Budgies can lose tail feathers based on a number of factors, whether due to stress, infections like Circovirus or Polyomavirus, maybe due to preening their feathers too much or the most likely reason, molting.

Molting only occurs once to a max of 3 times a year although 1 is most common. This is why I’d suggest keeping on eye on your feathered friend if they suddenly shed multiple times a year. It’s generally abnormal if this happen or if they start and stop shedding every few weeks.

Of course the remainder of this article will cover the 4 main reasons a budgie could be losing their tail feathers and what you can do to prevent and even help in the process of growing the shed feathers back.

They Could Be Molting

All birds go through some form molting, including budgies therefore, if your one starts shedding a lot within a relatively short period of time, it most likely their regular yearly shedding.

In most cases a budgie will molt between 1 – 3 times years with these period generally lasting anywhere from 1 week up to 10 weeks.

Within this phase, the budgie may become more irritated as the process isn’t the most pleasant. In other instances an illness or virus may stop these little parrots feathers from completely forming.

Therefore, I’d personally suggest you look out for bald patches, whether around the neck or around other areas of their body to know if your budgie is growing its feathers in a healthy manner.

Furthermore, in regards to the tail feathers, they can take upwards of 2 months before fully grown so, don’t be alarmed if these feathers aren’t forming once shed.

Overpreening Of The Feathers

On occasion budgies can obsessively preen their feathers. This could be as a result of something they don’t want on their feathers like a lotion brushing off on them among other stimuli.

In normal cases your budgie will preen for multiple hours, particularly if it’s molting. if they start preening to the extent father’s start looking thinner or simply start falling out, first off you would need to retrace the reason for this change in behaviour and once discovered take the necessary steps to stop the budgie from preening.

This could mean that you don’t touch it if you apply a specific lotion or put it in a room where spray or food particles attach to your budgies feathers causing them to act obsessively.

Bacterial Or Viral Infections

There are infections and viruses that will irritate your budgie a ton which in turn forces them to dig into their skin eventually ripping feathers out to reduce the irritation.

Circovirus is a lung disease that may cause feather loss around the head and wings. Other areas of the budgies may also lose feathers as a result

Polyomavirus is another disease associated with feather loss.

Yeast among other fungal infections as well skin infections are some other effects that can cause feather loss. In some cases if the feather follicles are severely damaged, feathers may stop growing entirely.

It’s always advised that you get expert help if you believe your bird may be suffering from any of these infections just so you take all the right measures to stop anything serious from happening.

Stressful Situations

Budgies can get attracted to you or other birds where they essentially want all your or its other partners attention. If say you have a new baby or a new bird among other new pets that you’re spreading attention to, your budgie may become displeased and eventually stressed.

This can eventually lead to feathers being plucked from the stomach and potentially even the tail feathers. In other cases their cage mate might be acting overly dominant within the cage causing the budgie to be stressed out.

The best thing you can do in this situation is to try and understand what this new unwelcomed stimuli is and change the situation for your little parrot.

Will A Budgies Tail Feathers Grow Back?

Yes, a budgies tail will grow back although it can take between 3 – 4 months for them to grow back at full length.

Rarely will they lose all of their tail feathers. This is reserved more so for newborns.

How To Help Your Budgie Grow Back It’s Feathers?

You can start feeding your budgie more protein along with fruits and vegetables rich with Vitamin A as that is best for helping feather growth.

Carrots, spinach, broccoli among other leaf based vegetables are jam packed with vitamin A so be sure to add this into your budgies diet to aid it in the regrowth phase.

Summary

Shedding feathers is a completely normal phenomenon for birds, in fact it will happen at least once a year at the bare minimum.

However, if the situation doesn’t look normal, whether it be as a result of some fighting within the cage or a random bald patches forming on the head you should 100% look into hitting up a vet to guide you on the right path.

References

https://hutchandcage.com/how-often-do-budgies-molt/

https://pets.thenest.com/several-reasons-birds-preen-feathers-12764.html

Why Is My Pet Bird Losing Feathers?