Cockatiel's first moult and clipped wings growing back?

reeb · Nov 6, 2017

Hi!

My baby cockatiel is around 4.5 months old, and her breeder clipped her wings. I have free-flighted birds, and since her wings were clipped before I booked her, I was unable to request unclipped wings. Her wings are nicely cropped, and she is still able to fly to some extent, but I really can't wait for her to be fully flighted.

Since I am new to cockatiels, I am unsure of when her first moult will be. While I have done some research online, many different sources seem to give varying answers to my question. I have experience with budgies and I know that they go through their first moult at around 4 months and will have their adult feathers by 6 months.

So, what is the average age that cockatiels go through their first moult, and how quickly will her flight feathers grow back?

Thanks!
:grey:

AmyMyBlueFront · Nov 6, 2017

Well...BB is the only cockatiel that I have ever had,so I am new to this..but I'll give you my experience with him.

Beebs was also 4.5 months old when he picked me to go home with,that was in May of 2016..so,he has been with me and Amy now 17 months,and makes him to be 21 months old.He was also wearing short sleeves on his arms ( meaning he was clipped

) by his breeder.

It took BB about 5 months or so,to start to get his long sleeves on his arms.
His sleeves were long enough,to the point that if he lost his balance,or fell from some place

, he could still go flapflapflap and not smack the ground full force.

He has gone though two complete molts now,and COULD fly,if he wanted to,but he prefers to walk/run in circles,zig-zag down the hallway looking for me,not knowing what exactly he is trying/wanting to do or go. He is lost in his own little world..

Goofy boy that he is...

Jim

ParrotLover2001 · Nov 6, 2017

Elvis was about 6 months when he had his first molt. Although it took a couple molts before he gained all of his flight feathers.

Sent from my Galaxy s8

itzjbean · Nov 6, 2017

Hello and congrats on your baby cockatiel!

Most young cockatiels will go through their first molts around 5-6 months of age. At that time you'll see a good amount of different feathers at the bottom of the cage, most are really good at preening themselves during this time. My birds are not clipped so I'm not sure how many molts it takes to grow flighted feathers back but it will be more than one, most likely probably two or three molts before back to normal wing lengths.

texsize · Nov 6, 2017

The 3 babies I raised from the egg were able to fly at about 5 months with there original feathers. I did not clip them.
That being said I had to wait close to a full year till I was able to tell just what they were going to look like.
Best example would be Popeye. Popeye was the only male and he was a normal grey in coloring. His head did not start to turn yellow until about 8/9 months and was fully yellow at 1 year. I don't know how that plays out for the wing feathers.

texsize

Cockatiel's first moult and clipped wings growing back?

reeb

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