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507 Posts
Ugh...
For those who don't know, I purchased Phoenix from a pet store about 5 months ago. Before I could get there to pick him up, they absolutely butchered his wings in the worst clipping I've ever seen on a tiel.
The drop like a rock clipping combined with baby clumsiness resulted in him falling and breaking his ENTIRE tail off.
Currently he has 4 proper tail feathers - the rest keep growing in twisted and breaking as they have no support. He finally finished a molt about a week ago. He didn't end up dropping all his flights, but he dropped a few - and they grew back in great.
But they were so far spaced out and had no support that as soon as he had the tiniest fright, they broke off. Yesterday he lost 3 flights from one wing, 2 from another, and 2 of his tail feathers in a night fright that only lasted a few seconds.
This is absolutely heartbreaking and a nightmare to have to go through. I cried when I found those feathers in the bottom of the cage last night. We waited 5 months for that.... just for them to break. They seemed strong enough... should I have clipped them? That seems so counter productive... I just want him to be able to fly.
I don't even know if he knows how to fly. That's the hardest part of all this. Does anyone have any advice on how I can get these feathers to grow back in properly?
And PLEASE please please keep Phoenix in mind if you want to clip your bird. This is a good example of how an improper clipping can have a HUGE negative impact on your birds' health and temperament. Phoenix is entirely dependent on me, he has no confidence and can't even jump short gaps any flighted (or properly clipped) bird would would be able to do with ease. He may never be able to fly at all. It's so sad...
For those who don't know, I purchased Phoenix from a pet store about 5 months ago. Before I could get there to pick him up, they absolutely butchered his wings in the worst clipping I've ever seen on a tiel.

The drop like a rock clipping combined with baby clumsiness resulted in him falling and breaking his ENTIRE tail off.

Currently he has 4 proper tail feathers - the rest keep growing in twisted and breaking as they have no support. He finally finished a molt about a week ago. He didn't end up dropping all his flights, but he dropped a few - and they grew back in great.

But they were so far spaced out and had no support that as soon as he had the tiniest fright, they broke off. Yesterday he lost 3 flights from one wing, 2 from another, and 2 of his tail feathers in a night fright that only lasted a few seconds.
This is absolutely heartbreaking and a nightmare to have to go through. I cried when I found those feathers in the bottom of the cage last night. We waited 5 months for that.... just for them to break. They seemed strong enough... should I have clipped them? That seems so counter productive... I just want him to be able to fly.
I don't even know if he knows how to fly. That's the hardest part of all this. Does anyone have any advice on how I can get these feathers to grow back in properly?
And PLEASE please please keep Phoenix in mind if you want to clip your bird. This is a good example of how an improper clipping can have a HUGE negative impact on your birds' health and temperament. Phoenix is entirely dependent on me, he has no confidence and can't even jump short gaps any flighted (or properly clipped) bird would would be able to do with ease. He may never be able to fly at all. It's so sad...