The price of Hyacinths.....

[sssaucey]

Ok so this is more of a rant than anything, but I find the price that breeders charge is disgusting. I understand that they are difficult to breed and rear, but breeders often use they excuse that good breeders don't make money from the birds they raise and that it all goes back to them. Well I'm calling BS on that one haha. I'm not saying that you shouldn't make money from them because if you are a good breeder than I understand it is very hard, but don't try to tell me that you don't make money off of selling a bird for $18,000!!!(p.s this is a real price from a breeder in Canada)

I understand that they are gorgeous and they are one of the friendliest birds, but all of the other species are beautiful as well and can make just as good companions.

does anyone else have any thoughts/opinions on this?

 

[tab_xo]

ohhhh thats cheap! in australia we have to pay like $50 000.. and i think there are only 4 here..

just a blue and gold is $5000 !

 

[sssaucey]

Haha I forgot about the pricing of parrots in Australia, but isn't it because they don't allow any imports of parrots?

 

[tab_xo]

yes the laws are pretty strict so cant get a parrot from america.. 2 of the hyacinths are in a zoo,,, and dont know about the other ones.. i cant find any breeders for them.. i would LOVE to own one, but i dont think i can afford that much greenwings and scarlets are about $13000-20000. which is an awful lot!

 

[sssaucey]

That's crazy, but I guess there's not much we can do about it. Even though I hate the prices if I was in a position to buy one I would lol.

 

[tab_xo]

yeh but i agree, they would be making a HUGE profit..

 

[sssaucey]

There no way that they wouldn't be making a profit off of their birds.

 

[sonja]

tab--what are prices like on Australian birds like Galah's?

 

[JJones1719]

I tend to disagree and I will explain why.
I beleive you get what you pay for in life,buying cheap is not the best way to go. Prices are made due to the high demand of these wonderful Macaws and how rare they are in the wild.
If you look back years ago, some of the cheaper macaws now a days were really expensive when Breeders in the U S started breeding an selling them. Now that they are many B&G, GW, Scarlets to name a few, their price too dropped over the years.
I know of a Breeder in VA who has a house full of birds of every kind. My Breeder has not been on a vacation for 20 years due to someone needing to watch over her young and breeder birds so she does not get out of the house much. True this is her choice but this is what she gives up to make a living and pay her bills.

Prices for Macaws are just like anyother Pet animal us humand share. If you want a champion dog or cat, you are going to pay a very high price for it, so birds are no different and no less deserving on fetching such a high price.
In fact, i wish they were higher, this way, if a person really wanted a Macaw and would have to pay out of the nose for one or give a right arm. perhaps we would not have so many Macaws now a days in rescues.
I hope you see my point and opinion on these wonderful Macaws. Best of luck to you. Thanks for posting. Joe

 

[tab_xo]

oh i have hundreds of galahs just outside my window hahaha
but you can buy them handraised for about 100 dollars

 

[tab_xo]

joe: i understand that you get what you pay for, hence i paid 5000 for my little guy! i also love that the prices are high in australia, because we see absolutely no macaws that are treated badly and just left! because if you pay that sort of money for them, you have done your research haha i think 50000 dollars for a macaw is a bit too expensive though.. i would understand maybe $20 000- 30 000

 

[sssaucey]

Thanks joe, I do see what you are saying and agree with some points of it. I guess it's not so much the price that bugs me ,but some of the excuses that people use to justify there prices. I don't appreciate the fact that a lot of breeders say they don't make money breeding when I know that it just isn't true.

Also if they push the fact that they are endangered and thats the sole reason they are so expensive than why aren't Buffons that high in price or the Blue throat.

I would much prefer the honest approach and say that because they are in such high demand and are such great birds that that's the reason they are being sold for so much. I don't have problem with people making money off of breeding as long as they are doing it the right way instead of them being high and mighty saying they put every dollar back into the birds.

 

[Ash]

The prices in new zealand are even higher. ;p
Macaw's are very rare. Don't think we have Hyacinthshere.
I think a lot of the macaws are hybrids.

Galah's are like $800 here, that's hand raised.
Greys are lik $2,000 now it use to be $5,000. There price is slowly going down. Hehe I may get one ;p

 

[tab_xo]

ash do you have any parrots that are native to you ?

greys are about $4000 here

i just wish the prices of the bigger macaws were a bit lower... because there are people who can and would look after them, but cant afford the $15 000 !

 

[Ash]

Not really,
We can't really keep them as pets.
There are the kakariki's but you need a permit to keep them.

We do have our kea's, kakapo and so on, but im pretty sure you can't have them for a pet ;p

 

[Ash]

I would love to have a kea
But im pretty sure we can't keep them as pets.

 

[tab_xo]

they all start with 'k' haha
are there many macaw breeders there ?

 

[Ash]

Nope not at all.
You don't see or hear about them much. THey are rarelt for sale from where I have been looking.

We really only have cockatiels, budgies and IRN's.

 

[plax]

Hyacinth breeders seem to base their prices upon the number of breeders and the scarcity of the species in the particular regions they serve. I agree that huge prices on a particular species of parrot tend to keep more members of that species from becoming rescue / throw-away birds. That's indeed a great thing! But, on the down side, excessive prices keep many of such species from the homes of people who would otherwise love and provide wonderful lifetime care for them.

Ideally, it might be better if prices on the more common species went up, while prices on the rarer species came down. One problem with that, though, is if prices on Hyacinths (and some of the other rarer species) were similar to that of some of the more common species, sadly I'm sure some people would pass on those available members of the more common species who desperately need homes. And there are LOTS of them out there

I'm uncertain of the best way to make the system more fair to the birds and their potential caregivers.

 

[tab_xo]

how much do blue throats cost?
i was just looking on the icun redlist site and it says that blue throats are more endangered than hyacinths,,, yet i thought the cost of a blue throat was cheaper? :/