Is my conure plucking?

[Royboy2]

Hi all,

I adopted a fiery shouldered conure (Roy) about 3 months ago, he was born on March 29th so he is almost 6 months old.

He is starting to moult and I am noticing increasing pin feathers on his head and face. I am however extremely concerned that he is plucking. I am noticing a gray patch of feathers which I assume are down feathers on his chest, he has 2 such patches, with one (pictured) about 5X the size of the other one. It is about pinky nail in size.

I am not seeing a lot of feathers in his cage (I clean daily) so I am uncertain if this is plucking or just natural molting. He eats Hari Tropican lifetime formula pellets as well as chop (broccoli, apple, strawberry, chia seeds, bell peppers (and bell pepper seeds), carrots). He has a large cage with a lot of toys and gets at minimum 4ish hours of out of cage time 3 days a week, up to 6-7 hours 2 days a week, and basically all day on the weekends.

He sleeps at midnight and hos cage stays covered until noon the next day (although my family does tend to wake up around 9 or 10am so I am not sure he's getting a full 12 hour).

Thank you in advance.

 

[Vampiric_Conure53]

It COULD be seasonal/hormonal plucking starting. My Charlie is a seasonal plucker. He's down to his underfluffies in the spring, and when it's winter, he lets them regrow. Best to talk to a vet, tho, to rule out anything worrisome. Good luck! I hear so many good things about Firey Shoulders!