Why does our female lovebird pluck off the chicks feathers

My family has a pair of lovebirds with a new 3-week old chick. For some odd reason, the female is plucking off all of the feathers on the chick's back and abdomen. now the chick only has feathers on the wings, tail, and head. She did this with the previous chick as well (but eventually stopped as it got older and could leave the nesting box)

What do we do, and how do I get her to stop? We've tried scolding, and it doesn't work.

Sometimes parent birds are really not equipped to handle their young. Just like some teenagers and some adults are not ready to be parents themselves.

I have a female cockatiel who is 22, she has raised many chicks, but her first few died.she didn't really know what she was doing. Some believe animals are born with instinct, however, they are not. We learn from our parents and birds learn from the elders in their flock. If your lovebirds were hand-reared they may not have the experience and knowledge to handle their situation.

Sometimes they are just feather pluckers. My female had a chick who was 2 years old and at the time she was in the process of trying to rear another clutch. Now, this will sound horrible, but the parents tried to kill the 2 year old by plucking all her feathers off her back and abdomen. It was a sign she was no longer welcome in the flock and it was time for her to move out. I bet some parents wish they could do the same with some of their teenagers (LOL).

It is nothing to really worry about, unless the chicks seem stressed, feathers do grow back, but don't let it become routine, consistent feather plucking will lead to permanent baldness.ask my female (her mate was a plucker and she has some bald patches even though he passed away 6 years ago).