Hi;
Our Cockatiel is currently in a cage that measures 16" x 24"x 14 high.
He;s been in several other type cages, some much taller and wider, some just taller. He breaks most of his tail feathers, they are not broken at the base, but broken about a third of the way from the base of the tail. I don't know if his cage is too small or the placements of the perches or if his diet is lacking something.
He spends at least half of the day out of his cage, so he gets lots of exercise.
Any ideas?
Do

Is he a latino or a white face? I don't know what it is about those mutations but I see more of them with the same problem...so it could be a recessive gene. A good friend of mine has a pied lutino and he is forever breaking his tail feathers. We just call him our tail-less wonder.

Hi Dodo,

You need to tackle this from two angles - environment and diet.

Many people have large cages for their birds, but only short perches, so that their birds are forced close to the bars anyway. If the bird then needs to turn around on the perch, it's tail feathers brush against the bars, damaging them. Try rearranging the cage, using natural branches as perches - apple tree branches, for example, as long as you can be 100% certain that they have not been sprayed with any chemicals. Position one branch to make a sleeping perch. It should go diagonally across the cage so that the bird can sleep in its favourite corner and be as high up as possible, while still allowing the bird an inch or so headroom should it sit with its crest raised.

Do you find broken tail feathers in the bottom of the cage in the morning? If you do, test one to see if it is brittle. If it is, you need to increase the bird's intake of Vitamin A. Spinach, kale, carrots, canteloupe melon and mango are good sources of Vit A. If the bird in question is a fussy eater, then try adding a Vitamin A supplement in powdered form to the food it will take.

Of course, both of these measures will only help from the next moult. If you want to repair the damage now, you will need to dig out some old moulted tail feathers and find a falconer that can help you with an imping operation,

hey CQ happy to see ya post!!

poor little tiel! i wish i had advice but whay they gave ya is most def the best so ill just say good luck with it and hope you get a pretty little birdie booty soon!

Thanks for the great advice, CaptainQuark...I have been having a similar problem with my quaker and your advice was perfect!
Have a great day - I'm off to find some natural perches for my little green guy!
Heather (hlm584)

Thanks to all, upon looking at his perches, some are short so out they comes, the rest are true limbs, but he turns around near the end, not in the middle - why?, just because I guess.
He is a picky eater and is anti veggie, even pieces of mellon and fruit. So off to the pet shop for some vitamins I guess
Well, thanks for the suggestions and ideas, it's some place to start. He doesn't loose these poor broken feathers, just drags them around or they stick up in the air, really something to laugh at if it didn't embarres him. So we don't, just a little snicker.
Thanks,
Dodo