Since I got this bird, juvenile, a year and a half ago, she has trouble losing the sheath off the fresh tail feathers during the molt. Photos below.
When the problem was first evident I tried to get the sheath off for her and the entire feather came out. Honest, I didn't pull hard. Upon dissection the feather seemed to just fall apart and there was a good amount of flaky or powdery black material. I couldn't decide if it was disintegrated feather or old blood. It was dry.
Since then she did not have any feathers like that, but when they come in the sheath remains on longer than it should. My bird starts to look more like a porcupine in that area. She is housed with another female Budgie. Their cage is about 31"x19" x33" high, or thereabouts. She eats a parakeet/cockatiel seed mix, though I know she mainly picks out her favourite millet. She likes her fresh greens (kale, collards) but usually ignores the fruit and other veggies. There is a bath available, though I don't think she has ever used it. Out of five Budgies, she is the only one with this problem. I have not used the heat or AC in the house for at least a month, so I imagine low humidity is not a problem. Today was rainy, so the house humidity is 58%, for example.
In the photos I took today, admittedly not in the best focus, sorry, you can see the sheath is very long and there are three tail feathers so affected. The tip of the feather coming out the end is normal, and when I picked away some of the sheath, the feather exposed was normal as well. I am afraid to use too much pressure or hold the bird too long. She isn't really tame for holding like that and she starts to pant; I don't want to hurt her. For this reason I don't think my helping her is the solution. Eventually the sheath will come off, but it is on there really a long, long time. Here are the photos:
![Image](http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag134/RubyAndGarnet/IRN%20Forum%20Pix/P1010037_zps57eeac15.jpg)
![Image](http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag134/RubyAndGarnet/IRN%20Forum%20Pix/P1010042_zpsed5da55a.jpg)
![Image](http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag134/RubyAndGarnet/IRN%20Forum%20Pix/P1010041_zpsf9290e71.jpg)
![Image](http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag134/RubyAndGarnet/IRN%20Forum%20Pix/P1010040_zps8c162a40.jpg)