Dose anyone have an idea or theory why some birds drop all their tail feathers even when kept on their own .
+2
RayC
Richard E
6 posters
Dropping of tail feathers
RayC- Posts : 994
Join date : 2009-12-18
Location : limerick, Irl
- Post n°2
Re: Dropping of tail feathers
some birds when they get a fright naturally drop some feathers, have you ever seen a small bird have a narrow escape from a cat, when it takes off there is always feathers scattered even though the cat didn't get near it,
Might be one reason?
Might be one reason?
David McCool- Admin
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Location : Northern Ireland
- Post n°3
Re: Dropping of tail feathers
Good question Richard, I have 30 young in a big roomy flight, I have noticed one has dropped all tail feathers.But why?Richard E wrote: Dose anyone have an idea or theory why some birds drop all their tail feathers even when kept on their own .
I am interested to hear your replies also
niallmeehan1408- Breeders Group
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Location : Cork City
- Post n°4
Re: Dropping of tail feathers
also on this question would ye still show the birds that have dropped feathers and how much would it get put down with the coloured tail after it has grown back of course
reece hammond likes this post
Red devil- Moderator
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- Post n°5
Re: Dropping of tail feathers
niallmeehan1408 wrote:also on this question would ye still show the birds that have dropped feathers and how much would it get put down with the coloured tail after it has grown back of course
I would say that you have to evaluate the bird and decide whether you think the bird is good enough to show anyway.
What you need to remember is that when the tail feathers grow back the tail will be longer and could make the bird look out of proportion and to long.
I hope this helps you.
BlueCobalt- Moderator
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Join date : 2009-10-01
- Post n°6
Re: Dropping of tail feathers
Don't necessarily agree! And as we all know NO standard calls for White flights, and while I agree some will grow longer. It always seem great birds lose tails, no known cause in my book! Hadn't lost any this year until I took a call off a fellow fancier asking if I had dropped tails within two or three days two birds dropped tails, no fright that I know of! Or does appear birds caged in flights suffer less from this IMO!
Red devil- Moderator
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- Post n°7
Re: Dropping of tail feathers
BlueCobalt wrote:Don't necessarily agree! And as we all know NO standard calls for White flights, and while I agree some will grow longer. It always seem great birds lose tails, no known cause in my book! Hadn't lost any this year until I took a call off a fellow fancier asking if I had dropped tails within two or three days two birds dropped tails, no fright that I know of! Or does appear birds caged in flights suffer less from this IMO!
Who mentioned white flights Blue
BlueCobalt- Moderator
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- Post n°8
Re: Dropping of tail feathers
So prey tell what the colour are that most are referring to here?
Red devil- Moderator
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- Post n°9
Re: Dropping of tail feathers
BlueCobalt wrote:So prey tell what the colour are that most are referring to here?
OK I thought you were referring to my comments
Richard E- Posts : 626
Join date : 2009-09-22
- Post n°10
Re: Dropping of tail feathers
Always seems to be the very good birds that drop their flights , a very good red mosaic has lost all of its tail , I will still show this bird as in every other respect it is very good , all depends how much the judges penalises it for a coloured tail and how good the competition is .
Red devil- Moderator
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- Post n°11
Re: Dropping of tail feathers
Richard E wrote:Always seems to be the very good birds that drop their flights , a very good red mosaic has lost all of its tail , I will still show this bird as in every other respect it is very good , all depends how much the judges penalises it for a coloured tail and how good the competition is .
Richard mosaic's with red tails will be penalised as they will not conform to the standard.
Sorry to be the barer of bad news mate.
Richard E- Posts : 626
Join date : 2009-09-22
- Post n°12
Re: Dropping of tail feathers
Yes, they will be penalised but if they excel in other ways they can still compete as most mosaics will have other faults ,all depends like I said on how much emphasis the judge puts on this fault ,this particular bird is very white with deep red colour points .If two birds are the same in all other respects then yes I would expect the bird with uncoloured tail to win ,we shall see .
My own view on why they drop their tail feathers is light and length of daylight , and light intensity and stress . it seems to be mostly early bred birds that loose they tails at this time of year ,could their be an advantage to a wild bird to have new set of tail feathers before the winter ? like wise these early bred birds don't know they were bred in effectively winter time February /march so their body clock might be telling them they had an early spring like every few years we do have , would wild birds do like wise ?
I know that pigeon fanciers keep their young birds that race on a system where the birds are kept in semi darkness this lets the birds moult out the body feathers but not the wings or tail , which in pigeons ( unlike canaries) in their first year if kept naturally, moult body , wings and tail feathers ,the advantage of this is to keep a full wing , more feathers = more thrust and no gaps to allow air through .
I have not had this problem much until this year , but I have built an extension to my bird room with a large window in , great for bringing birds into condition and when breeding but not I think for keeping the tails too much bright light , have now put up blinds to darken the bird room this will make the birds think its latter in the year and don't have time to grow a new set of tail feathers . Time will tell there is always next year to try to get it right .
My own view on why they drop their tail feathers is light and length of daylight , and light intensity and stress . it seems to be mostly early bred birds that loose they tails at this time of year ,could their be an advantage to a wild bird to have new set of tail feathers before the winter ? like wise these early bred birds don't know they were bred in effectively winter time February /march so their body clock might be telling them they had an early spring like every few years we do have , would wild birds do like wise ?
I know that pigeon fanciers keep their young birds that race on a system where the birds are kept in semi darkness this lets the birds moult out the body feathers but not the wings or tail , which in pigeons ( unlike canaries) in their first year if kept naturally, moult body , wings and tail feathers ,the advantage of this is to keep a full wing , more feathers = more thrust and no gaps to allow air through .
I have not had this problem much until this year , but I have built an extension to my bird room with a large window in , great for bringing birds into condition and when breeding but not I think for keeping the tails too much bright light , have now put up blinds to darken the bird room this will make the birds think its latter in the year and don't have time to grow a new set of tail feathers . Time will tell there is always next year to try to get it right .
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