looking for breeder

So, I really want to get a cockatiel. I love them a lot. I won't be getting one for a VERY long time as I still need to get a more solid and well paying job and need to do my research. But I would also like to communicate with a breeder and get to know them and their birds and stuff.

I would most prefer if the breeder was in Colorado but I would be willing to drive to states around Colorado too. Specifically; Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico, and Utah.

I don't know of any breeders specifically in your area, but there are a couple of great places to start looking to find some and start communicating with them. www.birdbreeders.com is probably the place to start first. You can search by species and then by state, and many private breeders post their current and upcoming clutches on this site. This is the place that I found my Lita's breeder (my blue Quaker), and I was able to write down the names/websites/emails of each individual breeder I found and then do some research on them, as well as sent them each an email to make contact with them. Lita's breeder responded right back to me, and we spoke back and forth for a good 2 months before she had a clutch start hatching, so it worked out well. There were a lot of private breeders on this site...

The next site I've found breeders on is www.birdsnow.com This site is very similar to the first one, you can search for private breeders by species and then by state. I found my Cockatiel's breeder on this site 4 years ago, and again started communicating with her long before I ever made the 2 hour drive to go and pick Duff up.

There are obviously a bunch of websites that simply list bird breeders and aviaries, but the two above seem to be the most-widely used. The other place that I'd take a look at, especially for a Cockatiel as there are more breeders of them than other parrot species, is on your local Craigslist pages. There are a ton of breeders who post upcoming or current clutches on their local Craigslist pages, and this is actually how I found my Senegal baby, Kane. I had been searching for a hand-raised baby Senegal for months and couldn't find a breeder within 2 or 3 states of me (well, except for one that I ruled-out immediately), so I started expanding my search on Craigslist, and finally found Kane's breeder in North Carolina. I was able to check him out online after I spoke to him, as he'd been breeding parrots for decades, and I ended-up driving the 9 hours one-way to pick-up Kane about 3 months after I started speaking to him. With Cockatiels however, you're probably going to find many more breeders local to you, and the best way to do it is find the breeder, make contact with them, and then research them online.

Hopefully you can get some recommendations of Cockatiel breeders local to you from members here that know them and that have gotten their birds from them. Of course the other thing to consider looking at, when you're ready to actually bring a bird home, is at local Avian Rescues, as their are many, many Cockatiels out their in Rescues, I bet the Rescue I work at gets at least 3 or 4 Cockatiels each month on average.

Used both websites you linked and found absolutely nothing. Even in a 500 mile radius (which was the largest option for birdsnow) the only bird shop around me I know sells cockatiels, sells a basic lutino for 400$ which is over double what I am seeing everywhere else x.x

Managed to find one breeder thats roughly 2 hours away from me... what kind of questions should I ask to verify theyre a breeder and it's not a scam and stuff like that?

Hoobly. I found a pup on here but they have birds too

Denver craigsist has one right now

I mean Thornton, it's very very pretty

BTW Thornton is a great parrot name!!!

I'm mainly looking for a baby because I've been told the cockatiels are a lot harder to hand tame if not given the proper socialization while young. And I'm not gonna be able to get one until probably well into 2019 just so I can be prepared and such prior so I'm just looking around at breeders.

Obviously Connecticut is way too far for you to travel. But the breeder I got BB from has been in business for nearly 4o years. They have a website..Parrots&company..don't know if they ship. But BB was 4.5 months old when he was allowed to come home with me. He was already weaned,eating pellets and fruit and veggies and well socialized already. Never had a cockatiel before and he his the most amazing little guy.



Jim

Trying to avoid shipping as it's... crazy expensive... and I want to be able to drive to the bird so I can interact with it before its weened / ready to come home and such. I'll look into him though and see if he can answer some of my questions and what not.

I'm sorry you're not finding many breeders online, usually there is no shortage of Cockatiel breeders that hand-raise on either of the sites that I gave you, and then of course on Craigslist.

Usually shipping a bird by flight costs between $125-$150 total, which includes the carrier that the specific airline requires. I know a lot of people who have done it this way with great success, but i also totally understand about you wanting to visit with the baby, meet the breeder, etc. I would feel the same way actually, which is why I drove 9 hours one-way to get my Senegal baby.

****As far as what questions you need to ask any breeder that you do find, I can tell you from the point-of-view of a breeder what is most important for you to know:

-What is the exact age of the baby? Does the baby come with an official Hatch-Certificate which lists it's date of birth?
-Does the breeder band their babies? At what age do they band them? What information is on their leg-bands?
-Do they DNA-test their babies for gender? If not, could they have it done for you, and what is the cost?
-Do they offer any type of health-guarantee with their babies? Do they take their babies to a CAV or Avian Specialist for a Wellness-Exam before they send them to their new homes? Do they give people a Certificate of Health with their babies?

-At what age do they pull their babies from the nest-box? (Should be between 2-3 weeks, no sooner and no later)
-What type of formula do they feed their babies?
-Do they house their babies in a Brooder after pulling them from the nest-box? If not, what do they house them in, and at what ambient temperature?
-At what age do they start weaning their babies?
-Do they practice Abundance-Weaning or Force-Weaning? (Sometimes it's best to simply ask them to describe their typical weaning process, that way you can usually determine whether or not they Force-Wean their babies)
-What staple-diet do they wean their babies onto, pellets or seed-mix?
-What brand of pellets and/or seed-mix do they wean their babies onto?
-Do they also wean their babies onto fresh veggies and/or fruits? If so, which ones are the babies currently eating?
-Have they been weighing their babies daily since pulling them from the nest-box? If so, has their weight been gaining approriately?
-At what age did the baby fully-fledge?
-Do they clip their babies after they fledge? (This one is important, in that if you don't want your baby's wings clipped, you should request that they don't clip your baby)
-Have their babies been raised around any other types of pets/animals?
-Have their babies been interacting with people on a regular basis since they started weaning?
***-Do they move their babies into a Weaning-Cage of Starter-Cage when they start the weaning process? If so, what all do they keep inside of their Weaning-Cages? If not, what do they house their babies in when they start weaning? (THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, ESPECIALLY WITH COCKATIELS! If a breeder does not move their babies into a Weaning-Cage when they start weaning that includes many different types of toys, foraging activities, etc., the babies will not learn to simply "play", nor will they know what a toy is...This tends to effect Cockatiels quite a bit, more so than other parrot species. If the babies are just kept inside of the Brooder or in a plastic/glass tub/aquarium, or in a bare bird-cage with nothing inside of it, the bird will not know how to play, how to entertain itself, or how to do simple things like eat/drink out of different types of bowls/dishes, how to climb up ladders, how to swing, etc.

some of those are answered on the site but thank you I will definitely be getting in touch with the breeder regarding those questions

I ran into the same issues as you did, not many breeders here in Iowa or surrounding states so I had my baby cockatiel shipped to me from Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was $154 through Delta Cargo and a two hour airplane ride to me in Minneapolis, then a 3 hour drive home.

To me, my pets are priceless. From a good breeder you pay for health and temperament. Shipping him was actually more expensive then he himself was, lol! ($135). But it's a small price to pay for the happiness, love and joy I get out of owning and caring for him during his lifetime.

I don't think many people would do what I did or do to get my birds. I found Ember on birdbreeders.com and Boo on hoobly.com .....both online and I am very happy with them!

I agree that pets are priceless and if it comes down to it I would pay to ship but I still rather it be in driving range so I can visit the chick