I used Zoogen for DNA sexing, although they have since transferred that part of the business to Antech....
Zoogen -
Sale of Sex Made Easy
Antech -
Home | ANTECH Diagnostics
Barney's Bird Farm in California has refused to give information out to owners about birds that they've bred.... even going as far as telling one owner to contact the pet store they bought the bird from to find out the information the owner was looking for.... which, the pet store told the owner to ask the breeder! As such, the owner didn't get any information about when their bird was hatched....
Talked to the breeder last night, she seemed nice but I didn't appreciate the flat out lies "Macaws don't mate for life in the wild", "the birds you have cannot be tamed because they have gone to the wild side", etc., etc., etc.
That only makes me wonder.... is there any proof that macaws mate for life in the wild? Everyone I've heard that say that parrots mate for life are bird owners who have *never* studied parrots out in the wild. It's a proven fact that sun conures, cherry headed conures, budgerigars and eclectus do not mate for life. The conures can have "divorces" and pair up with new mates, or maybe a male will fight for a female and win. The budgies and eclectus live a pretty polygamous lifestyle. What about other parrots?
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much information out there regarding parrots mating for life by biologists and others like that.
Regardless, I hope you are able to make a decision about your macaws! It would be understandable if you took on more than you can handle and you need to rehome one or both birds! Not everyone is cut out for bird ownership, and not all birds and owners are going to get alone! What may be the perfect bird for one owner would be a bad choice for another! It doesn't matter! What does matter is the bird's happiness and health and whether or not the owner is capable of meeting those requirements and be happy with the birds regardless of how they are!
One owner is having to rehome three of her parrots. She has autism and those particular birds are too noisy for her to handle. It is through no fault of her own or the birds that she can't handle their noise. She knew they were noisy getting them, but she didn't know she'd have an issue with the continued noise that makes her want to break down. It's the last thing she wants to do, and it's a decision that has taken her months to decide on, which has caused a lot of anxiety for her. She's come to the decision that as much as she loves her birds, she can't handle their noise. If she wasn't autistic, then they probably wouldn't be an issue! Just a crappy situation!
