Hi MtP
- I wanted to address your plucking concerns. If your bird is plucking it would not be something that you would have to guess at, it would be obvious, and can happen quickly, and you would be seeing bare skin. In other words, I don't thnk Percy is plucking so don't worry yourself about it. As to where it happens - I've seen it everywhere. When I got my Beanieboy his back was bare, his wings and he had no tail feathers at all - but his chest was feathered. I've seen other birds with bald heads, and bare chests, so as far as I can tell, I don't think there is a 'usual' place for them to pluck, anywhere they can get too seems to be the case. And I also don't think it is only poorly cared for birds at all, some very healthy birds are pluckers - that if a physical reason for plucking has been ruled out (allergy, mites, etc), it is generally mental, and on what causes that I think there is a lot of confusion. Stress seems to make it worse, also, it can become a HABIT, which then makes it even more difficult to break. My Beanieboy was very well taken care of at his previous home, had a great cage, the owner was a very nice woman who genuinely cared about him and his welfare. He was a seed fiend though, and refused fresh foods - I now have him eating pellets as well as seeds, soaked and sprouted seeds, and he races to the fresh vegetables now and he is fully feathered. Another thing is that some species seem to be more likely to be pluckers than others, and I think the bird most often named is the African Gray. I would add that I have never seen a plucked cockatiel, or parakeet I'm not saying that they never are pluckers, only I have not seen any cases with my own eyes. Anyways, I hope this puts you at ease a bit, I think Percey is just molting, or losing a few feathers. Plucking is not one of those things that you would have doubt about, it's either he is or isn't, there really isn't an in-between.
It gets a little easier, still paranoid, but not so much 
