Before we got Pickles, her previous owners clipped her wings because they didn't want her flighted. On one wing, she has a full clip, all primaries and secondaries are clipped. On the other wing she has 2 secondaries and no primaries. She can't even glide, we have been keeping her in a wide short cage so she won't fall and hurt hersef, but her wings won't grow back. It's been over a month and there hasn't been the slightest centimeter of improvement. Is there anything anyone here suggests? I trust Pickles and would love it if she was flighted.

I'm not aware of anything you can do to promote molting the clipped flight feathers out. When Jerry first came home he had a hard clip and it took many months for his clipped flights to molt out and the replacement flights to grow in...

I know the feeling of them not being able to glide, when Jerry has more than 3 primaries clipped, he cannot glide and it was heartbreaking to watch him desperately try to take off and then crash straight down.

Pickles has a cut so bad that she can barely flap to the ground, she just falls straight down. I hate it and I wish there was something I could do.

Liz, you're probably not going to want to hear this....Ollie was "show clipped" when she was 8.5 weeks old by her breeder . She is now 21 months old, and STILL has clipped feathers. I don't know WHY they won't molt out! Not one of them has been replaced! It doesn't slow her down though- she can fly perfectly now.

Camille- That's terrible! I don't even have the "hope" that Pickles will learn to fly again with this clip, it's so bad...

Here's a pic I took last month when she hopped into a Budgie nest box.

liz, i agree with previous post... i don't think there's much you can do (besides be angry with the previous owner) to stimulate the feathers growing in.... in my opinion, you're already doing all you can do - making sure she doesn't end up falling anywhere...

valo is almost done with his molt, and he's gotten almost all flight feathers in (missing the first 2 primaries, but seems they're coming too), so might be that after the next molt she's back to all her feathers

edit - she's a cutie nevertheless

Some birds are just slow growers..(ie. your hair might grow faster then mine)...I'm glad your making sure she doesn't fall...that's all you can do right now...Hopefully she'll molt them out...

< perk >

LOL

Liz, First of all, Pickles had a nutritional deficiency so her feather condition is not normal. A month isn't enough time to really see regrowth anyway. Now that she is getting on track after coming to live with you, her diet is the most important thing (and getting the long nights sleep, not laying anymore, etc).

Feathers are all protein so even though you can't expect a full replacement now (till a TRUE molt at the end of this summer)...I hope you will eventually see some regrow with the proper diet. It's tricky because too much protein will push her into a soft molt and that's not good, either. Especially in the winter, it's not molting season.

My hen came here at 4 months old, with a hard clip in April and sprouted a few primaries during her juvie molt and during the summer . She was flying by Sept and flying great by Nov.But I believe she was fledged properly.

If Pickles was never allowed to fledge it will be harder to learn to fly but the actual feathers should start coming back. Might take awhile though since she's an adult. Perhaps till molting season I dont know.

You need to get a good solid diet on her, not so easy with a Parrotlet since you cant draw bloods alot. And pellets are very questionable I dont use them in the Parrotlets or the Budgies actually only one with Lipomas. I feed Volkman, Goldenfeast and dark leafy greens, veggies, grains and fruits. And millet about about a stalk a week for two. Some birdy bread, whole grain and other fun stuff for treats.

I'd say about 20% vegetable protein (adzuki, mung, lentils all WELL and properly cooked) and a bit of egg. Or Protein 25 you can moisten. I dont believe in animal meats for birds I only give some egg depending on the season. You should ask her vet about the protein ratios, though.

I agree with the wide low cage the only one I could find that is really right for them that's wide enough is that $39.00 white/black one in Petco. It's about 28 wide, the widest I believe there is.

I just moved my hen and her mate to the big flight cage because finally after 3 months he sprouted some flights and its safer now. He came here in Sept at 3 months old clipped hard, too. (what's with these people scalping these tiny birds for goodness sakes?!?!) But they both lived in the white cage.

It may help her to string a bunch of rope perches down around the cage to the floor like highways so she can land on them or use them to get up and down. I put the cage on a foldable table for a play area. They carry them at Kmart and Target. Here's a photo if I can make it work of the small cage with stuff on it (smile).

Take care. (And dont forget the full spectrum lighting or take her outside if it's warm enough IN A CAGE LOL)

ETA: This table might be too high, still if she's missing secondies too, have the vet check her wings next time see if they might have mutilated the actual joint bone there. I'd put a bunch of pillows around the cage and move it away from walls.

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BTW, if her vet said to put her on pellets then I would. Don't go by what I posted about them. She's not exactly a mutation anyway and they were the ones sited the most in the pellet accusations...and she may need the complete nutrition of the pellets to get back in good health.

She was plucking, right? Has she stopped? It might not have even been her but another bird since she apparently was [acting like] a breeder?.....or the frustration of being with breeding pairs at her old home.

Cindy- We have the same cage . She is still plucking but she is on a supplement that promotes feather growth, given to us by our breeder friend. Right now Pickles is on Zupreem pellet and a custom seed mix we get special for all of the birds, it's by Silver Song West. We were recommended by the vet to give her egg food, so she gets that also with her food. What do you think of that? The vet said the supplement was ok so that is why we've continued giving it to her. She gets veggies and fruits every day as well as dried veggies and fruits, no sunflower seeds or anything like that in her diet. She has millet as well.
We're trying to get her back to a normal balanced diet and it looks like it's been working.
Since the supplement and the diet change, she's cut her plucking down to about 50%. Other birds do not pluck her. I trust her completely, so I would love for her to get new flights in and be able to fly. Hopefully by summer things will change. Pickles is 3 years old.