How can we stop are bird plucking her feathers?

Go to a nutrition store and buy some liquid aloe vera. Add a couple drops to a spray bottle of water and mist your bird daily.

Once a bird plucks their feathers (could be a number of reasons why they do it) the skin will become irritated when the feather start to regrow and that can cause the bird to continue to pluck. The aloe will soothe the skin and wont hurt the bird.

I had a quaker parrot that plucked himself bald, I tried the aloe and never had another problem with him.

Your cockatiel probably got scared and/or bored while you were gone on vacation. (Who did you have taking care of her? Does this person actually know anything about birds?) If your cockatiel was left alone most of the time, she would have been grooming as a self-comforting behavior. As the alone time increased, so would the grooming until it turned into feather-plucking. If it became worse when you came home, it might be that you are unintentionally rewarding her for it - paying more attention to her when she's messing with her feathers. Try to praise her and pay attention to her when she's NOT fussing with her feathers -- could be difficult at first! Tell her she's a good bird when she's eating, or just sitting still - anything except messing with her feathers! (Or it could be that having you back is now a different kind of stress for her -- she had lots of peace and quiet when you were gone, now there's more noise and commotion with you home.)

An avian vet would be best if you can find one.

Try giving her small toys -- tie a couple of knots in a regular plastic drinking straw, give her a couple of water bottle caps, fold or knot some paper into shapes she can easily hold. Weave some strips of newspaper through the bars of her cage.

You need to take your cockatiel to an avian vet. Avian vets have special training in treating pet birds. They are much more knowledable than a vet that treats dogs and cats. An avian vet can examine your cockatiel and determine the cause of the problem. If you don't know the cause for the plucking, it's very hard to treat. Your cockatiel could have a hormonal imbalance or illness. In that case, a well-balanced diet or plenty of toys won't stop the plucking. It's a good idea to take your cockatiel to the vet once you start noticing the plucking. You don't want any illness the cockatiel may have to get worse.

This is a hard habit for the bird to stop or break. Could be caused by boredom give your bird another attention getter.Maybe place fresh bottlebrush or grevillea in the cage for the bird to strip the branches and forget about the feather pulling at least for awhile??.

Is this bird eating to much sunflower seeds? If so this is not good for the bird to much oils

Give the bird a good quality feed(cocktail mix)plus some extras as well like carrots ,corn, endive,celery, silverbeet.

A vet visit may also be in order to be sure no under lying problem is the reason Good Luck

When you say you came back from a two week holiday, who was taking care of your birdie?

If you just placed a bunch of food and hope she'd take care of herself, your problem may be that. Single birds depend on you to take care of them daily even if they already have food and water. They are attached to you. You ARE their flock. To be gone for so long she may have developed a certain separation anxiety disorder.

I honestly can't say if she will return to normal any time soon but maybe now would be the time to spend some out of the cage quality bonding time with her. That may help quite a bit. Let her sit on your shoulder while offering her some tastey treats.

This is pure advice because in all my years of raising birds I have yet to experience severe plucking.

However, to contradict EVERYTHING I just said, I found this on the internet:

"When Your Cockatiel Plucks His Feathers

Your cockatiel can go from beautiful to bare if he gets into the habit of plucking his feathers. Plucking goes beyond preening or molting. If your cockatiel is creating bare spots, take him to an avian veterinarian. Your vet will check for diseases that cause feather-plucking. If it's not a physical problem, you'll still need to observe your cockatiel closely. At the same time, don't give him any attention when he's plucking. Only pay attention to him when he's being a good bird. In addition, your vet can give you advice on any dietary or environmental changes your cockatiel may need."

Hope any of that helps.

Take care.

Friends of mine had this problem with their parrot and went to a specialist vet who told them that it could be due to the bird eating too many sunflower seeds. This sounds a bit crazy because sunflower seeds are very good for birds and provide them with essential fats and amino acids as well as vitamins.

However, many bird food products contain too many of these seeds and overeating them causes some sensitive bird's feathers to either fall out themselves or causes the root to become sore so that the bird wants to pull out his or her own feathers.

Try feeding your bird only very small quantities and see if she improves!