Many birds can lose their tail feathers as part of a natural process with the parakeet being no exception. Many pet owners can become alarmed when they see their parakeet losing their tails and find out more about this is very important.
So, do parakeet tails grow back? Generally, a parakeet’s tail will grow back, with the lost feathers being replaced as long as there are no underlying health issues like diseases, parasites or skin or follicle damage around their tail feathers. Losing tail feathers is commonplace in parakeets as part of their natural molting cycle which occurs on a yearly basis and is required to keep the overall health of their feathers in good condition.
Many pet owners often get worried when feathers start falling of their parakeet’s tail and assume there is something wrong with their parakeet’s wellbeing. When in most cases, the loss of tail feathers is simply down to the molting process which takes place each year. This process is normal and expected, with a small number of feathers falling out and being replaced.
Molting is a natural process to ensure a parakeets feathers retain their health and can carry on functioning as expected. Allowing their tail feathers to provide balance and the feathers on their wings, able to keep them flying by efficiently using the air around these feathers to keep them airborne. Whilst the options to fly maybe limited in captivity as pets, it’s still something they have evolved to do along with the processes that aid their ability to fly.
When molting is taking place, pet owners can notice feathers at the bottom of their parakeets’ cages. This is expected and totally normal, with feather replacement required to retain the health of their tail, their wings and other parts of their bodies where feathers grow. Otherwise, if they didn’t periodically lose their feathers from time to time, parakeets could end up with limited abilities like being able to fly properly or worse still attract diseases and infections to their feathers, follicles and skin.
From time to time more feathers may appear at the bottom of the parakeet’s cage and this can be normal, as more feathers may be lost from their wings as they have a larger area than their tails. Resulting in a combined loss from both their tail and their wing, whilst this may look like too many feathers are being lost at one time to the molting process, in most cases with a healthy bird this is expected behavior.
Generally, the tail feathers like all their other feathers will grow back, restoring the fullness of the tail until the next molting cycle. In some cases, some tail feathers may take longer to grow back, as they maybe longer tail feathers needing several months to grow back to pre-existing levels.
Especially, as parakeets don’t molt all their feathers in one go and depending on when the limited number of feathers molt, the time taken for these lost feathers to grow back, will vary. Otherwise, the parakeet could be exposed from losing too many feathers and evolution has ensured they lose feathers in a fashion that keeps them able to still fly and maintain their plumage.
It’s reassuring to note that losing tail feathers is not always a permanent process as it’s part of the molting process and these tail feathers will grow back. It’s an essential part of a parakeet’s life where old feathers are regularly replaced by new feathers to maintain their feather health.
The only time to be concerned is when the parakeet has health issues, infections or a disease that can damage the skin and the follicles holding the tail feathers. As this could limit the tail feathers from growing again as healthy follicles are required for the feathers to grow.
In such cases, the exact cause of the follicle and skin damage needs to be investigated, where the feather loss is substantial leading to down feathers or worse still patches of skin showing. Proper investigation is required, in such cases, where the parakeet must be seen by a veterinarian equipped with avian experience including parakeets. As it’s vitally important to pinpoint the exact cause of extreme feather loss, be it from diseases to parasitic and bacterial infections.
Doing this quickly could end up staving off any further feather loss from their tails by eradicating the cause of the feather loss or providing treatment to reduce the loss of feathers so as to not cause any permanent damage to the parakeets existing feathers or the follicles holding their feathers in place.
Why did my parakeets tail fall off?
In healthy parakeets seeing the tail feathers fall off is no cause for concern and pet owners become accustomed to this. Those new to owning parakeets may initially find it distressing to see their parakeet losing tail feathers.
A parakeets tail feathers will fall off as part of their molting cycle, but their actual tail will not fall off. This is because the actual tail is attached to a muscle and is not just feathers. In some cases, parakeets may lose tail feathers due to infections like parasites, bacteria to fungal. With stress, anxiety and even boredom causing premature feather loss, which if not corrected could become permanent.
Parakeets lose some feathers on their tails overtime as part of their molting and in healthy parakeets these will grow back. Overall feather loss is a natural process in parakeets and is expected, as it helps retain the overall health of all of the parakeets’ feathers.
In some cases, the tail feathers will fall off due to physical health issues from diseases, parasitic to fungal infections. Mental health issues in parakeets from anxiety and stress can lead to premature feather loss not just in their tails but across their whole bodies.
Underlying issues will lead to the tail feathers not growing back as expected and it’s in these instances, there could be underlying health issues and therefore medical advice needs to be sought from a qualified veterinarian is needed.
Diseases like PBFD which is an abbreviation for Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease, along with viruses like polyomavirus can stop the normal regrowth of feathers. With abnormal feather growth, with follicles unable to hold the feathers in place, causing them to fall out.
These diseases can become more permanent without immediate medical attention, causing permanent damage to skin and feather follicles. Resulting in large areas of skin on show where feathers used to grow.
Mites and lice can be responsible for parasitic diseases leading to feather loss along with bacterial and fungal type diseases. These types of diseases can cause intense discomfort in parakeets resulting in painful itching, leading to the parakeets inadvertently removing feathers when trying to make the pain to subside.
