mama lovebird plucking babies feathers

Question
My lovebirds are first time parents.So I am new to this. The babies are 6 weeks old. I have had the parents feed them from the beginning. I have taken them out of the nesting box today when I noticed that they can fly off of my hands when I spent time with them today. So I put them and the mother in a cage. Father was biting so he went in a cage by himself. My problem is that now the mama bird is plucking the feathers off of the babies. Is it normal or do I have to separate the babies from the mama? If I separate the mama from them, will they be able to feed themselves?

Answer
Hello Judy and thank you for your post.
You will need to seperate the babies from the mother and hand feed them.  Who was the father biting?  If he was biting you, and not the babies, then you could try to put them all back together in the same cage.  It is possible that the mother is aggrivated at the fact that her mate is not right there, but I do recommend seperating the babies and feeding them yourself.  They will not be able to feed themselves until they are about 12-14 weeks old and that is the time that you can start weaning them.

Good luck and God Bless.
Dianna