expiration date tailfeathers?

[ChristaNL]

A quick (and maybe silly) question. :01:

You all know that Sunny is a bit weird in the featherdepartment with all the barbering (and former semi-malnutrition etc.), so I wonder...

During playtime (couple of minutes ago) her one remaining long tailfeather just fell out.
(pointy-in-the-flesh-bit and all; lol & sorry, I cant think of the propper name for it atm)
She has been losing/shedding bodyfeathers a week or so ago and is covered with pinfeathers, so I a not very alarmed ( I asume molting) but puzzled:


She grew this long feather only a few ( 4?) months ago ...
(It is one of the largest feathers she can grow, so I really expected it to last longer than this.)


Is this normal?


Do macaws in general replace their tailfeathers this often?

 

[EllenD]

I don't personally know how often specifically Macaws molt their tailfeathers, but if he is covered in pin-feathers all over, then he's obviously in the middle of a large molt (as are a couple of my guys right now, it's driving my Green Cheek Conure insane right now)...As far as him losing the newer tailfeather, are you certain that it just "fell out", or is it possible that it got caught on something and got pulled/yanked out? Especially if the entire feather stalk came out, with skin on the end of it, it sounds like it actually got yanked-out. It may have gotten pulled almost the entire way out, say while he was in his cage (especially if it's a really long one) or while he was playing, flying/landing, etc., and then it finally fell completely out...It's not unusual that this happens to long tailfeathers. Also, if birds become startled or frightened by something, they do have the ability to suddenly "drop" their tailfeathers in order to get-away from danger, a predator, etc. So that's another possibility...but since the feather was only a few months old, I'm assuming that it just got pulled/yanked out accidentally...

 

[ChristaNL]

Thank you (its always reassuring to hear from someone with experience)


I wondered that myself - there was (relief!) no visable blood so touched the pointy bit to my lip to test it for liquids- it was completely dry!
She got the tail once again stuck in a bended position (push not pull)- it freaked her out, so I reached in to straighten her tail for her ... and ended up with the feather in my hand!
She almost did not react at all (no screams or biting) only after a few minutes she checked her left-over-tail (she has about a handlength left - 2 chewed of tailfeathers, most of them are completely missing).

 

[GaleriaGila]

Christa, thank you for caring so wonderfully for this darling!

If Patagonian* patterns are of any help, I can tell you that he moults contours in January-ish, and everything (tail, wing, contour) in July-ish. Yes, that woud be now. Feathers are evvvvvvvverywhere!

*They USED to be classified as macaws!

 

[noodles123]

I think that sounds normal? My cockatoo recently flew off of me at the sight of a different/"scary" vacuum cleaner (turned off and parked lol) and she lost a tail feather when she landed---I assume she bumped it but she didn't scream or anything and there was no blood, so I do think they just lose them sometimes (due to natural causes or rough play perhaps?) --As long as the tip is pointy (intact) then I was under the impression that it wasn't a huge issue.

 

[ChristaNL]

Thank you for all the nice responses sofar. This really is a great place to be! They really seem to lose feathers in all kind of situations.

I just am a bit puzzled about the short time between the feather growing and falling out again.
Since they normal replace their most important feathers slowly and carefully (so they can always fly to safety) I am kind of shocked that this one fell out so short after being grown.

So... is 4 months a normal 'lifespan' for a hardworking and much abused tailfeather?

 

[GaleriaGila]

The Rb's usually last for a year, but I do recall his loss of them more rapidly, especially when he was younger and (even more) reckless!

 

[ChristaNL]

Gila: that is actually possible?
The more reckless bit I mean

(I haven't read up upon all your adventures yet, there is *so* much)


Thank you for that "molting plan".

 

[Cthebird]

My Hahn's macaw losing his tail feathers quite frequently, but then new ones sprout and grow almost as fast as weeds.

We adopted our little guy with clipped flight feathers, but intended to let them grow out. It seemed like his tail feathers replaced themselves several times faster than his flight feathers. It seemed odd. We still have no idea why this was the case.