EllenD
New member
- Aug 20, 2016
- 3,979
- 68
- Parrots
- Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
In the midst of losing one of my pet ducks this morning I forgot to post about the two sets of birds that are "up for adoption" at a pet shop local to me. I went down there yesterday and saw them both, and thought I would post their information on here in case anyone is interested. They need good, experienced homes soon.
I live in State College, PA and there is a pet shop called "Calico Creek Feed and Pet" in Mill Hall, PA (basically Lock Haven, PA), which is about 30 minutes Northeast of State College. It's a very large pet shop that carries EVERYTHING, from live animals that they breed themselves and get from local breeders only, like birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats, chicks, ducks, reptiles like bearded dragons and geckos, tortoises and aquatic turtles, and a full aquarium fish section. Then they have equipment, enclosures, toys, and feed, and live food for all of these types of pets plus all types of livestock and horses. So it's a massive and unique store.
Yesterday I went down to check out a Goffin Cockatoo a friend of mine told me they have. It is basically there on consignment by the owner I guess, its name is Harkey and he is a year and a half old. Now they have a bird room but they have Harkey in a cage that is way too small for him in my opinion (they disagree with me, it's the cage the owner had him in) and they have him right next to the check-out counter, but they had him kind of half covered with a blanket at 3:00 in the afternoon. This blanket was kind of curled up around the top of the cage and hanging down around it. It was odd. I looked inside and there was a year and a half old cockatoo that looked much older and also looked scared to death. He's obviously a plucker as he had a large, circular, completely bald patch in the middle of his chest. I couldn't see the rest of him because of the blanket so I don't know how much of him is plucked besides his chest. There was a card on top of his cage saying "Meet Harkey, blah blah blah" and this is how I know his age. They wrote something about how they want him to go to a home WITH DOGS AND CATS as long as they're alright with his noises...It was really odd, the whole scenario seemed odd to me. They want $1,200 for him and this includes his cage that he cannot be kept in anyway. I fear that this poor Goffin is going to be bounced around from home to home, you guys know the drill on this. The cage really got me, it's a typical floor cage with the shelf on the bottom, the seed guards going around, and the whole thing is like 4-5 feet tall, so the actual cage is only 2-3 feet tall, and the width cannot be 2 feet, it has to be less than 2 feet wide. The cage to me would be adequate for a cockatiel or green cheek...It just bothered me, something is very wrong. I looked on their website and they actually have a really nice photo of him at the bottom of the homepage that says "Come meet Harkey the Goffin Cockatoo", and the photo is not at all how this bird looks now.
In the bird room is a combo deal, another consignment thing by the owner I believe, also for $1,200 including the cage, this one is a good sized cage and the birds look very healthy and happy, and well taken care of. It's a 28 year old Amazon, forgive me because I don't know what species of Amazon because the card didn't say and I'm not very familiar with them. It's a very large Amazon compared to most I've seen, very healthy looking, though he looked sad, he wasn't moving around much at all and had his back to me and would not turn around. I went to the side of the cage and got his attention and talked to him for a while, he liked this. He seemed very sweet. His cage mate is odd, a male Green Cheek Conure, but I guess they have lived in the same cage for 18 years, since the Green Cheek was brought home. The Green Cheek looked old because of the gray/white around his eyes and on his head, but he certainly doesn't act old. He's 18 years old and was climbing all over the cage, hanging upside down, talking, jumping everywhere, and just having a great time. And they obviously love each other, they just look so odd because the Amazon is a very large Amazon and then there's this little Green Cheek sitting with him! But they seem very well taken care of, I think this is a situation where their original owners had something happen and were forced to rehome them, it did say they both had only one owner...They are $1,200 for both birds, the cage, etc. The cage is appropriate and they will not separate the two birds.
So there you have it. I just wanted to post this because even though this pet shop has been around for a decade and they are very well respected, I don't think the employees know much about birds at all. They had American budgies, Red Rumped Budgies, Cockatiels, one young Green Cheek, young Parrotlets, different species of Finches, Ringneck Doves, and Diamond Doves. They didn't have many toys at all and the ones they did have were really strange and inappropriate. They each had the plastic water and food holders you use for chickens and ducks sitting on the bottom of their cages, and their cages were mostly big chicken wire cages. Out of curiosity I wondered what the were asking for their budgies so I asked the lady at the counter "How much are your budgies?" She said "What?", so I again asked her and she said "What's a budgie?" I said "Sorry, your parakeets?" and she said "Oh, I've never heard that before" and then showed me this price list hanging on the wall...So I'd like to see these birds find good homes, particularly the Goffin Cockatoo, who I'm actually worried about. If I had a spare $1,200 that I was comfortable spending I would have brought him home yesterday.. Central Pennsylvania, specifically this pet shop's area, is farm country, lots of horses, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, etc. but very few parrots. So my fear is that people are buying parrots at this shop and raising them like you raise chickens and ducks, as that's what the shop seems to be doing, and I'm not sure how educated about parrots they are.
