Please reccommend Timneh breeders in the western US...

[Pookamama]

I've found a few that are in North Carolina but wanted to check and see if anybody has any experience with any breeders over on the West Coast or even just the Western part of the US!
Thanks!

 

[justinlm24]

Have you checked out www.birdbreeders.com? You can search by species and/or by state. I have had personal experience with a few in the western states. www.bignest.com, www.radarsroost.com, and a couple others. I bought my timneh from shirley at bignest. She still has some baby timnehs available right now according to her website and she will have DNA results back this week. She will supply plenty of references upon request. www.birdbreeders.com is an excellent place to find breeders where you may be looking and all have ratings from other buyers. I believe other members know of other sites that list breeders as well and I'm sure they will list them eventually. Good luck in your search.

 

[Spiritbird]

My Timmie is from a breeder in Fla. She is an excellent breeder with a good rep.

 

[Pookamama]

Have you checked out www.birdbreeders.com? You can search by species and/or by state. I have had personal experience with a few in the western states. www.bignest.com, www.radarsroost.com, and a couple others. I bought my timneh from shirley at bignest. She still has some baby timnehs available right now according to her website and she will have DNA results back this week. She will supply plenty of references upon request. www.birdbreeders.com is an excellent place to find breeders where you may be looking and all have ratings from other buyers. I believe other members know of other sites that list breeders as well and I'm sure they will list them eventually. Good luck in your search.

Thank you! I just emailed Shirley at big nest. I have been using birbreeder, but most birds are in the Eastern US. I think it's just a really long flight from there to here. Texas is a lot closer!

 

[ann]

Did you try African Queen Aviaries, she only breeds African parrots including greys. i think she's in florida, good luck, im sure you'll find your grey soon

 

[justinlm24]

Shirley has been great so far. She always answer any questions I have and usually answers pretty quickly. I can't wait to find out the sex of my baby since I requested a female. Should find out this week sometime!!! Hopefully she works out for you!!

 

[Spiritbird]

African Queen is where I got Rosie. Cannot say enough good about them.

 

[wulfie]

not to hijack this thread, but wouldn't it be better to find a breeder that is local if possible? I always have a huge fear of buying online, even if the breeder IS reputable, it just seems like such a traumatic situation, packing a baby into a carrier and then flying all the way 'home'

 

[Pookamama]

Hi Wolfie!
There are no local Timnehs, save for some being hand-fed in a busy, crowded pet store environment, where I would question both their ability to get enough attention and the huge exposure to germs (people bringing in outside birds for clips and trims). I have searched high and low and called everybody whose name I could find associated with Timnehs, and the few other Timnehs in Oregon have not produced this year. Otherwise I would totally go local. California would be my next good bet, but since the breeders of Timnehs are in Southern California it'd be much faster to fly the bird in than to drive the 20 plus hours to get the bird. With Washington, there are a few breeders up north, but on top of the long car drive to get there the birds are for some reason a good $400-500 more expensive than Timnehs in the rest of the country. There is one gal in Idaho who has a Timneh but for some reason she has not responded to my emails or facebook messages. It's very frustrating-we would love to meet our bird ahead of time.

 

[justinlm24]

Don't get discouraged. When I started my search 4 months ago I also started out looking local. I did find two places who said they had timneh babies, but neither responded to my emails. It is frustrating!! I had no choice but to expand my search even though I wasn't a fan of buying a bird I couldn't see or hold beforehand. However most reputable breeders will provide references and some even post customer comments on their website which helped put my mind at ease. I have also asked the many people here who have had their baby shipped to them and I haven't found one who had a bad experience. Just be patient and persistent. When you find the right breeder you will know. I know I checked out well over 20 different ones before deciding on mine. Just do your homework and ask them lots of questions.

 

[wulfie]

the thing I really dislike about 'references' on websites is, who's to say their legit? it's pretty easy to just add a fictitious name and 'feedback'. Just my two cents. I bought a TAG about 15yrs ago out of the back of a bird magazine, for a whopping $100, unbeknownst to me it was wild caught, arrived in a tiny wooden 'cage' with chicken wire and some fruit on the bottom, he was doing the typical grey 'growl' and took almost a year to get him semi-tame. I guess I just keep flashing back to that when looking at these breeders that ship. Maybe someone can put my fears to rest

 

[justinlm24]

the thing I really dislike about 'references' on websites is, who's to say their legit? it's pretty easy to just add a fictitious name and 'feedback'. Just my two cents. I bought a TAG about 15yrs ago out of the back of a bird magazine, for a whopping $100, unbeknownst to me it was wild caught, arrived in a tiny wooden 'cage' with chicken wire and some fruit on the bottom, he was doing the typical grey 'growl' and took almost a year to get him semi-tame. I guess I just keep flashing back to that when looking at these breeders that ship. Maybe someone can put my fears to rest

That is a good point, but I personally was also e-mailed a reference list of over 40 names and emails, some also had phone numbers of people who have bought from my breeder. I did not check with all of them, but most I did. I do not deny there are shady breeders out there. That's why doing your research and checking references is very important. In my search I have encountered a few myself. All they want to talk about is money and how soon you can send it, or never reply to questions about their birds or how they are raised, etc etc. Shirley never once mentioned money, and never took longer than a few of hours to reply to my many emails full of questions. I'm sorry you were burned in the past, but there are reputable breeders out there who ship. You just need to put in the work to check them out.

