Will my conures wings ever grow back?

[crackerjack]

I clipped my parrots wings last october, he wasnt tame at the time so he didnt like being handled.
Im not sure if I cut too much so that they wont grow back.
but in the last two months he's had the outermost wings on both sides grow back, but they keep falling off and regrowing, sometimes when he cleans himself.
Then theres the inner flight wings that I cut off and my older brother said theyre never going to grow back and that I cut too much. When I cut them there was no blood or thick bone. Will they eventually grow back?

And is it his diet that makes the wings keep falling off and regrowing?
I feed him kaytee conure mix, fruits, and wheat products daily.

THanks

 

[weco]

Just like our skin is constantly sloughing off & renewing, birds moult their feathers and re-grow them every year and some moult twice a year.....feathers that naturally fall out during a moult, will grow back during the moulting period...feathers that might get caught or are otherwise pulled out will cause an early regeneration, like happens if you cut a chunk out of your skin...your body repairs the cut and regenerates replacement layers of skin.....

You say you clipped your bird's wings, but didn't know if you cut too much.....if you are going to continue clipping bird's wings I would strongly suggest you at least search the internet for wing clipping diagrams, to show you the proper way to clip.....bad clips can irritate a bird & may cause them to pluck and/or mutilate themselves.....


There are no inner wings on a bird, there are however, layers of feathers on a wing and you only cut the flight feathers, the longest feathers on the bottom row of feathers...and...when clipping those feathers, you only clip the first 5 feathers, counting from the outside feather in towards the body.

When clipping, you only trim to just below the edge of the second row of feathers....look at the cutting pics below.....you do not cut the feathers past/under the edge of the second row (secondaries).....

 

[crackerjack]

I know I made a stupid mistake by cutting them without looking at a tutorial or a photo.

I just checked my parrot and I did cut all the primary wings and most but not all of the secondary wings. Will they never grow back?

 

[MarciaLove]

they should grow back yes but its dangerous to cut the secondary as your bird could crash to the ground and get hurt.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

"feathers" not wings cutting wings is very bad, cutting the feathers is ok.

It can take a while for the feathers to come back completely. My galah, after 2 years, still has 2 clipped secondaries that haven't been replaced yet.

Has your bird ever been to the vet? Calcium deficiency and health problems can make the feathers come in slower, when I got my galah cockatoo she had a calcium deficiency and all sorts of problems that made her big feathers take much longer to be replaced. I wouldn't be worried yet though, most birds are going into molt again and he should soon loose some

 

[triordan]

It has almost been a year since the vet clipped my guys feathers, only the 1st ones have come back, I don't remember it taking this long the last time he was clipped. ?..

 

[MagegrayWolf]

I would recommend not to clip your birds wings. Being able to fly can actually help the bird breath. It's also good for their mental well being and can serve as a good means to burn off excess energy if need be. (something conures seem to have an abundance of)

As or wings growing back, they will. My cockatiel not to long back had a night freight and managed to catch her wings on the bars of her cage in a way that ripped all her flight feathers out. I managed to get the bleeding to stop and now she is back to full flight again. Though she still needs work on her landings.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

I would recommend not to clip your birds wings. Being able to fly can actually help the bird breath. It's also good for their mental well being and can serve as a good means to burn off excess energy if need be. (something conures seem to have an abundance of)

As or wings growing back, they will. My cockatiel not to long back had a night freight and managed to catch her wings on the bars of her cage in a way that ripped all her flight feathers out. I managed to get the bleeding to stop and now she is back to full flight again. Though she still needs work on her landings.

Please be careful when recommended to leave a bid flighted, it can be a wonderful thing, but not everyone is cut out for it. It's ok to have your own opinion and express it, just know that it is there decision to make and no one else.

On the subject, my galah cockatoo is fully flighted and I feel very strongly that all galahs should be for health reasons. Flying is what a bird is designed to do, and if you are able to do so it's fantastic

 

[MarciaLove]

I do realize for some people its much safer to have their birds wings clipped but I also think a bird should fly, its what they were designed to do and its much healthier for them to fly.

 

[Mayden]

Please don't ever ever ever self clip your birds wings again, especially without looking at a tutorial, you could have done irreversible damage to your bird, crippling it and it honestly is one of the most ridiculous, stupid and dangerous things you could do to something you are supposed to love, nurture and raise into something even more beautiful than it already is.

I am normally against 'attacking' people on here, but that is something I could not skim over. Do NOT do it ever again.

