Lost Tail - will it come back?

[Mountain Mom]

The other day my nature loving son found a little sparrow hopping around in the grass that apparently had lost his tail. How you may ask? Well, we're not positive, but we think one of our four cats might have had something to do with it. Anyway, this little peep has been in a birdcage for several days now, eating seed and crushed dogfood, drinking clean water. Pampered and protected - from those prowling felines. He appears to have adjusted just fine to his caged environment.

My question is, will his tail feathers grow back and how long will it take?

My son knows that he is a wild animal and should be released to fly free. But, without a tail that just isn't going to happen. So, what to do? Thought maybe one of you folks had been here before and could offer some advice. Thanks.

[chickflick]

Don't know if this will help you.. but since birds DO molt... thier feather DO grow back..

My rooster was 'de-tailed' once and it grew back.

[SteveD(TX)]

When I was very young, I remember my grandmother always kept a canary or parakeet caged in her living room. I was looking at her little blue parakeet ond day and decided that the tail was a little long so I found the scissors and gave it a good trim. As I recall, that bird was never the same again. Funny, I kinda forgot about that until this thread popped up. But I was constantly reminded of it until the day she died.

[bgak47]

The feathers will grow back! I think it's pretty nice that you took the bird in & are trying to provide for it. Sparrows are pretty tough & it will probably be fine, as long as it doesn't become too tame & dependent on being fed. When you get ready to release it, it might be a good idea to put out some feed for a while.