"Dance like nobody's watching..."
I live in State College, PA and there is a pet shop called "Calico Creek Feed and Pet" in Mill Hall, PA (basically Lock Haven, PA), which is about 30 minutes Northeast of State College. It's a very large pet shop that carries EVERYTHING, from live animals that they breed themselves and get from local breeders only, like birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats, chicks, ducks, reptiles like bearded dragons and geckos, tortoises and aquatic turtles, and a full aquarium fish section. Then they have equipment, enclosures, toys, and feed, and live food for all of these types of pets plus all types of livestock and horses. So it's a massive and unique store.
Yesterday I went down to check out a Goffin Cockatoo a friend of mine told me they have. It is basically there on consignment by the owner I guess, its name is Harkey and he is a year and a half old. Now they have a bird room but they have Harkey in a cage that is way too small for him in my opinion (they disagree with me, it's the cage the owner had him in) and they have him right next to the check-out counter, but they had him kind of half covered with a blanket at 3:00 in the afternoon. This blanket was kind of curled up around the top of the cage and hanging down around it. It was odd. I looked inside and there was a year and a half old cockatoo that looked much older and also looked scared to death. He's obviously a plucker as he had a large, circular, completely bald patch in the middle of his chest. I couldn't see the rest of him because of the blanket so I don't know how much of him is plucked besides his chest. There was a card on top of his cage saying "Meet Harkey, blah blah blah" and this is how I know his age. They wrote something about how they want him to go to a home WITH DOGS AND CATS as long as they're alright with his noises...It was really odd, the whole scenario seemed odd to me. They want $1,200 for him and this includes his cage that he cannot be kept in anyway. I fear that this poor Goffin is going to be bounced around from home to home, you guys know the drill on this. The cage really got me, it's a typical floor cage with the shelf on the bottom, the seed guards going around, and the whole thing is like 4-5 feet tall, so the actual cage is only 2-3 feet tall, and the width cannot be 2 feet, it has to be less than 2 feet wide. The cage to me would be adequate for a cockatiel or green cheek...It just bothered me, something is very wrong. I looked on their website and they actually have a really nice photo of him at the bottom of the homepage that says "Come meet Harkey the Goffin Cockatoo", and the photo is not at all how this bird looks now.
In the bird room is a combo deal, another consignment thing by the owner I believe, also for $1,200 including the cage, this one is a good sized cage and the birds look very healthy and happy, and well taken care of. It's a 28 year old Amazon, forgive me because I don't know what species of Amazon because the card didn't say and I'm not very familiar with them. It's a very large Amazon compared to most I've seen, very healthy looking, though he looked sad, he wasn't moving around much at all and had his back to me and would not turn around. I went to the side of the cage and got his attention and talked to him for a while, he liked this. He seemed very sweet. His cage mate is odd, a male Green Cheek Conure, but I guess they have lived in the same cage for 18 years, since the Green Cheek was brought home. The Green Cheek looked old because of the gray/white around his eyes and on his head, but he certainly doesn't act old. He's 18 years old and was climbing all over the cage, hanging upside down, talking, jumping everywhere, and just having a great time. And they obviously love each other, they just look so odd because the Amazon is a very large Amazon and then there's this little Green Cheek sitting with him! But they seem very well taken care of, I think this is a situation where their original owners had something happen and were forced to rehome them, it did say they both had only one owner...They are $1,200 for both birds, the cage, etc. The cage is appropriate and they will not separate the two birds.
So there you have it. I just wanted to post this because even though this pet shop has been around for a decade and they are very well respected, I don't think the employees know much about birds at all. They had American budgies, Red Rumped Budgies, Cockatiels, one young Green Cheek, young Parrotlets, different species of Finches, Ringneck Doves, and Diamond Doves. They didn't have many toys at all and the ones they did have were really strange and inappropriate. They each had the plastic water and food holders you use for chickens and ducks sitting on the bottom of their cages, and their cages were mostly big chicken wire cages. Out of curiosity I wondered what the were asking for their budgies so I asked the lady at the counter "How much are your budgies?" She said "What?", so I again asked her and she said "What's a budgie?" I said "Sorry, your parakeets?" and she said "Oh, I've never heard that before" and then showed me this price list hanging on the wall...So I'd like to see these birds find good homes, particularly the Goffin Cockatoo, who I'm actually worried about. If I had a spare $1,200 that I was comfortable spending I would have brought him home yesterday.. Central Pennsylvania, specifically this pet shop's area, is farm country, lots of horses, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, etc. but very few parrots. So my fear is that people are buying parrots at this shop and raising them like you raise chickens and ducks, as that's what the shop seems to be doing, and I'm not sure how educated about parrots they are.
"Dance like nobody's watching..."
Especially when most bird rescues have adoption fees for all species of Cockatoos and other large birds between $200-$400...
