OK.....heres my take. Remember there is a very distinct difference between preening and plucking. Is he literally plucking the feathers out or is it just one or two feathers that are lost during preening? Yes plucking usually is due to a lack of a stimulating environment. Something that you can try is the birdy piñatas. My B&G has one and loves it! Have you had them sexed? The reason I ask is because finches (yes I know there's a huge difference....but follow me here) will beat up on each other during mating season. I'm wondering if maybe something similar is happening with them? Or possibly a dominance thing?

Other then the preening issue do they fight at all?

About the handling issues......first, clip the wings!!! Second, take the bird out of the sight of the cage! Birds see their cage as kind of a security blanket. That's probably why they keep flying back to it. Our CAG is totally cage dominant. Once he's out and can't see his cage his much sweeter and easier to handle.

The fact that they perch together is no surprise at all. Most of the time when I see birds paired together they are always perching together.

One way to try to get them to enjoy being away from their cage is with treats!! We're able to handle our B&G completely but he will come running if we have a treat for him. He comes out of his cage if he happens to be in there straight to where every we are around the cage. I would suggest you try doing this. Get him comfortable with coming all the way out of the cage and as far away from the door as he can. Maybe even shut the door once he's out during training. The take it one step further, put your arm up and the treat just out of his reach so he has to step up on your arm to get it. Continue this sort of training until he is comfortable with just steping onto your arm. Then you can start walking and giving him treats. He will learn the behavior is getting rewarded and that will encourage him to continue it.

Always remember though, take your time. It is worth every minute of the training as long as it's done properly.

Sorry for the book but I hope it helps!

Birds can pluck each other for many reasons, boredom, stress, lack of other things to chew on, or, yes, to show dominance. I know someone woh had a group of sibling sun conures housed in a large aviary - they had lots of space and enrichment, but one sun decided he was dominant and would pluck the others' heads when they went to get food. In that case, the problem was solved by using a long trough for the food, so one bird couldn't dominate the whole feeding area.

As Loyalty suggested, first try giving them some toys they can shred up and destroy. That alone may help if the macaw is just plucking because he's bored. If they keep it up, you might try seperating them for awhile. You can still keep them side by side and allow them to share out of cage time together... but then they could have their own space sometimes, too.

Karen
Chico (conure) and Pippin (budgie)
WI