Encouraging new feather growth?

Is it possible for me to encourage the growth of new feathers on my cockatiels?

The breeder clipped my baby's wings, and she's getting stronger by the day but can't actually fly yet. I'm afraid she's going to knock into something, as she likes to jump out of my hands after being fed. My other tiel is super clumsy and breaks her tail feathers all the time, and it's given her a bad case of chicken butt.

Also little note, sorry if anybody finds me posting so much annoying... I feel like I always have a question about something.

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Birds will naturally molt on their own and replace the damaged feathers. It's another matter though on if those new feathers will grow in without getting broken!


Worse case scenario would be feather imping, but that would be for an extreme case (bird can't get feathers to grow despite several years of molting and breaking said feathers - or - owner wants bird flying sooner rather than later and has the money to spend on the procedure)



So.... in short... just give it time. Feed them a healthy diet and try and prevent them from breaking any feathers!

MonicaMc said:

Birds will naturally molt on their own and replace the damaged feathers. It's another matter though on if those new feathers will grow in without getting broken!


Worse case scenario would be feather imping, but that would be for an extreme case (bird can't get feathers to grow despite several years of molting and breaking said feathers - or - owner wants bird flying sooner rather than later and has the money to spend on the procedure)



So.... in short... just give it time. Feed them a healthy diet and try and prevent them from breaking any feathers!

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Iggy has basically no hope of growing those tail feathers in unless she stops slapping her rump into things. She breaks them somehow almost immediately after they're in. I don't see a full tail happening as she's a flat out clod. But she's MY clod.

I'm not going to go to extremes, I was just wondering if maybe adding a certain food or something might help. Iggy flies fine without a proper tail, and Abby will grow her flight feathers soon enough. I don't care how they look as long as they're healthy haha

Kind of what I figured. Oh well, worth a try asking. Thanks!

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Ziel said:

Also little note, sorry if anybody finds me posting so much annoying... I feel like I always have a question about something!

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Ha! Your averages are 0.6 posts per day, mine are 6.4! You need to really start pushing to catch up to ‘annoying’!
Your thank ratio is also high! No one is annoyed about all the teaching/learning going on!

Flboy said:

Ziel said:

Also little note, sorry if anybody finds me posting so much annoying... I feel like I always have a question about something!

Click to expand...

Ha! Your averages are 0.6 posts per day, mine are 6.4! You need to really start pushing to catch up to ‘annoying’!
Your thank ratio is also high! No one is annoyed about all the teaching/learning going on!

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The weekend was very busy, sorry for the late reply!

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who posts a lot then. I sure hope so! I always want to know how I can better take care of my birds!!

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I'm not sure if it encourages feather growth, but I do add a little bit of coconut oil drizzle in my GCC's sweet potato/blueberry mash. Her feathers look more shiny, so I believe she has healthier feathers from it

Behxo said:

I'm not sure if it encourages feather growth, but I do add a little bit of coconut oil drizzle in my GCC's sweet potato/blueberry mash. Her feathers look more shiny, so I believe she has healthier feathers from it

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I'll try this and see if it helps!

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A young Parrot with beautiful tail feathers is an oddity! The vast majority are ratty tails on a good day. As they get their overall size figured-out, tail feathers that stay for more than a few hours are a sign that they have stepped along in their growing-up!

Growing feathers require a ton of resources that only a High Quality, natural food sources diet can provide. The lower the the quality of the diet, the more the body will naturally limit regrowth!

With a young Parrot it is just that much more important!

SailBoat said:

A young Parrot with beautiful tail feathers is an oddity! The vast majority are ratty tails on a good day. As they get their overall size figured-out, tail feathers that stay for more than a few hours are a sign that they have stepped along in their growing-up!

Growing feathers require a ton of resources that only a High Quality, natural food sources diet can provide. The lower the the quality of the diet, the more the body will naturally limit regrowth!

With a young Parrot it is just that much more important!

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Oh, it's good to know Iggy isn't the only one.

Both my cockatiels are on pellets and receive vitamin supplements in their water. They also have 24/7 access to a mineral block and a cuttlebone. I think their diet could be improved, but right now it's just an issue that poor Abby's wings are clipped!

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I would recommend 50/50 seeds to pellets as their base diet.

If they eat pellets, they should not be receiving vitamin supplements *UNLESS* directed by an avian vet.

MonicaMc said:

I would recommend 50/50 seeds to pellets as their base diet.

If they eat pellets, they should not be receiving vitamin supplements *UNLESS* directed by an avian vet.

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Isn't that very high fat? I give them more like 75% pellet 25% seed.

Is it harmful if I give it to them? It's one drop in their water dishes/bottles. I bought it originally to give to my budgie to help as she molts, and it seemed to improve her mood a lot. But I also know a lot of that vitamin stuff can just be total bull.

