How long do adult Blackbird feathers take to grow? (1 Viewer)

[amelia1730]

"Blacks" the Blackbird, who is a long term visitor to my garden escaped a cat attack at the weekend. I found a heap of feathers at the bottom of my patio steps and feared the worst. After the initial relief at seeing and hearing him singing his head off in the garden I was upset to see that the feathers did indeed belong to him.

He's lost most of his tail feathers, some tertials, secondaries and primaries all on one side. He's fine in himself, begging for mealworms for his youngster and behaving as normal (shouting through the kitchen window if I'm late with his breakfast!) but flying is difficult. He manages to get from tree to fence to garage or whatever else is suitable but makes heavy weather of it (lots of flapping and not much progress!) His flight has improved a bit since the weekend as he gets more used to the imbalance, I guess.

Any idea how long will it be before he gets his full set back?

Thanks folks
Amelia

PS Having just seen another similar thread - am I right in thinking the poor soul has got to wait until the autumn moult?

 

[ChrisKten]

"Blacks" the Blackbird, who is a long term visitor to my garden escaped a cat attack at the weekend. I found a heap of feathers at the bottom of my patio steps and feared the worst. After the initial relief at seeing and hearing him singing his head off in the garden I was upset to see that the feathers did indeed belong to him.

He's lost most of his tail feathers, some tertials, secondaries and primaries all on one side. He's fine in himself, begging for mealworms for his youngster and behaving as normal (shouting through the kitchen window if I'm late with his breakfast!) but flying is difficult. He manages to get from tree to fence to garage or whatever else is suitable but makes heavy weather of it (lots of flapping and not much progress!) His flight has improved a bit since the weekend as he gets more used to the imbalance, I guess.

Any idea how long will it be before he gets his full set back?

Thanks folks
Amelia

PS Having just seen another similar thread - am I right in thinking the poor soul has got to wait until the autumn moult?

It's sad that Blackbirds (because they are looking for food early and late when the light can be poor) are often the targets of Cats. I took one to the vets last year that was almost dead in the garden. I'm guessing that it had been there since first light. From it's condition it seemed as if the Cat just played with it, then left it when it got bored.

Sadly the Blackbird didn't survive, but at least it was put out of it's misery (feather loss, many penetration wounds).

As to the feathers, yes I believe it will have to survive until the Autumn moult.

 

[Enji]

I think I've read somewhere that if a feather is pulled out, so the feather is whole, it will grow out again pretty soon. If it's torn off though so part of it is still attached to the bird it won't be replaced until the bird moults. I cannot remember where I read that though... or if I dreamt it up!

 

[amelia1730]

Thanks Enji

Have just found this web page
http://www.treeswallowprojects.com/cfeather.html

Near the bottom it says exactly that! I'm assuming Blackbirds are the same so I will watch and wait..............

Amelia