The cleanliness of their environment can influence a parakeet’s changes of attracting mites and lice. Keeping their cages regularly clean is essential to limit the changes of foreign invaders like mites from gaining ground in their cages. Ensuring the mixing of parakeets with other parakeets infected with mites and lice needs attention, as limited interaction with an infected bird can quickly spread these parasites.
Bacteria and fungal growth can occur in cages where cleaning is not done regularly especially from airborne infections growing in their droppings. Which in turn when stepped into or inhaled, lead to the bacteria and fungal infections, infecting the parakeet.
Anxiety in parakeets can also lead to them mutilating their own tail feathers by deliberately plucking them out. Pulling out feathers is painful to a bird and removing feathers when a bird is stressed and anxious repeatedly can lead to skin and follicle damage, resulting in feathers growing back abnormally or not at all in a worse case scenario.
Stress and anxiety don’t necessarily need to be self inflicted especially if the parakeet shares their cage with another parakeet. Whereby, one parakeet is dominant over the other including through aggression and violence, deliberately try to pluck the other birds feathers out.
This type of behavior from one parakeet to another can cause extensive damage to the wellbeing of the other bird, with the deliberate act of removal of feathers through aggression and the anxiety and stress caused by such actions, leading to rapid feather loss in the parakeet under attack.
Boredom including from a lack of toys in their cage can cause unexpected behaviors like feather undue anxiety in birds and options to try and stimulate parakeets including getting them to forage for food, play with toys and interacting with them to communication, can help drastically to reduce their feeling of boredom.
It’s important to provide stimuli to parakeets kept as pets and this can be as simple as providing them with toys in their cages, which allow them to do some form of interaction. To communicating with them to ensure they know they are being looked after. Some owners may decide to introduce another parakeet for companionship and whilst this can help, it’s important to keep and eye on the relationship of parakeets kept in the same cage.
Nutrition plays a part in the overall health of birds like parakeets and when the correct nutrients are not available, their health can start to suffer including the inability to regrow lost feathers as expected. Instead feathers either grow back abnormally or just don’t grow back, which can happen when parakeets become malnourished and their dietary intake is so limited, there is just no way their feathers can grow.
Owners should be fully aware of the minimum dietary requirements of their parakeets and ensure these are being fulfilled. Otherwise, their parakeets will end up with deficiencies in nutrients like vitamins and minerals that are essential for the health of their feathers as well as their overall health.
Keeping birds like parakeets as pets can introduce situations they would not normally have to deal with in the wild. Where environment conditions such as chemicals in homes including tobacco smoke, air fresheners to smells like cooking, can lead to parakeets trying to remove residues from these from their feathers. Using the only way they know how, which is to pull their feathers out, especially if the environment has made their feathers sticky and reduced the suppleness of them.
It’s important to get help as quickly as possible when health issues are spotted, as proper diagnosis is needed. With the greater the chances of the parakeet getting better the sooner professional help is sought. Otherwise leaving issues with their feathers to resolve themselves, could exasperate any underlying health issues.
How long does it take for a parakeets tail to grow back?
Losing feathers is natural for parakeets as well as most birds including the lost of feathers in their tails, wings and other parts of their bodies. This is part of their molting process that’s evolved to replace worn feathers is new ones.
Healthy parakeets will replace their lost feathers from molting within a few weeks and months, with lost feathers not being noticeable as they are lost in stages from their tails and not all at once. The only signs of any feathers being lost will be those visible that have fallen, as they will be at the bottom of their cages.
Losing tail feathers along with feathers across their bodies is a natural process for parakeets and they have evolved this to ensure their feathers remain healthy. Allowing them to be able to fly and keep themselves warm.
As regrowth varies from parakeet to parakeet, it’s important to appreciate from a pet owners’ perspective, that taking longer than expected for feathers to regrow might not necessarily be down to health issues. With the time taken for feather regrowth in tails being different for each parakeet that is healthy.
The only time to be worried, is when feather loss is acute and bare patches of skin in a worse case or even large areas of down feathers being apparent. As this could indicate potential health issues requiring immediate investigation.
Summary
Parakeets lose their feathers from their body including their tails as part of the natural process of molting and this generally is not cause for alarm. With this happening annually to fresh feathers that have worn naturally and need replacement to ensure the parakeet can still use their feathers adequately, such as to fly.
Health issues from diseases, parasitic infections to bacterial and fungal infections can lead to premature feather loss, where the parakeet can start losing feathers in their tails much more quickly than they would if they were molting.
With replacement feathers not growing back as expected as would be the case with molting, leading to areas of down feathers and skin patches being displayed.
Mental health issues from stress, boredom and anxiety can lead to parakeets losing feathers from self inflicted feather pulling. In such cases, the mental well-being of parakeets needs immediate attention to stop these birds from behaving in a self-destructive manner.
Aggressive and violent cage mates can also attack other parakeets and pull out their feathers as well as inducing stress and anxiety in their opponent leading to their victims also pulling out their own feathers.
References: Association of Avian Veterinarians
