trashed tail feather

[3tiels&aringneck]

My five-month-old IRN has trashed his tail feathers from landing on them when he dives off his cage, Someone at the local pet store who deals with birds told me to have a couple of what's left pulled out so new ones can grow in quicker, Is that true. I hate to put him through it if it's not the right thing to do. You can sort of see them on the pictures I put on facebook. I feel bad for the little guy. He tries to jump down so he can find me if Im not in the same room as him.

[bec]

i definitly wouldnt pull the feathers out unless they are bleeding they still wont grow back till his next moult
why cause your little one pain for no reason
plus there is also the fact that he might be scared of you after causing this pain

[3tiels&aringneck]

I don;t remember with Bullet, but at what age do they (first) moult. My boy Joey is about 5-6 months old. My Bullet is a 1-1/2 yo and she just recently went througha moult and now looks nice and smooth and like a ringneck should.

[Lilly]

My baby is going through the mother of all molts at the moment... he's 5 months old, he's sprouting pin feathers finally but it's taken well over a month for them to appear.

[Melika]

i definitly wouldnt pull the feathers out unless they are bleeding they still wont grow back till his next moult
why cause your little one pain for no reason
plus there is also the fact that he might be scared of you after causing this pain

Exactly my thought.

Hane had a curly tail for a long time when his brother curled it up by biting it lol! But after his molt he was as good as new.

[ellieelectrons]

I think moulting is seasonal - not to do with age???

Ellie.

[Melika]

I think moulting is seasonal - not to do with age???

Ellie.

Yes and no. For this instance, we're looking for the first molt. Ours went through a 'mini-molt' which was off-season and the next molt was a real one. Unfortunately I cannot remember their age when this happened lol!

[ellieelectrons]

Thanks Melika... I love learning new things about IRNs!

Ellie.

[Lilly]

My IRN is still young and their first molt comes roughly around 4/5/6 months of age, after this first molt I am more inclined to then say it goes by season.... so to be clear like Melika said "yes and no" lol!

[3tiels&aringneck]

That means poor Joey won't have new tail feathers until probably the spring. He looks like just a bird body with no tail feathers, He gets along fine though. It doesn't stop him from getting where he wants to go.