# Budgie Tail Bent



## baileycrow26 (Jun 27, 2018)

I woke up this morning and my little girls tail was bent at the end. it won’t go back either. she has a huge cage, 3ftx2ftx1ft so it’s not from lack of space. what do i do?


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## RavensGryf (May 8, 2015)

The feather is broken. It happens sometimes. The bent part at the tip will most likely break completely off, and it will remain that way until she molts the feather out completely and grows a new one. Nothing to worry about .


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## philw (Aug 22, 2014)

Bird feathers are made of keratin, the same material as fingernail and hair, so if it's damaged it has to start over. If you get a hair-cut, your hair grows from the folicle in the skin,not where it was cut. if you clip you fingernails, regrowth if from the nail bed. Bird feathers are the same.
This is not a problem for the bird. It may gradually look better but the main shaft was bent in a way that it might look like this until that feather is molted and a new one replaces it.
If you hold your budgie in your hand and smooth the end with some warm water it may stay fairly straight until, when this feather is molted and a new one grows in. That said, if it bothers you, you could just clip this little end off with scissors and her tail with just be a slight bit shorter. Otherwise just relax. It's not a problem.
I noticed in the photo, the cuttle bone looks like the wrong side is facing toward the bird. The softer crumbly side is where the bird will chew on, the very hard side should face out. (I really can't tell easily from this photo, just that you check on this, that you're using it correctly). 
it's likely she just was climbing in an odd spot where the bars caused this by accident. If all the bars on the cage are horizontal this could be a minor reason, but I doubt this will happen again, unless she continues to be a climbing acrobat. Budgies usually climb to get from one place to another without flying. If she's climbing a lot, she may just want to find a way out. If she's very new and learns that this is her home base, she'll settle down.
If she's not "new" and a friend, maybe she just wants out for some free time with you!


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## baileycrow26 (Jun 27, 2018)

she is 2 days in my care so she is very new and is learning her new cage. I will probably clip off the little end off if it won’t hurt her. I had a parrotlet right before her and he was aggressive so i’m a bit new to the budgies


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## philw (Aug 22, 2014)

If you can handle her gently and quickly it's a simple solution. I was also thinking too, that since she is just settling in, some budgies often do a lot of climbing which was probably the cause. On occasion any budgie may need to be handled (nail clipping, veterinarian trip) and I've found most are very forgiving to this type of "insult". :001_smile:


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