 

[wolf0994]

the thing I really dislike about 'references' on websites is, who's to say their legit? it's pretty easy to just add a fictitious name and 'feedback'. Just my two cents. I bought a TAG about 15yrs ago out of the back of a bird magazine, for a whopping $100, unbeknownst to me it was wild caught, arrived in a tiny wooden 'cage' with chicken wire and some fruit on the bottom, he was doing the typical grey 'growl' and took almost a year to get him semi-tame. I guess I just keep flashing back to that when looking at these breeders that ship. Maybe someone can put my fears to rest

Do you still have your TAG? How is he doing now? I am interested in seeing how he was able to transition. It's a shame that he was taken from his home that way but I hope that he adjusted well and has a great home now.

My apologies for changing the topic off a little bit...

 

[Pookamama]

Hey, no problem. That's why I am asking bird owners for references and reccomendations. Any breeder website has control over what they post on their site, but a site like this where lots of people have experience buying birds, I can get better and more varied information. I have seen many african grey scams within just two weeks of seriously searching for one. There are a lot of people who are just out to make a few bucks screwing people over. But I have done lots of transactions in general over the internet and I know there are good people out there. It's just a matter of finding them!

 

[wulfie]

the thing I really dislike about 'references' on websites is, who's to say their legit? it's pretty easy to just add a fictitious name and 'feedback'. Just my two cents. I bought a TAG about 15yrs ago out of the back of a bird magazine, for a whopping $100, unbeknownst to me it was wild caught, arrived in a tiny wooden 'cage' with chicken wire and some fruit on the bottom, he was doing the typical grey 'growl' and took almost a year to get him semi-tame. I guess I just keep flashing back to that when looking at these breeders that ship. Maybe someone can put my fears to rest

Do you still have your TAG? How is he doing now? I am interested in seeing how he was able to transition. It's a shame that he was taken from his home that way but I hope that he adjusted well and has a great home now.

My apologies for changing the topic off a little bit...

unfortunately I don't still have my TAG, my sister sold him from under me when I joined the military, that's why I'm hoping to get another in the near future

 

[wolf0994]

unfortunately I don't still have my TAG, my sister sold him from under me when I joined the military, that's why I'm hoping to get another in the near future

Thank YOU! For your service! Former military myself. I hope you find the grey you are looking for. It took me 10 years to finally get one from my first exposure to them.

 

[wolf0994]

Hey, no problem. That's why I am asking bird owners for references and reccomendations. Any breeder website has control over what they post on their site, but a site like this where lots of people have experience buying birds, I can get better and more varied information. I have seen many african grey scams within just two weeks of seriously searching for one. There are a lot of people who are just out to make a few bucks screwing people over. But I have done lots of transactions in general over the internet and I know there are good people out there. It's just a matter of finding them!

I hope you find a good one. It can be a struggle. I live in Alaska which is why it took me so long to get one. There are no good breeders here that I know of and I didnt want to put a bird through flying here. In the end I got my CAG through a friend of my daughters so you never know how things will work out.

 

[4theBirds]

We live in MT and purchased Bindy (our CAG) from Golden Cockatoo in FL. They were great. The shipping cage was a simple plywood carrier which was well marked. She arrived healthy and fully weaned. She is very social both to my wife and me.

I am soon going to pick up a Timneh--Babu from Laura at Exotic Parrots 4 Sale in ID. She seems fairly reputable, although is a little difficult to reach. From her website, her hand fed babies look healthy.

 

[Pookamama]

We live in MT and purchased Bindy (our CAG) from Golden Cockatoo in FL. They were great. The shipping cage was a simple plywood carrier which was well marked. She arrived healthy and fully weaned. She is very social both to my wife and me.

I am soon going to pick up a Timneh--Babu from Laura at Exotic Parrots 4 Sale in ID. She seems fairly reputable, although is a little difficult to reach. From her website, her hand fed babies look healthy.

Laura was the one that ignored my emails and facebook messages. Maybe it was because you were buying the timneh-but still she could have responded to me and told me the bird was pending. IT was just weird. I contacted her three times in a week a couple weeks ago. She even deleted a wall post I wrote on her facebook wall asking her to message me because I was very interested. So hopefully it works out for you. I love the names you picked for your birds.

I have contacted Shirley at Big Nest, here's hoping to hear back soon.

 

[wolf0994]

You mentioned some breeders in Cali and Washington I believe, were they not up to par? I ask due to wanting to get another bird in the near future and want to reduce flight time as much as possible to Alaska, so as close as I can get and still get a good breeder is good news for me. I would use Shirley if I had to but Texas to Alaska is a long long flight.