Helpful Info for Aspiring Bird Owners? :)

[FCx]

Hello everyone! I could use your help.

I am a small parrot owner and animal enthusiast who spends a lot of time and effort researching and caring properly for my companion animals. I am an advocate for animal awareness and well-being, and this has spurred me to write a paper on "Pet Store policies" when it comes to the selling of small/medium sized parrots.

Here's where you come in:

1. What do you think all parrot owners should know before purchasing a bird of their own?

2. What do you wish you had known, as a parrot owner, before purchasing your companion parrot?

3. If you did purchase your bird from a pet store, what were your experiences like? Good? Bad? Were the sales associates knowledgeable? Were there any systems in place to prevent under-educated customers from purchasing such complex creatures?

EDIT:

4. Bird rescues--what are your experiences like with those? If you run a rescue, how many birds do you see pass through your rescue and what are the main reasons you get for people who need to rehome their birds?


Thank you in advance for any and all feedback, I'm curious to know, and I also think it will really assist me in writing my paper

--Hailey.

 

[Robin]

We just purchased our second Sun Conure from a Pet shop. First, you should make sure the customer is educated on the species they want to buy. We bought the book and all had to read it. Insist on reading up and joining a Parrot Forum! Living in New England, I think with our first bird we had varying temps in the sun room vs. the rest of the house. Robin was played with at his shop all the time so he loved being out of the cage. Birds need a few hours of interaction a day, how much is the buyer willing to spend with it? This would help determine what type of bird they should get. There is a bird test on line. My son wanted the Lory and after I made them sleep on it, my husband didn't like the research and felt the store clerk was too aloof with pet care, upkeep and diet. We did go back and buy Braxy. However, they had so many birds in the shop, he was in a bottom cage and lost among the shuffle. He is afraid of hands. The women who worked there was aggressive trying to get out of the cage and he drew blood, bad! He flew to my son and the bond was instant. Encourage the customer to sleep on their decision. Our Bird voyage began about 4 years ago when my son cried leaving a pet store because he couldn't buy a bird. I told him he had to present me with a research paper, how long do they live, how much to care for yearly etc... When he found Robin at the Pet Store, he visited from June until October, about once a week. Good luck with your project, hope this helps!

 

[Dinosrawr]

1. What do you think all parrot owners should know before purchasing a bird of their own?


That owning a bird is like welcoming a perpetual two year old into your home. The medical, food, and toy bills are always high. They require a healthy diet that does not simply consist of pellets or seeds - they need a well rounded, well balanced diet every day. They need exercise, mental stimulation, and love. They are not the kind of animal you put in a cage and take out simply when you feel like it or place in your home because "they look pretty". They are living, breathing, and very emotionally intelligent creatures.


2. What do you wish you had known, as a parrot owner, before purchasing your companion parrot?


I'm not really sure about how to answer this one, because I researched as much as I could before getting both of my birds and none of the research really prepared me for their individual needs, personalities, and behaviours. Maybe that's what I would've liked to know, but it's not something you really accept when you're in the process of research and when you're incredibly excited.

3. If you did purchase your bird from a pet store, what were your experiences like? Good? Bad? Were the sales associates knowledgeable? Were there any systems in place to prevent under-educated customers from purchasing such complex creatures?


I purchased my first bird, Avery, from a pet store. My experiences were not bad, per se, but I wouldn't ever recommend their service to anyone to say the least. They knew little to nothing about birds, and when I asked a very specific question about using non-stick frying pans in the same room, they simply said, "oh, it'd be fine!" when I already knew it was bad (wrong of me to test them maybe, but I like to know what I'm dealing with). My boyfriend also worked at Petland, and I looked over the training they receive for selling birds. They learn VERY minimal information and do not receive the proper training that would make them good parrot owners themselves. As for safety measures for preventing parrots going to poor homes, they were allowed to refuse sale if they were at all concerned about the well being of the animal under that individual's care, though it never happened.

To put it simply, many of the major pet stores that sell birds on the side do not properly model what bird ownership requires. They place them in tiny cages with few toys, often toys that are not appropriate, feed them poor diets, do not encourage positive reinforcement with them, and not all of them receive the time and dedication they require while they're in the stores because they rely on quick sales. Unless the store actually specializes in birds, this is often the case.

