Tail Feather pulling

[kuku]

Hi - my three month old budgie started pulling his tail feathers - both of them since last week - noticed that both of them were broken in half - no bleed at all. Half of it fell off and the remaining half is still there - should i pluck the remaining part off ??? He has new feathers and now seems to be doing the same to the new one and it looks like he is damaging them...

No other feathers visible on the floor.

This is my first budgie !!!

[Marrie]

Did he pull the tail feathers out because they were damaged, or did he damage them pulling them out? If he has a damaged one, just leave it, he'll deal with it (only really need to pull out a damaged feather if it is a broken blood feather).

My tiel was tailless the first year I had him because he would damage them playing or flying and then pull out the damaged part.

If he is plucking though, you need to figure out why. Boredom is usually the main cause.

[kuku]

They did look a bit worn out initially and then once he started pulling on them - he would do it regularly - even after he was left out for a few hours and then back into his cage he would start tugging at it - today they snapped

[Marrie]

Were they kinda bent to the side when he started tugging ? Kinda loose hanging? Or just frayed, like an old feather you pick up off the ground if you rub the feather the wrong way?

Is he picking at any other feathers, or just his tail?

Have any pictures of the bird's tail?

Is it possible he's starting to molt, any of the puffy downy type feathers in the bottom of his cage?

[kuku]

Thanks a lot fothe help !

It look frayed initially but then it was loose hanging after he tugged at it. It may be he is starting to molt - this being my first buie dont know if this is what it is !!! He did have a few new feathers on the top of his head about 10 days ago. Few puffy feathers did fly about last week but not many.

Will upload a pic of his tail tomorrow. He is asleep now being from london

Just worried he is also fraying his brand new tail feathers dont want them damaged too !

[Marrie]

He may have damaged his tail and then pulled out the feathers cause they were hurting him, if that is the case it isn't much to worry about. The new feathers as they grow in, on my tiel were very easy to break off.. cause he would grow like 2 top ones and without the bottom ones to support them, they would break at the least little thing.

If he has the puffy downy feathers coming out, he may be molting. Do you know how old he is? If he is molting expect a slightly grumpier bird, make sure he has cuttlebone for calcium available at all times and he should grow his tail back pretty quickly.