injuries. She says there isn’t much we can do about the feathers if they’re not there :/ (apparently there isn’t any sign of growth whatsoever). She did stress, however, that we shouldn’t cut them because we need to preserve what he does have.

Lastly, he has arthritis as well (and it looks like his toe was broken before) She’s giving me a couple days worth of pain meds just to test whether that changes his movement and makes him less clumsy. If it does do anything I’ll take him back for blood work to get a prescription.

Not gonna lie- I feel a bit crushed. Both that I had no idea he might be in pain, and also that he’s going to have problems for what life he does have left. I hope it’s long, or maybe that she made a mistake in his age.

Also just baffled because I have had him seen in the past but it was never brought up that he was that much older. But I guess this is the difference that a specific exam with more data points can get you .-.

 

[Kassiani]

I’m so sorry to hear that he has some old injuries! I hope the poor thing was not abused I’m so glad that he is receiving such good care with you

I hope the pain medication is helpful! I know it’s hard to think about the fact that you may have fewer years with this sweet baby than you thought. But with good care, you could have several more years! Who knows?

 

[aDORYble]

Thank you guys for your kind and caring replies.

I sincerely hope he wasn’t abused- I can’t even picture someone wanting to hit a bird...cockatiels are so small too but I guess animals like birds/fish are the most commonly neglected and poorly looked after.

I guess it’s very possible since they were afraid of hands from the beginning. Time has made the tiels more friendly and willing to be around people (not touched but they love to be spoken to, and sometimes peaches will step up when you offer to help him) , but I kind of assumed that their skittishness was normal

 

[Ripshod]

It's quite common for captive tiels to injure their outer wing, and this can show later as poor (or no) feather growth at the tip of the wing. This is usually down to a poor blood supply or damaged folicles. Tau had the same problem and moulted twice before he could fly properly again.

 

[Kassiani]

It's quite common for captive tiels to injure their outer wing, and this can show later as poor (or no) feather growth at the tip of the wing. This is usually down to a poor blood supply or damaged folicles. Tau had the same problem and moulted twice before he could fly properly again.

That’s good to know, as I’m hoping to adopt a third bird for my flock and have been looking at cockatiels!

 

[aDORYble]

I just got his x rays back. Clearly I can’t make sense of anything in here.

It's quite common for captive tiels to injure their outer wing, and this can show later as poor (or no) feather growth at the tip of the wing. This is usually down to a poor blood supply or damaged folicles. Tau had the same problem and moulted twice before he could fly properly again.

!! that’s good to know. It gives me hope that Peaches might have all his feathers again some day. When I asked the vet when/if she said she had no guarantee they would come back. But that’s not a no!

but I guess the current steps are to make sure he loses some weight to help his mobility, and to adjust things in his cage for the arthritis. This morning I was looking into heated perches but I know for sure he doesn’t like to step onto things with that shape- I wonder if there’s such a thing as a heated flat perch? I’ll keep looking around.

I think I should also reduce their cage height