Does anyone own a parrot?

I can think of one solution but I don't think it's the one you are looking for.

Good luck.  And I hope whatever horrible thing you did in a previous life to deserve this torture is over with once you are done with this parrot.

Hangloose ... for shame ... .

I was a cockatoo Mom to two open banded (caught in the wide) birds for seven years.  I have very limited experience, but will share what I know. 

First, thanks to you for taking in this birdie!    From what you describe, she's obviously more stressed than normal.  From what I remember, diet and environment can contribute to picking and 'bad' behaviour.

If she came from a zoo, I assume she eats a balanced diet.  If she's a sunflower seed pig, her nutrition might be off.  Her cage; does she get enough/too much light?  Do you cover her at night?  Really, does she get enough rest?  If she's near a window, she might see other birds and just be scared stressed.  You work and work out ... does she have a companion or toys?  Vortmax has birds and he leaves the TV on.  Mine had toys that ranged from easy to destroy to birdie Suduko. 

My birds were on my shoulder alot when I was home - we really spent time with them.

I used "My Parrot My Friend" to help settle my birds.  Dr. Fosters and Smith have a website with a bird special section.  They have a great library of 'help books.'  I also was part of a bird club, and had a great bird vet.  I don't think there are 'bird vets,' just vets who choose to specialize in birds ... maybe you can find a good one who can help you with this. 

Good luck, sounds like your baby just misses you! 

You can get prozac for birds.  Have you seen a avain vet about the problem?

How long have you live in your new home?  For a normal bird, it will take about 2 weeks before they are comfortable enough to resume normal life.  When I moved here with Tony, my ring neck, she was very familiar and trusting of me, but it still took her a good month to be comfortable enough with the new surroundings to open up.  I've been here since August and my apt is still "new" to her.

Feather plucking is a major problem and can be brought on by stress, boredom, or sickness.  So assuming that she is healthy (verified by blood work from an avian vet), then really start analyzing her life style.

sorry if I start to bore you, I worked as a dog behavioalist through college and once I got my bird started studying up on bird behavior too.

The one thing that birds hate is inconsistency.  They need a set routine.  So wake up (uncovered), feed, take out to play, and put her to bed at the same time each day.  You don't have to have a perfect sechedule, but the more normal things that you do that she can expect, the better you are.  So feel free to still to spointanious fun stuff with her.  Fool proof mentioned toys.  Toys are critical because they need to entertain her while you can't.  Remember a bird is mentally like a small kid, so just having the same old chew toy isn't going to cut it.  Tony has an entire basket of toys that get rotated in weekly so she constantly has something "new and exciting."  Just recently she discovered how to climb down to the basket and that's the biggest thrill of her life.  She "discovered" all this cool stuff.  Sounds stupid, but it's not.  So you need to keep her mentally stimulated, which would be the birdie soduku.  Tony has several toys which are just cages.  She has a soft rubber one with holes that I fill with peanuts, so she has to try and pull the nuts out of it.  She also has another that is an acryllic cage that I fill with nutriberries.  The fact she has to work for her food and analyze how to get it out, makes it very entertaining for her.  She also needs the chew toys as they are a way of relieving stress.  If you can work that aspect of discovery into her every day life, she will get a kick out of it.  Can be as simple as wrapping some bits of fruit in parchment and putting them in her cage, so once she unwraps them, she finds them.  Or taking a pie pan full of large wooden beads and sprinkling some sunflower seeds on it, so she has to dig around in the beads to find them.  You're encuraging the foraging behavior and making her think.

now on to some more behavioral type of stuff.  Is she a shoulder bird?  Shoulder sitting is fine for most normal, adjusted birds.  The problem is that in bird society, whoever is on the higher perch is king (taller is safer).  That's why she roosts on the highest perch and will instinctivly crawl to the top of her cage.  Putting her on your shoulder, in birdie language, means "I am your equal."  In some cases it can even mean that you are lower on the todem pole then her.  If she thinks she can boss you around, she will.  So try it out.  Make sure you are taller then her cage and stop elevating her above your shoulder level

Noise is another problem.  The problem is, birds are noisy by nature.  That's what they do.  Now, if she is just making noise because she's a happy bird (which it doesn't sound like) then you can't do much about it.  Maybe teach her some other noises that are more appealing.  She will mimick her flock, so she will repeat the sounds she hears the most.  If she's screaming for attention....thats another issue.  The problem with screaming for attention is that doing anything to shut her up renforces the behavior.  She wants attention and regardless what you do (besides ignoring it) gets her the attention.  If you wait a long time then finally break down, then she learns that she just needs to scream longer and harder before giving up.  My mom has a quaker that was quite the screamer.  When he would start up, she would cover him.  If he still kept it up, she would move him to the bedroom.  He wanted to be with the "flock." By excluding him more and more for loudness, he learned that being quiet and talking got him what he wanted.  Of course when he was being a good boy we made sure to visit him a lot and reward him for being a good boy.

If you are trying to stop specific behaviors the best thing to do is train your bird how to do them on command.  If you can control the behavior, it is easier to stop it.  When tony went through the "bluffing stage" where she would "bite" you every time you went to touch her, I would say 'beak' whenever she would touch her beak to me and make it a big deal.  So when she went to bite, I'd just say "where's your beak" and she'd forget about biting and just put her beak between my fingers.  She still does it and now she'll run around saying "beak beak beak" and tapping her beak on stuff.  Another tactic is redirecting.  Teach her something you like and when she starts to act up, have her do the new thing instead.  She gets no reaction out of the 'bad' behavior, but a very positive reaction out of the 'good' one.  Which one do you think she'll start to favor?  Some times it can be difficult to redirect without reinforcing the bad.  For instance she is screaming for attention and you try and redirect her to do something else.  Well the act of going up to her to redirect her attention is reinforcing the screaming.  Just try to be as non reactive as you can.  So walk up to her cage without looking at her and stand there until she pipes down.  If you just stand there not looking, she'll get confused and shut up.  As soon as she quiets down, look at her and greet her.  If she starts getting noisy, look away, turn your back, even walk away.  Reward the good, ignore the bad.

oh yes, and avoid mirror toys and try a feather-like toy in case she is over preening instead of plucking.