Macaw preening

[rbtlyn]

Hello
My almost 5 month old harlequin has started to preen a lot more. He even works on my ears and eyebrows. Since this is my first baby Macaw my question is this. When he is doing it he is pulling out the fluffy soft grey feathers he had as a baby baby. Is he supposed to be pulling it out and if so is it possible to pull out to much. He isn’t pulling any of the other feathers.

 

[psychocircus91]

Sounds like normal molting/preening. Because the outer layer remains intact, it does not sound like mutilation of any kind. (Would be pretty uncommon this young).