Tail Feathers

[Tangos Mom]

Hello everyone. :) I was a member here once but I can't find my e-mail/remember my login so I had to rejoin. *waves*

I'm having a problem. My 10 month old Green Wing Macaw looks like an African Grey wanna-be. His tails gone. He's not plucking them, only time I ever see him mess with them is when he's grooming himself. He likes to do flips on his perches and stuff and so while the cage is big enough (Though he likes to stay at the sides so that doesn't help when he turns), his tail is murdered by the bars when he decides to do a flip where he can't fit with his tail included. And when we're playing out of his cage he'll turn around right against things sometimes and so his tail gets wacked with whatever object is close by. He no longer has his beautiful long tail. At first he just had a rough looking tail but now they've been breaking off like crazy until it got to this point. Do you think he just hit them to the point they got really weak and broke? Should I be worried? :help:

[CocosMomma]

Hi there, and welcome! (or, should I say welcome back!);):D
Either way, it's great to have you here!

I had something similar happen to a cockatiel. He was also young, and just was all feet.:doh: Everytime he played or landed on something, or turned on his perch it seemed he was breaking off a tail feather. And when he would get one, sometimes it would 1/2 break and hang for a few days crooked. Very annoying to a mother! I wondered how he would ever be able to keep the ones that would grow back as he was so darned clumsy! But he did within 6 months get both tail feathers and some grace!:wub:

I don't know if this does or doesn't correspond with macaws, but soon some of our macaw owners will chime in and talk caw-tails with ya! In the meantime, welcome!:wavey:

[Jim]

Hi, welcome back.

Some Macaws break their tail feathers when young. Most often it's just like you said. Playing and bang their tail on everything. Not to set off alarm bells. I'm thinking at 10 months he should be aware of that long beautiful tail and be careful not to bang it around. It's not a problem. It's one of those things they do.

On a side note. If he keeps breaking them it may be a good idea to change things so he doesn't bang it as much. When there is only one or two tail feathers they are more likely to break. When they are all in they support each other so when hitting something they have the support of the feather next to it and on and on. Like one big tail feather, if that makes sense.

[Tangos Mom]

I'm not sure how I could change things to keep him from doing it is the problem. :/ He does it when he's out playing and LOVES his cement perches more than the rope kind (Unless he wants to do flips and those are softer on the feet for that. Lol!) and so those are stuck against the sides and don't go out very far.

I just want to make sure it wont cause any health/medical problems if he keeps on. I'm not too worried about the looks of his tail (I've had him since 4 months old and not once has he ever had a very "neat" tail xD His breeder warned us that he abused it.), he's still my baby no matter what, I just want to make sure it's nothing to be really concerned about.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i224/PurplexPoodle/Image178-2.jpg
Thats my silly boy and whats left of his tail. And his back feathers were messed up because he likes to roll on his back like a baby while I hold him in my lap. He's such a brat but I love him. :P

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i224/PurplexPoodle/Image162-1.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i224/PurplexPoodle/Image120-10.jpg
Better (Kinda) pictures of his tail.

[CocosMomma]

Aw, he's a cutie for sure!:wub: It wouldn't surprise me if he got more coordinated as he got older.

Jim gave ya the best advice possible... I just wanted to use posting as an excuse to say how cute he is!:drool2:

[Eriisu-chan]

Unless you start seeing blood on his feathers or cage, I wouldn't worry too much about it. :)

Also, what a CUTIE!! :wub:

[Chloe'smom]

oh he is very gorgeous!!

[kaisaj]

Hi, and welcome back!

My macaw did the same thing until she was about a year. She was just a klutz and was constantly breaking her tail feathers. I had a talk with her, but it didn't help! :rotflmao:Like Eriisu-chan said, unless you see blood, I wouldn't worry too much.

He is a beautiful bird! :agree:

[Jim]

I've been looking and looking at your pictures. btw - Thanks, they help us see what you're talking about.

It appears to me he backs into things or while climbing down things his tails is catching. As you know and we can see, it's ratted (is that a word?) and broken. The wing feathers? Hmmmm.... My boys both roll around on my lap, with each other on the couch, in the box in their room, in the clothes I'm folding and I've never seen their wing feathers that separated.

When you say "he likes to roll on his back like a baby while I hold him in my lap." Is he in a towel or being held, as in holding, while on your lap?

Not to be one that disagrees with broken/ratty feathers won't hurt anything, I must give my opinion on this.

They need that long tail for proper balance. All birds need the tail they are designed to have. We've all seen our birds move their tail when the perch shakes, they are leaning over, crouching down to take off. Think of us and our arms. Tie them in front or behind your back and walk around. Not to comfortable, we use them for balance.

As for the ratty part. They keep their feathers nice, in the wild, for health reasons, to attract a mate, etc. In my mind, it should be the same in our home.

Guess I'm saying to all. I think we should be very aware to not cause ratty or broken feathers. We should do the best we can to *prevent* it. We may be upsetting the well established apple cart.

[Tangos Mom]

I've actually been worried about his balance. He seems to be doing pretty well though. But I do understand what you're saying, I'd much rather he had them than messed them up and broke them off. He needs to learn to live with them without KILLING them.

And when he rolls on his back he's not in a towel. Whenever me or my mom come over to mess with him he puts his foot up and grabs onto our hands and then starts to roll over. I've never forced him to roll over (So no towels and no struggling and ending up with messy feathers), he just does it. :shrug:

I'm trying to work to keep him from hitting things so much. If he's out and getting close to something I'll get his attention and get him to come back over to me before he can bump his tail into anything. And if he's out on his cage or playstand I pull it away from things so if he's turning at the edges, he can't hit any walls, ect.

[SadennaAndFlock]

My military and mini macaw both trash their tails when they are playing in their cages, climbing up and down in the cage to get to toys..or perchs they get bumped and ratty looking ..but long tails seem to take the brunt of the abuse..my macaws tails always seem a bit abused when they really get playing..not so much when I have them out as they play stands they can't really bump their tail but in their cage it can happen...the interesting thing both my conures are very active and have long tails to but have never had rough looking tails and they play just as hard if not harder than my macaws..

[Jim]

Hi Tango's Mom

Sounds like you're doing some good things to help keep his feathers in better condition.

Let me give my short soap box talk about feathers.:)

1)The more feathers get messed up the more they usually try to fix then.

2)If they are really bad, bend or unzip in a way they don't lay nice, they can start to what is called "barb" them. Chew or pull off the messed up part.

3)All this fixing can become something fun for them to do or a habit. They *may* start doing it to feathers that need no fixing.

What I'm getting at. If I were in your situation, I would ask myself. Is rolling on his back worth the *possible* risks above. Remember please. I'm talking possible.

What do you think about this? We could work on changing rolling on his back to a different fun behavior.

[Traci]

the macaw babies my breeder has ( had ) in the past their tails looked just like that it was from like you said playing to hard banging into everything and anything, but they did grow out into beautiful tail feathers