Tail feathers lost on shaft tailed finch

[charisma]

I've noticed my male shaft tail has lost his tail feathers! Its been
gradual over the past couple of weeks. Today I think he lost his last one. He looks so stubby! The rest of his feathers seem in tact. Is this common for shaft tails or do I have something to worry about?
I should mention they are caged birds but I do let them out in the room once in a while so they can get some exercise. Sometimes I have to catch them to get them back in but I'm very gentle with them.

I thank you for any advice on this...

[cindy]

Can I ask what size nest they are sitting in...is it a finch or canary which is larger?

My shaftails are given a open face parakeet box. They sit to the point their tails a curled in different directions. I have seen them take turns and straighten each others' tails with their beaks.

If they are sitting in a finch nest it might be to small resulting in some tail breakage. You might consider a bigger nest box since they can have large clutches.

[charisma]

Thx for your reply.
The size of the nest is approximately 5 inches wide by 3 inches.
Its an open nest that I made out of a small basket and they seem
to love it. She sits in it most of the day and it hasn't affected her
tail feathers at all. I was told to remove nesting material so they no longer bury their eggs. Somewhere I read that sometimes they pluck their own feather in place of that?
They seemed to have fallen out when he was out of the cage flying. I have found most of them on my floor and only a couple in the cage.
I'm very puzzled.

[cindy]

I would let them build if they build around the eggs, also they may bury the eggs if they sense they are infertile. Mine did this in the begining. I will see if I can find the pictures that I took when mine built out all but a small opening to get in and out of.

This explains how they like to build it out and hid deep in the nest.
http://www.efinch.com/species/shaft.htm

In my opinion I let my continue to build while sitting, they raised bigger clutches (4 in total). If they are young they will make mistakes but they will get it right. They could also start plucking each other looking for material. I always leave a small box of material in the bottom of all my cages so they can build out the nest to their liking. They will stop when ready and sit and raise a family. They like privacy and once they start laying the female sits tight and the male brings material up to the nest and she will assist him while sitting as he builds around her.

My shaftail cage was located near my desk so i could whatch what they did, it is really interesting to watch the process.

Can you see if the eggs are fertile?

[charisma]

I don't know if the eggs are fertile because i haven't checked for fear of them abandoning their eggs. So far she's been sitting on them for over a week steadily. In the past she's left them after this amount of time, only to have me candle them later and find they weren't fertile. She seems to know. I'm assuming then that they are since she continues to sit. Also in the past she has abandoned them because I've been nosey and candled them so this time I've decided to leave them alone. Once they did have babies but tossed them the next day.
I'm hoping this time all will work out.
As for nesting material, as you can see from this past picture they over nested. lol She could barely see out and the eggs just got deeper and deeper in the nest until she finally stopped sitting on them. This time I've put them in a shallow nest so there really isnt any fear of burying them so maybe like you said I'll give them some nesting material back. I don't want him to lose any more feathers! He has no tail feathers left now. I'm hoping they don't take too long to grow back. Yikes!

[cindy]

I am sure the tails feathers will grow back. It is normal for them to nest deep in the nest. Next clutch give them an open faced keet nesting box (you can find them at shows or through ladygouldian.com). It will give them more room to nest and build.

[charisma]

Thanks for all the info Cindy, i appreciate your time with this..
After this clutch I will look into a bigger nest.
I'll let you know how it goes with the eggs! *fingers crossed*...and the feathers!