 

[SoCalWendy]

1. What do you think all parrot owners should know before purchasing a bird of their own?

Research the specific specie/s you are interested in. Factor in, noise level, vet care, food, cages, toys, and attention. Compare with your current living accomodations, and circumstances. Animals are never a good gift, nor is an impulse buy.

2. What do you wish you had known, as a parrot owner, before purchasing your companion parrot?

Hmmm hard to answer since I did a ton of research, and I am still learning. Maybe I could have talked to other senegal and parrotlet owners to get a better feel as to what I could expect. But when it comes to personality, it's hard to know how it will go.

3. If you did purchase your bird from a pet store, what were your experiences like? Good? Bad? Were the sales associates knowledgeable? Were there any systems in place to prevent under-educated customers from purchasing such complex creatures?

Kiwi - Parrotlet was purchased from a bird store, local here in San Diego. And Rio was from a senegal breeder. Both my experiences were great! We have several very good and knowledgeble bird stores here in San Diego. I have been there, and have always been impressed on not only the quality of thier birds, but how clean the stores are kept and how knowledgeable the staff is.

I wouldn't purchase a bird from a "pet store," per se like I wouldn't purchase a cat or a dog from a pet store. They know very little and are there to sell a product.

 

[Kiwibird]

1. What do you think all parrot owners should know before purchasing a bird of their own?

Dinsaurawr answered this one pretty well. They really are like having a perpetual toddler, only these guys have a built in woodchipper on their face and wings for extra "fun"!

2. What do you wish you had known, as a parrot owner, before purchasing your companion parrot?

The amount of patience and time it would take to actually train and develop a good relationship with my bird. I grew up with birds my parents had for years before I was born, so of course they were already well behaved and good' birds in all my memory. When we adopted Kiwi, he was totally feral and a total nightmare. I realized very quickly *some* (not all) individuals like to test your patience and really make you work HARD to earn their trust. Kiwi was one of those birds, and while he's a real sweetheart now, I will NEVER forget he wasn't always that way. You MAY luck out and get a bird who instantly takes to you, you may get one that needs a little work, but you could also get one of those individuals that is just...challenging. Only you can answer to yourself if you would be dedicated enough to owning a parrot to putting in the effort it takes to 'tame' a 'difficult' individual.

3. If you did purchase your bird from a pet store, what were your experiences like? Good? Bad? Were the sales associates knowledgeable? Were there any systems in place to prevent under-educated customers from purchasing such complex creatures?

No. We adopted an older bird who had lived in several prior homes. Sadly, few if any stores have procedures in place to keep people from impulsively buying parrots to take home and neglect. That's not to say a well researched individual should rule out buying from a pet store or breeder, rather should also at least consider a bird up for adoption too. Many avian shelters do offer mandatory pre-adoption parrot care courses to prevent exactly the situation you speak of from happening with their rehome birds.

 

[FCx]

Thank you Robin, Dinosrawr, SoCalWendy, and Kiwibird for your feedback and input--these are all super helpful for my paper, which capitalizes on a lot of what you guys are telling me!

I suppose I should have expected that, being on this forum, most of us have done our research before we took home our little feathered companions. Still, this is good information to have and, again, I appreciate the feedback and detail you've all put into your responses! I've been surfing this community for a long time, and I'm certainly not disappointed with the help I'm receiving.

My goal is to highlight how problematic it is to sell highly intelligent and time/resource consuming pets to your everyday pet store shopper, and these responses are helping me build my case (which is already pretty solid, based on my own personal experiences and research on pet store "horror stories"). So again, thank you, thank you, thank you. The more people to comment on this, the merrier. It'll be nice to have a broad, well-rounded idea of what you're all thinking/what your personal experiences are!

Kiwibird--you also bring up the idea of "bird rescues", which I was exploring but forgot to add in my earlier inquiry. I'll have to do that now, it's an important piece of this puzzle.

