B&G molting and preening improperly

Question
Hi Carol,

I rescued a Macaw a few months ago and Everything has been great except for recently I have been noticing that she is still molting. I was alwways under the impression that she would finish by the winter time but hasn't...I have also been noticing that her feathers are not coming properly. I am going to bring her to the vet as soon as I can but was hoping to get some advice before hand. Here are the links to some pictures so you can see how her feathers are coming. I am thinking there is a correlation between this feather problem and her eating habits. She hates eating her pellets and fruits..she eats other food, like bread, pasta, and things along those lines. I tried soaking her pellets in apple juice without much luck. I added seeds back to her diet but she eats the sunflowers and leaves the rest. I appreciate any advice.

the pics of her feathers are uploaded here:

http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee156/ugutpimped/?mediafilter=all

Answer
Well diet does have a lot to do with feather growth, but the first time she sheds those wing feathers, you'll see these skinny, ratty looking ones come in first (my Goffins Cockatoo has them right now) but will then lose the bigger ones and they will be replaced by wonderful, healthy feathers. What kind of pellets is she eating? You may want to switch to Roudybush. The pellets are so tasty that my birds considered it a TREAT at first and they were overjoyed when I filled their bowl with them! The pellets have 100% nutrition and within a couple months, you'll see brand new, VERY bright and healthy colors. I had no idea that Goffin's Cockatoos actually had a pink tone to them, not pure white!
The molt really has nothing to do with winter now that the birds are semi-domesticated. It's just whenever the bird decides it needs new feathers, and some of the larger parrots (cockatoos for sure, I believe macaws, too) molt a tiny bit 24/7. Any new bird should be checked out by a vet, anyways, but I don't think it's anything to be really worried about. Just make sure you don't see any bald spots or "fuzzy" areas as that is a sign of plucking.