Found a long tail feather on the cage floor on Tuesday and another one today. She looks noticeably stubby from behind. She has also been grumpier than usual and preening a lot.
The cage is secondhand and honestly on the small side, and her tail does touch the bars when she turns around. Is this a molt, or is the cage doing it, and how would I tell the two apart?
Deal with the cage anyway, because you have described the exact setup that breaks tail feathers. A tail that touches the bars on every turn frays, and a cage where the tail reaches the floor is worse.
The other common breaker is night frights: thrashing in the dark snaps feathers, and conures do it. A dim night light fixes most of that, and moving her perches so the tail hangs clear fixes the rest.
Worth checking the edges. Chewed or frayed rather than broken can mean she is doing it herself.
Two things to know even though yours looks like an ordinary moult. A growing feather has a blood supply, so a broken blood feather can bleed: gentle pressure and ring somebody if it does not stop quickly.
And come in if new feathers grow back looking wrong, twisted or discoloured or clubbed, or if they do not grow back at all. Plucking and barbering are their own conversation, usually stress, boredom or hormones, and worth ruling out medically first rather than assuming it is behavioural.
@pin_feathers_in · 2w ago · 3 replies
Look at the feathers rather than the bird. A moulted feather comes out whole, shaft and all. A damaged one is broken or frayed, with a bent or split tip, and the base is usually still in her.
The grumpiness and extra preening points at a moult, and the thing that would confirm it is pin feathers: new growth coming through in waxy sheaths. Part her feathers gently and look along the back and head. Pins mean she is replacing them.
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@feather_on_the_floor · 2w ago
Both of the ones I found are whole, now that I look. There are little waxy spikes along her neck too.
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@pin_feathers_in · 2w ago
That is a moult then, and the grumpiness makes sense because pins are tender. Good diet, regular misting or a bath, and handle her gently for a few weeks. It will fill back in.
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