 

[Flboy]

1. What do you think all parrot owners should know before purchasing a bird of their own?


That owning a bird is like welcoming a perpetual two year old into your home. The medical, food, and toy bills are always high. They require a healthy diet that does not simply consist of pellets or seeds - they need a well rounded, well balanced diet every day. They need exercise, mental stimulation, and love. They are not the kind of animal you put in a cage and take out simply when you feel like it or place in your home because "they look pretty". They are living, breathing, and very emotionally intelligent creatures.


2. What do you wish you had known, as a parrot owner, before purchasing your companion parrot?


I'm not really sure about how to answer this one, because I researched as much as I could before getting both of my birds and none of the research really prepared me for their individual needs, personalities, and behaviours. Maybe that's what I would've liked to know, but it's not something you really accept when you're in the process of research and when you're incredibly excited.

3. If you did purchase your bird from a pet store, what were your experiences like? Good? Bad? Were the sales associates knowledgeable? Were there any systems in place to prevent under-educated customers from purchasing such complex creatures?


I purchased my first bird, Avery, from a pet store. My experiences were not bad, per se, but I wouldn't ever recommend their service to anyone to say the least. They knew little to nothing about birds, and when I asked a very specific question about using non-stick frying pans in the same room, they simply said, "oh, it'd be fine!" when I already knew it was bad (wrong of me to test them maybe, but I like to know what I'm dealing with). My boyfriend also worked at Petland, and I looked over the training they receive for selling birds. They learn VERY minimal information and do not receive the proper training that would make them good parrot owners themselves. As for safety measures for preventing parrots going to poor homes, they were allowed to refuse sale if they were at all concerned about the well being of the animal under that individual's care, though it never happened.

To put it simply, many of the major pet stores that sell birds on the side do not properly model what bird ownership requires. They place them in tiny cages with few toys, often toys that are not appropriate, feed them poor diets, do not encourage positive reinforcement with them, and not all of them receive the time and dedication they require while they're in the stores because they rely on quick sales. Unless the store actually specializes in birds, this is often the case.

Perfect! All I would add, is just like the two year old child, turn your back at the wrong time and your baby dies! Dramatic, yes, but I did make this mistake!
David

 

[kalypso123]

1. I think that all parrot owners should know before purchasing a parrot is that they arent trophy pets. They require much time and are very needy. Future parrot owners also need to know the diet requirements of the specific parrot and its specific needs i.e a lorikeets needs are diffrent than those of a cockatiel.

2. I personally did extensive research before brining my baby home. Online reseach will not tell you everything. Every bird is unique and wont always fit the stereotype of that individual species. My cockatiel is a diva. She demands what she wants when she wants it. Cockatiels are known to be timid and quiet. Mine is quiet for the most part but she sure isnt timid.

3. I purchased my tiel from a local petstore. My overall expeirence was good. I saw my baby since she was featherless and the petstore owner weaned her. However she believed in a seed diet and lots of millet. So this caused problems for me and my birds health. I had to convert her to pellets and I am still trying to get Kalypso to eat fresh veggies. The one wing clip was also very harsh on Kalypso. She never learned to fly. My fid also did not ever see a toy. I also had to teach her to play toys. She loved people but thats it. There was no plan in place if an unknowledgable person who would purchase a parrot were to purchase a parrot and not properly care for the creature.

4. I have no personal expierences with rescues. The one that I support the most, Florida Parrot Rescue, is a very nicely run one. I support this one alot just because its the only one near me. They have extensive adoption processes to make sure the parrot finds the right home. My next parrot will most likely be from that rescue.

 

[kalypso123]

I do want to see your paper when you are finished. It seems like an interesting topic that does need to be addressed.

 

[Jayyj]

1. What do you think all parrot owners should know before purchasing a bird of their own?

Really, it's the responsibility of anyone thinking about bringing home a parrot to properly understand what they're getting into. It took me about a year before I was confident making the jump, and I'm glad I gave it that long. Initially it was a question of looking at whether my lifestyle could accommodate having a bird, then researching different species and meeting birds. I made a point of reading everything I could get my hands on, spent a long time lurking and learning on here before eventually signing up when I had specific questions I couldn't find answers for.

I realise life sometimes throws surprises our way, and I have the utmost respect for those who end up with a bird thrust upon them and find a way through with them, but where we have the opportunity to do do, research should be considered a mandatory part of choosing to own a parrot.