Now, back to the niceties - do you have pictures of your birds wings outstretched? They could be helpful. Chances are that you just need to give your bird more time for the feathers to grow in. Birds molt at different rates feathers grow and fall out at different times.

Wheat isn't really a recommended part of a parrots diet as far as I'm aware, but the Kaytee is fine, what fruits are you feeding? Some are toxic, especially the seeds etc. If you didn't actually maim the bird then chances are the feathers are just growing and falling as he preens but they'll eventually come back through, don't fret, but until then keep an eye on him as he tries to fly. Clipping secondaries shouldn't happen, they're their 'glide' feathers and need them to land really. So I'm hoping it's lesson learnt here with minimal damage done.

I'm sure your bird will be fine given some more time and no more clipping for now.

(Guys, can we keep the clipping vs not clipping things elsewhere? There is plenty of forum posts about it already and it's not fair to push idea's on people when they're stressed and it's pretty much irrelevant at the moment anyway since the bird is so heavily clipped. There are pros and cons and they vary for each persons circumstance, I don't agree with the clipping here, but it's done and all we can do now is support crackerjack and his bird until they come to the time they need to decide what to do that's best for them!)

 

[crackerjack]

I only clipped them so I could take him outside and so he would become more used to me. I didn't realize that I overdid it. If they do grow back I'll probably leave them be or take them to his doctor.

Thanks

Ill try to take a pic but he's a bit scared of the camera

 

[crackerjack]

I feed him grapes, melons, apples, cashews, walnuts, I know that the seeds, avocadoes, and chocolate are bad for him. If I have a doubt of the food I always look online or ask somebody that knows

 

[MonicaMc]

I only clipped them so I could take him outside and so he would become more used to me. I didn't realize that I overdid it. If they do grow back I'll probably leave them be or take them to his doctor.

Thanks

Ill try to take a pic but he's a bit scared of the camera

Please don't ever take a clipped parrot outside without a harness, cage or carrier! Even clipped birds can take off when startled and get away from you! And a clipped parrot is in more danger outside than a flighted one!

Unless you want to take the responsibility that your bird could get lost even with clipped wings, and you may never see your bird again.


If the clip is severe, you can always look into getting the feathers imped or having an avian vet pull the feathers to make them grow back faster. Never pull them out yourself unless it's an emergency!

Imping; Replacing Mowglie's Clipped Flight Feathers by Steve Hartman    The Parrot University

 

[lexx510]

Crackerjack made a mistake - but I want to acknowledge the fact that he cared enough to find this message forum and ask for advice.

We recently adopted a green cheek whose previous owner clipped nearly all of her wings as well as her tail. She's currently going through a molt and some of the feathers have already begun to grow back.

 

[crackerjack]

Crackerjack made a mistake - but I want to acknowledge the fact that he cared enough to find this message forum and ask for advice.

We recently adopted a green cheek whose previous owner clipped nearly all of her wings as well as her tail. She's currently going through a molt and some of the feathers have already begun to grow back.

I didn't clip any of his tail I clipped the primaries and secondaries but not to the actual tip nothing more than that

 

[crackerjack]

i d love my parrot and take great care of it so dont think that i dont care for it because i used to rescue alot of birds and would take care fore them.

 

[JerseyWendy]

They will grow back...please don't worry.

Also, we ALL can make mistakes. I certainly have, and am not afraid to admit it.

I believe you love your baby very much!

 

[sodakat]

Can you explain what you mean when you say some of the outer feathers grew back but then fell out? Maybe I misunderstood.

Generally feathers molt symetrically with the same feather on each wing dropping and growing a new feather in that follicle. On it goes until every feather has been replaced. This is so birds are never unable to fly.

The only time a bird grows all its wing feathers at one time is when it is a baby and is not flying or doing much moving around. This means the feathers don't get damaged and don't need the support of surrounding primary or secondary feathers like they do when the bird is older and active.

When all wing feathers are clipped then begin to molt and replace feather by feather, there is no support for the first feathers because the ones next to the new, growing feathers are very short. Sometimes this results in the new feathers breaking and the cycle repeats.

Eventually all the feathers should molt and replace, but it may take several cycles of molting. Some birds molt wing feathers once each year and some species molt twice. I don't know how often your conure will molt, but I'm sure a conure person will.

 

[crackerjack]

Update: Most of her wings are grown back and shes is able to fly to the ceiling now.

Thanks for all your help.