My Heart Bird was Phoenix, my beloved Phoe Phoe, he was a Crimson-bellied Conure, and he was 6 months old when I got him. He was barbering some his feathers and plucking the others.
I watched as he plucked all his feathers out, and every one broke my heart. There was nothing to be done, my vet thought that he had something wrong, perhaps from bad handfeeding, that made his feathers come in at a weird angle. His tests were always great, so it was purely guesswork.
He ended up being plucked almost completely bald, and he looked so defenseless and small, and his little mechanical sounding "Hello" when I walked into the room just stole my heart.
We ended up taking in a GCC, Jax, because his owner couldn't care for him anymore.
His cage was next to Phoe's and they were out at the same time, but only when I was in the room because Phoe wouldn't be able to fly away from an attack. I needn't have worried, Phoe was the boss and Jax was scared of him, but he kept trying to make friends. They finally did make friends and it was so beautiful to see. Jax didn't care that Phoe was plucked, he cared that Phoe was his friend.
They spent the entire day together, going into Phoe's cage for their afternoon siesta, only sleeping separately because they liked that privacy, I guess.
Sadly, Phoe died way too young. I first had inadequate vet care because my vet was away. My vet then got back a week later and she couldn't believe how good Phoe looked after talking to the incompetent Dr.
She made us an appt. for the next week to check him again and gave us an antibiotic after looking at his blood work. She was certain he was going to be okay.
Two days after the vet visit, I found my baby on the floor of his cage.
Jax and I grieved together, and he still calls for him.
I am so sorry for writing a book here, I figured I'd write a paragraph but here we are..lol