2. What do you wish you had known, as a parrot owner, before purchasing your companion parrot?

After all the horror stories about plucking and self harm in parrots, the first moult was a terrifying experience - understanding moulting specifically for my species would have made that a little easier. But otherwise I knew it would be a steep learning curve and, well, she didn't disappoint me!

3. If you did purchase your bird from a pet store, what were your experiences like? Good? Bad? Were the sales associates knowledgeable? Were there any systems in place to prevent under-educated customers from purchasing such complex creatures?

Having a personal background in another specialist retail industry, and knowing how particular the requirements are for bird ownership, I find it hard to reconcile the desire to place birds with suitable owners with the needs of the retail business. The bottom line is if you don't sell enough birds a month, you don't stay in business, and that's problematic if you're turning down business because you think the guy with money down on the counter isn't a suitable owner.

I also suspect a pet store that carries a lot of large birds is logistically quite a difficult business to run. Cage sizes, cleaning, toys, diet requirements, out of cage time - none of that stuff is easy to get right if you want to stay profitable. So you end up going with smaller cages, one toy, one chop mix to go round all the birds etc, and qualify it by the fact that the birds shouldn't be there for long so it's not that bigger deal. The trouble with that is that often turnover isn't that great and the birds end up in those conditions for long periods.

My local store is a bit old school in their advice, some of which would go down very badly here, and I hate the one sided clip they use on their birds - although I suspect they would argue they couldn't give the birds out of cage time in a store where the door is regularly opened without an extreme clip they can't fly on. They also regularly buy older birds which seem highly priced and take ages to sell, which can't be good for them - Alice was one such example and she was definitely not a happy bird. That said, they do care for their birds, keep them clean and in good health, and make an effort to inform people as to how much work is involved in caring for them.

I will say as well, pet shop birds (at least competent ones) do seem to end up being well socialised birds - for all Alice's issues she's great with any people who come to visit.

4. Bird rescues--what are your experiences like with those? If you run a rescue, how many birds do you see pass through your rescue and what are the main reasons you get for people who need to rehome their birds?

Rescues are few and far between in the UK, unfortunately. But then birds other than budgies and cockatiels are fairly specialist pets over here, so perhaps there are less birds needing rehoming over here. Our equivalents to Craigslist are pretty full with older birds for sale though.

 

[Birdman666]

1. What do you think all parrot owners should know before purchasing a bird of their own?

Depends on the species of bird. One size does not fit all.

Amazons, for example, require more knowledge about body language, hormonal and territorial behaviors. People get bit by these birds because they don't understand what those displays mean...

Macaws require more knowledge about things like bite pressure training, pair bond behaviors, and bluffing behaviors. How to interact safely, and what is and is not play.

Toos require more knowlege about things like the importance of structured interaction, and teaching the bird to self entertain.

Eckies require more information regarding regulating the diet.

So, it should be species specific information...

Beyond that, just that there is a lot of work involved in providing the proper care, diet and environment for a large parrot to prosper.



2. What do you wish you had known, as a parrot owner, before purchasing your companion parrot?

THAT I WAS A FULL BLOWN PARROT ADDICT! GET ONE LITTLE CONURE AND THE NEXT THING YOU KNOW...

3. If you did purchase your bird from a pet store, what were your experiences like? Good? Bad? Were the sales associates knowledgeable? Were there any systems in place to prevent under-educated customers from purchasing such complex creatures?

NEVER DID!
ACTUALLY, FOR THE MOST PART, PEOPLE GAVE ME BIRDS... I purchased ONE out of all my birds. The rest all came from the rescue either as Foster's or permanent placement, or were given to me.


4. Bird rescues--what are your experiences like with those?

Wonderful, and not so wonderful. Mostly positive. Some of what you see, pisses you off beyond description... We had a phrase for those times: "Sometimes I just HATE people..."

If you run a rescue, how many birds do you see pass through your rescue?

I volunteered at a rescue that had somewhere around 350-ish birds at any given time. And another one that had 70-something... I worked with a couple of other ones briefly, but did not like the way they were run, and quickly stopped. So it was mainly those two.



