Ripping Your Bird’s Feathers Out

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OMG! I just accidently ripped off my bird’s tail! WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN!?!??!?

I have a conure, which is a small parrot. I was letting her out of her cage and by accident sat on her tail when she was walking around my lap. Since it’s her feathures, neither her nor me noticed that I sat on them.
Then I accidently startled her and she flew off rapidly causing all the feathurs to rip out.

- JayJay

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I’ve seen this happen with Dave and a dove before. This is a defense mechanism that birds have in case they are ever caught by a predator (such as a cat) or other animal that will step on their tails in order to stop them from going anywhere.

You bird is perfectly okay, and it didn’t hurt it but you are going to have to be patient while new feathers come back in and refurbish the place!

Birds have the ability to “release” their tail feathers. They literally just eject them right out so that they can make a clean escape from the situation alive. Your bird might be a little nervous with the idea of you checking out her back end for right now because it wasn’t the most pleasant event to happen… but they will come back in soon enough.

Anytime pressure is on a bird’s tail feathers and they are startled by it – thinking whether or not they will be able to get out of the situation – they are likely to eject the feathers to get out of the situation.