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Pellets and seeds are not enough. Birds need a varied diet of fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts. I would suggest expanding their diet and giving them fresh greens and veggies daily, as well as fruit if your birds like it (my conure is my only bird that will eat fruit).

FlyBirdiesFly said:

Pellets and seeds are not enough. Birds need a varied diet of fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts. I would suggest expanding their diet and giving them fresh greens and veggies daily, as well as fruit if your birds like it (my conure is my only bird that will eat fruit).

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I know this. I'm making attempts to get them to eat fruits and veggies, it's just not worked so far. Anything I give them they turn their noses up at... (Yet my tiel tries to eat houseplants that are probably toxic)

Do your birds have any preferences in terms of fruits and veggies? I've tried carrots, kale, spinach, apple, banana, strawberry, grapes, etc. The only thing that they've ever mildly liked was banana chips and apples.

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My birds tend to like cooked or frozen veggies over fresh. My birds LOVE corn, peas, and chopped carrots from those frozen vegetable bags. Just thaw them in warm water and your bird will love them. Also, try cooking super grains like quinoa, buckwheat, barley, etc. All three of my birds go crazy for those. Keep trying, and try to eat in front of them because birds are social eaters, so they might try it if they see you eating it.

Ziel said:

Isn't that very high fat? I give them more like 75% pellet 25% seed.

Is it harmful if I give it to them? It's one drop in their water dishes/bottles. I bought it originally to give to my budgie to help as she molts, and it seemed to improve her mood a lot. But I also know a lot of that vitamin stuff can just be total bull.

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Click to expand...

One could argue that too many pellets in their diet is too nutrient rich. "Parakeets" (and cockatiels) eat a lot more grains and greens as compared to the larger parrots that may consume more fruits, nuts and other types of seeds.

I met someone on another forum (now gone) that jumped on the bandwagon of feeding pellets to birds. Well, they may have fed pellets exclusively, and the cockatiel ended up having kidney failure and had to get allopurinal for the rest of his life.

In short....

All seed diet = obesity, fatty liver disease, malnutrition
All pellet diet = kidney failure, possibly gout


Alone, neither one is healthy for the little guys. My own a-vet doesn't even recommend feeding more than 50% of pellets to the little guys.

If it helps...

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...7-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html


A part of my birds' diet is "chop" (or mash). I use sprouted seeds as a base




And from there, I add chopped vegetables and a *little* fruit. Generally speaking, cockatiels aren't big on fruit, so it's not really necessary to include it in the diet much anyway, but vegetables are a good option.

MonicaMc said:

Ziel said:

Isn't that very high fat? I give them more like 75% pellet 25% seed.

Is it harmful if I give it to them? It's one drop in their water dishes/bottles. I bought it originally to give to my budgie to help as she molts, and it seemed to improve her mood a lot. But I also know a lot of that vitamin stuff can just be total bull.

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Click to expand...

One could argue that too many pellets in their diet is too nutrient rich. "Parakeets" (and cockatiels) eat a lot more grains and greens as compared to the larger parrots that may consume more fruits, nuts and other types of seeds.

I met someone on another forum (now gone) that jumped on the bandwagon of feeding pellets to birds. Well, they may have fed pellets exclusively, and the cockatiel ended up having kidney failure and had to get allopurinal for the rest of his life.

In short....

All seed diet = obesity, fatty liver disease, malnutrition
All pellet diet = kidney failure, possibly gout


Alone, neither one is healthy for the little guys. My own a-vet doesn't even recommend feeding more than 50% of pellets to the little guys.

If it helps...

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...7-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html


A part of my birds' diet is "chop" (or mash). I use sprouted seeds as a base

View attachment 19909


And from there, I add chopped vegetables and a *little* fruit. Generally speaking, cockatiels aren't big on fruit, so it's not really necessary to include it in the diet much anyway, but vegetables are a good option.

View attachment 19910

Click to expand...

Never an exclusively pellet diet. Got it. Do you have any recommendations in terms of grains? They get multigrain cheerios sometimes but that doesn't really count I dont think, lmao 🤣

I don't exclusively feed pellets. Let me try and describe what I do... So, there's pellets in their main dishes. I fill another dish with seed, and then I just refill both dishes as they are eaten. I also give them millet to snack on when they come out of the cage.

Not the best feeding routine, I know, but I'm working on it. I think I may end up doing timed feedings (breakfast, lunch, dinner, with some food available to snack on between), but I need to work that into my schedule first. I think once I've done that I'll start chop as well. In the meantime I'm going to keep trying to introduce veggies and such.

Also sorry if I sound like angry/cold. I'm not trying to be but I feel like I come off that way via text...

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You're fine! It's always hard to determine tone through text, and I can understand that well enough!


I don't feed cereal. If it helps, I put this thread together as well?

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...afe-fresh-foods-toxic-food-lists-sprouts.html


I've fed both pellets and seeds together (creating my own mix), as well as alternating what days they get seeds or pellets. Right now, they get seeds in the form of sprouts.