FINCHforum

I have a spice finch and we also have cats. They have no interest in the bird but I was changing the food and he tried to fly out so I quickly, not even thinking, grabbed his tail because I didn't wanna chase him around the house. His tail feathers all pulled off and he has a bob like tail. It's a tail but not with the feathers. There wasn't a speck of blood anywhere and he didn't seem in pain. He just sat there like he didn't know. But for a few minutes, his butt twitches back and forth and he moves around like he loses balance. He's fine now and can still fly and is perfectly healthy like usual. He still sings and hops around but I feel REALLY bad for what I did by accident.
Will they grow back?

We've all done that, don't feel bad. Many birds will drop tail feathers when being caught, I think it might be an instinctive defense mechanism. The bird escapes, and the predator is left holding only a bunch of tail feathers. Tail feathers grow back quite quickly, and your bird will be fine in the meantime.

And welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at the Finch Information Center, linked at left, and the members are always ready to help. If you put your general location in your profile, it helps when answering locale-specific questions later on.

Thank you. I can see what you mean now. It's my first finch and I was terrified after doing that. Now I can feel relieved. And thank you ! This site seems perfect for lots of help too.

Sally wrote: We've all done that, don't feel bad. Many birds will drop tail feathers when being caught, I think it might be an instinctive defense mechanism. The bird escapes, and the predator is left holding only a bunch of tail feathers. Tail feathers grow back quite quickly, and your bird will be fine in the meantime.

And welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at the Finch Information Center, linked at left, and the members are always ready to help. If you put your general location in your profile, it helps when answering locale-specific questions later on.

One of my birds had no tail when I purchased her, and now has a beautiful tail a little over a month later. As Sally said, it happens often. Yes, welcome! Everyone is very helpful and friendly on this forum.

Don't panic.....I had to catch an orange breast one day, it played dead in my hand then flew away leaving all of its tail feathers behind.....I went into a mad panic but it was fine.....it took about 3 weeks and all the feathers grew back again.

AnimalLover
Welcome to one animal lover from another.
Some months ago, I had my little Socie boy Petey pull the same trick on me. More recently, my Green Singer female Willow did the same thing.
Yes, these feathers grow back amazingly quick, especially if you supply them with hard boiled eggs, cooked egg shells and cuttle bone for calcium and protein.
Every time this happens though, I almost have a heart attack.
Goodluck and enjoy the Forum.

Yep done that too.... They will grow back, and rather quickly too!

OK, sorry for the necropost - but I have a bird, Bambi, who had his tail feathers pulled out in the store. They had him in quarantine for several months, and claimed he had been looked at by a vet.

I have now had him for at least a couple months and I think longer - they've started moult now and I was hoping his tail feathers would come back in during the moult.

But he's been a tail-less wonder for something going on 6 months now - I've been assuming I had to wait for the moult for those feathers to come back in, yet it sounds like most of the time it shouldn't take nearly that long ...

Could there be something more wrong with him that the pet store just didn't tell me?

I've done that too. Tail feathers will grow back. Should be all done in 6 weeks.

wilkifam

You mean like 6 weeks from the beginning of the molt?

It's been more like 6 MONTHS that he's been tail-less, altogether. They actually gave him to me for free, I suspect because they assumed his tail feathers weren't coming back, after having him in the back for 3 or 4 months already.

I'm a terrible wimp about these birds. Every new thing terrifies me. Not so much the tail feathers per se, as he is getting around in his current cage OK, he can fly from the perch at one end to the other (about 3'). When I first got him he would make a leap for the cage side and fling himself into the bars instead of grabbing them, or he'd miss his perch, but he finally got the dimensions of the cage into his tiny little bird brain.

Don't even say "air sac mites" to me though. Since I read that thread, I am constantly watching them to see if they're panting, LOL!

Since he hasn't grown back the tail feathers in 6 months, I would wonder if they are gone permanently. Usually, they regrow very quickly. If he is doing OK without a tail, I wouldn't worry about it.

The feather follicles may have been so damaged that the feathers will not grow back. Like Sally said, if he's doing well don't worry.

debbie276
@Sally

I kind of figured there was a possibility that might be the case. However since he is getting along ok, I'm not that worried about it.

They MIGHT be coming back, at least one or two - I see some kind of draggeldy looking feathers that might be feathers coming in. How many tail feathers do they have, anyway?

Not that it matters, as long as he's getting around OK in there. It just means I got a free bird, LOL!

However, if they don't come back, he and Pyewacket will live out lives of leisure in their own personal cage. I will NEVER expose him to being picked on by other birds again - and without tail feathers, the risk that he'd end up picked on by new birds is pretty high. They always pick on the funny-looking ones first.