I think my green cheeked conure is picking..

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Happy New Year all you bird lovers out there! :eusa_clap

When my parents' lovebird died in August, they were left with his 13-year-old lutino lovebird friend Mickie. Mickie bites my parents and sister to the point they are too afraid to handle her. Mickie does not bite me, and I am able to handle her. I have 2 conures, both 3 years old. I've had them for 2 years. When Puffy died, I took Mickie to my house for a few days to cheer her up. Then I returned her to my parents' house. Then, on a routine basis, I started taking Mickie every other week to stay with me for a week or so. I ddn't want to rush anything or make my conures uncomfortable. Now Mickie is here to saty and she seems very happy. My husband handles her and she is out all the time. But around the time that I started bringing Mickie for visits in August, I noticed Green Pea preening more violently then usual. I am worried that she may be jealous of the attention that i give to Mickie or that Mickie's presence may be contributing to her picking. My old lovebird used to feather pick and he picked for 15 years. I haven't seen any bald patches on Green Pea, but her violent down-picking looks suspiciously like feather picking in the early stages. What can I do to deter this behavior and is there any way to tell for sure if she's picking? I see her rip little down feathers out, and it's not the usual feather dust that she used to preen out.

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Thanks for the tip. Pea and Phoenix have actually started preening each other recently. I leave them out in their room while i am at school and they seem very happy now. Pea still has all her feathers thank goodness.