Ruffled Tailfeathers

[Boki]

I have only had this rosefront conure for 3 weeks and it is only 6 months old. The feathers were ruffled when I got her. I assumed they would have smoothed out by now. Is this a sign of stress of being in a new home?

She is stepping up quite easily but not a fan of being touched.

I added the photo as I have in other posts where people can make a better assessment of the feathers and if it is a problem or not.

When she gets totally comfortable, will this feathers smooth out. Will something like that happen in the first big molt?

 

[Laurasea]

If they got damaged before you got her, I think you have to wait till she molts them.

 

[ParrotGenie]

Likely dirty, or damaged. Birds do at time like to drag tail feathers around. She eventually molt and get new ones.

 

[Jen5200]

Tail feathers are easily damaged, and it’s not uncommon for young conures to be hard on them. Playing, folding them against the cage bars, etc will cause damage to them. Feathers don’t generally recover, they get molted and replaced. My girl Bindi is very hard on her tail feathers. She loves to hang from the side of her cage (she has a big cage, but persists in hanging out on the cage bars) and she damages hers. When she molts they look good again for a few weeks and then she trashes them on the cage bars again....sigh. I’ve given up on her having a nice tail but the rest of her feathers look wonderful lol .

 

[ChristaNL]

They may start to look a lot better after a bath (a real soak, not a light spray), so all you can do is give it time...

 

[SunnyGirl]

my sun was in her travel cage for 2 hours yesterday on the way to the vet and back and her tail looks worse than yours, plainly cause she can't sit still in the carrier and messed her tail up herself also when she was a baby her tail was always a mess the molt will come soon, don't worry

 

[Boki]

Thank all of you for your replies. I wasn't worried that it wouldn't get corrected through a molt. I was worried that it was a sign of stress. I wanted to check that box off. Yes, she is sort of clunky around the cage and the feathers get ruffled then.

 

[Laurasea]

Abd congratulations on your new addition! Lets see a pretty face shot now.

 

[Boki]

So this is Loki, a juvenile rose fronted conure. When she goes through her first molt, her head should turn bright red.

 

[Jen5200]

She is adorable!