Should I be concerned? Plucking or molting

[Robbielou]

Blue napped amazon 12 years old… I’ve had her 5 months. She’s always had perfect feathers. For the last week I’ve been finding the little down feathers everywhere so I thought ok we are molting maybe… But today she had the flight feather in her beak chewing on it and that one concerned me. I know molting happens evenly on both sides but I can’t see any missing feathers to tell. What are your thoughts? I just want to nip it asap if it’s plucking.

 

[zERo]

Sorry to hear of this!

To me, this looks like molting. Lots of birds have begun their molts, my flock of 9 are all molting right now.
I would keep an eye on her but I wouldn’t be worried.
When my conure has a feather fall out he usually plays with it or chews on it.

She’s a very beautiful girl! What’s her name?

 

[Robbielou]

Sorry to hear of this!

To me, this looks like molting. Lots of birds have begun their molts, my flock of 9 are all molting right now.
I would keep an eye on her but I wouldn’t be worried.
When my conure has a feather fall out he usually plays with it or chews on it.

She’s a very beautiful girl! What’s her name?

Thank you so much I was hoping that was all it was! Her name is Sassy and it suits her well lol. She’s sweet to me most of the time!

 

[zERo]

Thank you so much I was hoping that was all it was! Her name is Sassy and it suits her well lol. She’s sweet to me most of the time!

It sounds like a perfect name for her!

 

[wrench13]

I had read a long time ago that any molted feathers should be removed immediately, so the parrot does not begin to see them as chew toys, and then seek more of them by pulling them out from their bodies. We always remove any feathers Salty molts as soon as we find one, and he shows no interest in them as items to play or chew on. Its just one piece of the puzzle that encompasses the plucking phenomena; there are so many other factors that might be involved, I thought it wise to do this.