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Is my bird pulling feathers out?

ParakeetMa

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I haven't been home a lot and i have found a second tail feather at the bottom of his cage, i haven't seen his tail feathers fall out before is this normal?
 

Shezbug

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Hard to say going on just the information above.
If he hasn’t molted yet or for a while it’s entirely possible they fell out ready to grow new ones.

Sometimes posting a pic of the whole feather (shaft too) will be helpful. The ends look a little different for plucked feathers.
 

Sylvi_

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Birds naturally molt out their feathers once or twice a year. If you look closely at your budgie, you may notice pin feathers.
That’ll mean he’s going through a molt. Extra baths are great during this.

Like mentioned above, do post a photo of his feather if you’re concerned. Naturally molted feathers look different from ones from an injury, or plucking.
 

Ripshod

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Back in November he was going through his first moult, essentially shedding his barring and becoming an adult. The timing would now be about right for his first 'full' moult.
 

ParakeetMa

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oops didn't mean to send it again
 

ParakeetMa

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Also another question, should i keep mirrors in my birds cage? i heard that its bad for them
 

DesertBird

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DesertBird

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Also another question, should i keep mirrors in my birds cage? i heard that its bad for them
No, don't put a mirror in the cage. The bird can become obsessed with its own reflection, and get really frustrated when it can't get to the "other bird".
 

ParakeetMa

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oh ok even if he just plays with it?
 

Shezbug

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I don’t think it’s safe for every bird, but it depends on the bird itself as far as I’m concerned. Not gonna be a popular thought here but I don’t feel they’re evil or bad for every bird- I really think it should be based on the individual birds behaviour with a mirror. My budgie has a mirror. He only chats to it for probably an hour tops each day. If he was obsessed I’d remove it but he spends much more time with all his other toys than he does his mirror.
 

Sunni Tiel

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I don't have mirrors in my cage, Sunni only gets to see his friend in the mirror when we pass the one in the hall. He loves to dance and play peekaboo when there's a mirror in sight. I don't want to make it an obsession.
 

elena_2004

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I haven't been home a lot and i have found a second tail feather at the bottom of his cage, i haven't seen his tail feathers fall out before is this normal?
If its just one or two feather, its probably just a normal molt! My parrotlets drop so many feathers during their molting period, so don't worry about it just yet.

Try and keep and eye on him when you're around - If you see the feather falling naturally , its just molting ;)
 

Ripshod

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This thread is just great timing. Yesterday my whole flock went into their spring moult. I vacuumed less than 24hrs ago and the following pics are what I have to clean up tonight. It seems they have finally synchronised so I should only have to face this twice a year now.
This is a flock moult - most of the grey in the foreground is chewed cardboard but the amount under the cages is just half of the fallout. Plus what's in the cages and around the room you're looking at ¼.
DSC_1031.JPG DSC_1029.JPG
6 budgies.
 
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