What are the main reasons you get for people who need to rehome their birds?

That again depends on the species.

With the little birds, it usually became a situation where the kids grew up, and lost interest (especially tiels.) The bird then became inconvenient. Especially having to clean up after them all the time. Conures were often dumped for biting and screaming...

Large toos get dumped for screaming and plucking disorders, as we all know, but the underlying cause and effect of that is that people hold them too much and don't teach them to self entertain... (I suspect because they didn't know what to do, how to do it, or when to do it.)

U2's can, and do, turn on their owners from time to time. And they can be savage about it when they do...

And M2's take needy to a whole new level...

Amazons get dumped for biting, and territorial behaviors, usually during breeding season, but often because they simply didn't get handled enough.

CAGS got dumped primarily for plucking, but also for biting.

The pattern with macaws is that they get caged too much and not handled enough. A large macaw does not like being ignored, or left to rot in a cage. It makes them angry, and they vent their anger with their beaks, and by screaming... and tantrum throwing behaviors.

The biting behaviors makes people more afraid of them, and they handle them even less... which makes the problem worse...

There are quite a few large macaw owners that never properly socialized or bite pressure trained their big macs to begin with, then when they start this stuff...

Overbonding and displacement biting are also big issues with macaws, and conures...

Toos and Macs also tend to be jealous of small children in the house, that take attention away from them. And they act up, or go after the kids... "and then the bird's gotta go. We love him but he's just gotta go."

In all honesty the simple answer is that most folks don't train their birds very well, or work with them enough.

When the foreclosure crisis hit, we saw a dramatic upswing in people who had birds they would have never in a million years given up, BUT they themselves had no home anymore, and they couldn't take the birds with them. We did several "backyard breeding" rescues, where people walked away from large backyard breeding operations, and just left the birds behind. So, that was purely economics.

Every once in awhile you would get someone who impulse purchased a large macaw for the wrong reasons... (The "tropical theme" room macaw.) thinking that the bird would be fine left alone in a cage. (Guess again!) Only to discover that IT screamed, and pooped, and made messes, and it was LOUD, NO I MEAN LIKE, REALLY LOUD!!! But those were actually fairly rare. Biting was usually the biggest issue with macaws.

 

[Terry57]

So many people have answered several questions so eloquently that I have nothing really to add to that.

I did speak with my friend who has a rescue about your questions concerning that.
She takes in between 30 and 50 birds a year, but if she had more space she could take in so many more. She gets at least that many calls from people she has to refer elsewhere because of the space issue.
The main reasons she hears are:
They are moving and can't take with them
Bird bites
They have a new baby
They do not have the time for the bird anymore
Their circumstances have changed and they can no longer take care of the bird

This is a great thread, thank you for posting and good luck with your paper!

 

[Birdman666]

The main reasons she hears are:
They are moving and can't take with them
Bird bites
They have a new baby
They do not have the time for the bird anymore
Their circumstances have changed and they can no longer take care of the bird

Every single one of those sound vaguely familiar...

Bottom line, folks looking to give up their birds are, shall we say, not always the best historians...

What you frequently get are excuses, which are somewhat grounded in honesty, but usually not very honest.

The HONEST answer is usually:

"I'M MOVING ON WITH MY LIFE, AND I JUST DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF THIS BIRD ANYMORE."

You rarely hear, the excuse: He screams until my ears bleed..." but that is, in fact, the truth. You find that out (along with a few other nasty tidbits) when you go to collect the bird from the (now) former owner...

Usually you can tell a lot about a bird from the condition of the cage, and the water bowl...

 

[FCx]

You guys are beyond phenomenal. What a great community, honestly. These have all been such well-crafted and interesting responses. I'm still working on the layout of my paper, but I can tell you all right now that this has been immensely helpful for evidence as well as confirmation of my own ideas.

As for people joining up and considering posting, I welcome it. The more information and perspectives, the better and more well-rounded this paper will be. Again, thank you for all who've contributed, and for caring about your birds enough to be part of this fantastic community.

Cheers everyone!

Oh! And in case anyone has any questions for me, feel free to post them here/PM my account and I'll be happy to respond!