Bolivia

A country? A type of Blue and Gold? A china pattern?

Nope, a Congo Grey. Actually her name is Olivia. This has morphed over time to Olivia Bolivia and sometimes just Bolivia. Olivia is a severly plucked Congo. You hear stories of birds plucking but until you confront one face to face you just don't realize the frustration and sadness of the condition. No one has come up with a cure...we've sure tried. Experts tell us that there are no plucked Congos in the wild. Maybe they are eaten by predators because they are perceived as weak.

Olivia came to our home six months after Kiwi. She was a beautiful five month old female Congo that was extremely high strung and nervous. We worked with her and soon fell in love. Three months later we noticed one morning that her chest was plucked. The next day her shoulders. The next, her wings. Within a week she was naked except for her beautiful head.

Depressed? Not Bolivia. She thinks she's beautiful and she demonstrates a beautiful disposition. She speaks well with a vocabulary of over 40 words and sounds. She's the class clown of our flock. Loves to get her head scratched. Maybe she's hoping I will scratch off those last "nasty" feathers.

We used to hide her in another room when people would come over to look at birds. Shame on us. Now we celebrate her and let buyers know that it could happen to them. Usually plucking is not nearly this severe but it can happen to any grey. We don't know the statistics but I can take a guess that more than 1 in a hundred greys demonstrate some signs of plucking.

Sell her? Never. She's family and no matter what she'll be with us forever...skin and all.
- posted by J-Birds @ 7:54 PM |