And Autumn did it again.

[xNess]

She pulled out another tail feather.
I watched her this time.

We made all appropriate changes to help her stop over preening. It's a process and I know it's molting season.

Anyone have any opinions?

 

[Allee]

Ouch! She really worked on that feather before pulling it out. Is she doing anything during her normal routine to damage her tail feathers? Sometimes if a feather is worn or frayed, they will try their best to fix it by over preening. How often is she getting baths during hormone season?

 

[xNess]

Ouch! She really worked on that feather before pulling it out. Is she doing anything during her normal routine to damage her tail feathers? Sometimes if a feather is worn or frayed, they will try their best to fix it by over preening. How often is she getting baths during hormone season?

No. We bought her about two months ago from a mama and papa pet store. She had tail feathers like that since we bought her. I will upload an actual photo of her in a minute so you could see the rest of her body.
She definitely is over-preening.
She literally takes a bath every day in her water bowl. First we used tap water, but it was mentioned on here that tap isn't that great so we switched to only using bottled water for her.
Then we use drops of flaxseed oil in her food every time she needs new food, so her oil gland stays replenished.
We also put a chewing toy in her cage which she LOVES, and also feathers in her cage to try to distract her from actually preening herself. She's not too fond of the feathers, though.
We are doing everything we can to stop her from excessively preening her tail.
When we went to the vet about two weeks ago, he said she was healthy and definitely happy, socialized and just a sweetheart.
Her poop is balanced as well so I know the pellets are working.

I'm not sure what else we could do. We are even trying to stop her from actually preening by moving our finger to her beak whenever she preens her tail.

EDIT: Here is a picture of her back. If you look closely, the ends are a bit frayed as well.
I don't know what more we could do. She spends literally all day out of her cage. She's getting attention from everyone in the house. She's bonded to basically everyone; she loves all equally, which is odd. She's a little cuddle bug and I just don't understand.
My partner said she just might not like her feathers for her new home way back when we first got her.

 

[Christinenc2000]

I tied sisal rope in my macaws cage. He now preens those instead of working himself over. Just tied it and let it hang

 

[Allee]

I'm sorry you are going through this. Do you know how old she is and her background? If this is an ingrained habit even after all the positive changes have been made, it can take months to see the physical improvement in the feathers. Two months seems like a long time, but when it comes to habitual over preening and barbering, it really isn't.

What kind of diet did she have before you adopted her? What kind of diet does she have now?

It sounds like you are doing everything possible to help her. I know how frustrating it is, but guilt and added stress is non-productive. You should see an improvement as the damaged feathers molt out and new feathers replace them. Keep offering toys and activities to help divert her attention. Remember, you have improved her life in so many ways, she is benefitting from her new home and loving companionship. Hang in there and enjoy her company.

 

[xNess]

I'm sorry you are going through this. Do you know how old she is and her background? If this is an ingrained habit even after all the positive changes have been made, it can take months to see the physical improvement in the feathers. Two months seems like a long time, but when it comes to habitual over preening and barbering, it really isn't.

What kind of diet did she have before you adopted her? What kind of diet does she have now?

It sounds like you are doing everything possible to help her. I know how frustrating it is, but guilt and added stress is non-productive. You should see an improvement as the damaged feathers molt out and new feathers replace them. Keep offering toys and activities to help divert her attention. Remember, you have improved her life in so many ways, she is benefitting from her new home and loving companionship. Hang in there and enjoy her company.

She's around eight, nine months old. Apparently, the owner of the pet store was friends with the breeder and for some reason, they gave her to them ever since she was a baby. So her background was just that pet store. And that pet store is notorious for mediocre care. I know she got some time out though; she bonded well with the associates. She had her own cage. It's just a stressful environment with plenty of whimpering and barking puppies, other birds, a cat across from you, a ferret next to you, and bunnies. So I can understand why she did that. She also only had one toy in her cage.

They gave her Zupreem color pellets and just a seed diet. There were peanuts in the seeds and different kinds, but she definitely wasn't on a pellet diet.
We changed it about maybe two, three weeks ago? She was not picky about the pellets at all. Of course seeds are still her favorite, but she eats the pellets without a problem.
She also has a cuttle bone for her beak, but she's intimidated by things standing up straight, so we had to lay it horizontally and also shave some in her food so she can have it while she eats as well.
We try to feed her fruits and veggies whenever we have the money (yeah, things are tight like everywhere else.) She loves to eat grape fruits, dried banana chips (but hates bananas), and apples. She's pretty picky about her fruits and veggies.
She has millot seeds at the bottom of her cage (we can't put it in something and hang it up. She's scared, like always lmao). So she's getting a pretty healthy diet all around.

When my partner is home, she's the playful one, so she loves to play with her. I'm the one she comes to for cuddles and just relaxing. My step son she goes to when she just wants away from us, lmao, and when she wants to get away with things because he's only 7; he doesn't know how to discipline without laughing, lmao. He's also a sweet, gentle kid and we do trust him with her. He's been exceptionally patient and he definitely won her love because of that.

Overall, she's just a loving little conure. They also said she was a Pineapple GCC, but I think she's more of a Cinnamon (someone else here mentioned that too), but the vet said because of her strictly seed diet and lack of veggies and fruits she was getting all of her life, her colors could be very, very dulled out.

Thank you. It's just worrisome. I do hope once her feathers come in she's alright. She's just such a little cute goofball and she really is happy, or else she'd be a nut job.

 

[Allee]

The diet changes should definitely make a difference, but it will take time. I can tell she's already a dearly loved member of the family.

Poor girl, it sounds like she grew up in a very stressful environment. Parrots are adaptable and resilient and it helps that your girl is young, I think she'll start to thrive with all the positive changes you've made for her.