Hand raised at Petco? & just held a bird for the first time! :D

[thermodynamic]

Never buy an animal from petsmart/petco, they get there animals from animal mills and there birds from bird mills. If you buy from them they will only replace it with another one. The conditions at those mills are horrible, the birds only use in life is to breed. If you buy from them it only encourages them to keep buying from those mills. They may hand feed them but they are still from the horrible bird mills.

Well, I agree with what was said, but I will have to disagree with not buying a bird from them. If someone can and does buy a bird from them, at least the bird will have a better life than stuck at a pet shop.

Which is the only good aspect...

But I did meet a lady who did breed GCCs for some Petcos in my area. Most of them are darlings, until they've been at the store for so long that they lose their tameness.

 

[mandolynn]

I had no idea any petcos were allowed to sell local birds. I thought they got all of them from rainbow birds or similar mills. Thats where petsmart gets them and its bad. I also thought petco wasn't allowed to handfeed anymore. Petsmart isnt and their hf babies are tube fed and never actually get human interaction until they get to the store. Some stores are different and have knowledgeable people there but not too often. Its petsmarts policy that the employee can refuse to sell an animal and while this usually doesnt happen, i had to refuse customers. They are horrible companies, but individual stores can be different. If you fall in love, and do all the research and are prepared then you should buy him. No matter where he comes from, he still an animal and needs a loving forever home.

 

[IcyWolf]

I can't speak for petco but I used to work at Petsmart and it is completely against their corporate policy to buy birds from private breeders. It's a part of their "quality control" that allows them to have a 14 day guarantee on all of their animals. When I worked there we weren't even allowed to take animals from customers and adopt them out for free because any animal that is acquired from petsmart must be from one of their "approved" breeders(huge horrible mills). When I worked there we did handfeed, you had to go through a course and be tested before you were allowed to feed any birds but we did handfeed in the store. Usually, by the time we got the bird they were only on 1-3 hand feedings a day and after a week or few they would be completely weaned.
I can't remember all of them but I know we got small animals and some birds from Holmes Farm and I know some petsmarts get reptiles from the center for reptile and amphibian propagation(lovingly referred to by petsmart employees as "CRAP"). There was another place that we got birds from but I can't remember their name now.

In the long run, buying a bird from a big chain store is just overpaying a couple hundred dollars for a bird that is less socialized and you're giving money to a bird mill. Find a good breeder, let a baby pick you and use all that extra cash to spoil your new baby with toys

 

[happycat]

I cant find any breeders online that have babies less them 250.
Obviously the one im at is different, they cuddled her and she knew traits and personalitys of each of them. One GCC was about 250-270 I think.