feather plucking

by Rhonda
(De Graff, Ohio)

Is there somthing I can do to stop my black capped conure from plucking out his tail feathers? he has lots of toys (that I rotate weekly), I have music on for him when no one is home, he spends most of his time on my shoulder when I am home, he gets fresh food and water daily with a mixture of seed, veggies, and grapes, and apples.

He is not plucking any other feathers - just his tail. the skin around his hind end looks fine. It is not red, inflamed, or dry and scaly. He is healthy in every other way I can see. I bought him from a pet store about a week ago. He had already been plucking his tail feathers out there. But he is so sweet, I had to have him.

I couple of them where growing back and he plucked both of them out while he sat on my shoulder. then his hindend was bleeding out of those two spots :( Please help. He is such a great bird. He is 9 1/2 months old. I already know he needs to get into a vet an I will be doing that about the first week of Dec.

Thanks for any advice.