I noticed Kili flying a little weird lately. On one wing, her primaries never grew in right and there were many broken ones. On that wing there are just 4 primaries with the rest missing. These are the outer most feathers with a bunch in the middle missing.
The quills were pulled once and the feathers grew in a second time. But some of the second time feathers broke again with no surrounding feathers to protect them. When the quills were pulled a second time, those primaries did not grow back. If a feather is pulled twice in a row basically, how long is it till it grows back out next time? Not until next molt? Or are they supposed to keep coming in every time they come out?
So one of those 4 remaining primary feathers, the inner most one, seems kind of loose or broken. It flutters around a bit when Kili flies. I can tell by looking at her wings and it makes a different look than it used to with the gap of missing feathers. Upon examination I had difficulty finding any break in the quill but the feather feels kind of loose and I can move it a bit from side to side. I'm not certain but it seems that it is loose at the connection point rather than broken along the quill.
I am wondering if I should get the feather pulled or just leave it? I prefer the remaining 3 feathers (just 3!!! I don't know how she'll be able to fly and still a while till next molt) to have the protection from the 4th, which while loose and probably dysfunctional in flight, still offers some protection to the others from breaking. I'm more worried that without the 4th, the remaining 3 feathers will end up getting broken one by one.
Any advice and anyone know why the primaries didn't grow back in a second time after quills pulled?