Do former breeders make good pets?

BanalityBob · Mar 22, 2011

I am in a position to purchase a male yellow sided conure of indeterminate age (the owner said no more than 7 years old) who had started his life out as a much held family pet and then was sent off to a breeder as a breeding bird. Now he evidently doesn't like to be touched much; he evidently tolerates hands in the cage, but doesn't let people hold him. The owner sounds like he was a little rough with him too in the past and has given up on holding him.

The catch is that I have never had a parrot. I have loads of patience for training, a friend who has trained a green cheek conure and has a lot of resources to help, and no problem getting bitten, but want to know if this would be something that most people would not recommend for a beginner.

suebee · Mar 23, 2011

go see the bird 1st and see how it reacts to you and its present keeper, and you will have a better idea how hard it will be to so******e it again

don't have any expectations for this bird is best way to start, i'd say, is best way to go about things

antoinette · Mar 23, 2011

They are beautiful birds no question about that.

I agree with suebee, go suss out the bird, see how he reacts towards you and his current owner, no harm done there.

You mentioned you have loads of patience for training, and a friend who would be willing to assist you, that's great.

However, becoming a guardian for the first time, to an older bird, could be a much harder task. As mentioned above, the bird does not like being touched and people handling him, what if he does not change, would you be happy, having a such a bird. We must look at the pro's and con's here, just being realistic.
Surf the net, research as much as possible, and remember one thing, no matter how much we research, when having the bird it is a different ball game altogether.
Good luck please keep us updated with your choice
.

MikeyTN · Mar 23, 2011

Absolutely go see the bird first to see how you like him. Second of all, it takes patience and continuance of training also lots of time per day spent on it!!!! I just got my JoJo and Gracie on the 11th of this month. They were being used as breeders. Gracie is super sweet cause they bring her out to play, but JoJo's never been taught to step up. He doesn't know how to react around us, even for it's previous owners. I trained him to step up in less then 4 days and working on the other part of calming him down and he's doing great. He's already giving me birdie kisses. Both of them starting to explore around by crawling down my arm while I'm typing on here and chewing up paper on the table. lol

BanalityBob · Mar 24, 2011

Went to see the bird today. He was extremely nippy and fearful of humans, with good reason. When I asked if I could hold him, the guy handed me a glove and told me to "just grab him and hold him real firm to show him who is boss." He was also in a parakeet cage (the kind that looks like a Victorian house), and looked kinda sick.

I politely declined to do that to the bird, and politely declined purchasing him, because, as much as I wanted to rescue him, I'm not comfortable training an abused bird as I've never had another parrot on which to gauge his behavior.

Petco had a large cage for sale for cheap though, so I ordered that with the money I was going to buy the conure with and decided to slowly accumulate bird stuff over the next several weeks with my paychecks and get my family to chip in on a handfed baby from a breeder for my birthday (which is mid April) and get exactly the setup I want for a bird as well as a bird that I know has no overt pre-existing problems. I feel guilty for getting a new bird when there are so many "used and abused" ones out there, but as a novice, I feel that it's my best bet. Plus, from what I'm seeing, people rarely remain one bird people for long...

mtdoramike · Mar 24, 2011

I would highly recommend going through a breeder or a pet shop for any first time bird owner. Now after you have some bird experience under your belt then by all means get into the rescue part.

One of the major benefits of this is, that any rescued bird that you get in the future will be able to see you interacting with another bird, which might help mellow them out towards you.

Spiritbird · Mar 24, 2011

Not all rescue organizations have birds with issues. This weekend at my bird club meeting there was a Senegal there that was being adopted. This bird was gorgeous and as was said "perfect". The owner had a stroke and could not care for the bird any more. Plus you will have the backing of this organization for any issues you may run into. Usually you agree to foster the bird first and then if the bird is not a fit, you can try another bird. I would sincerely stay away from pet stores.

mtdoramike · Mar 24, 2011

Spiritbird said:
Not all rescue organizations have birds with issues. This weekend at my bird club meeting there was a Senegal there that was being adopted. This bird was gorgeous and as was said "perfect". The owner had a stroke and could not care for the bird any more. Plus you will have the backing of this organization for any issues you may run into. Usually you agree to foster the bird first and then if the bird is not a fit, you can try another bird. I would sincerely stay away from pet stores.

What rescues I have seen here in Florida, that would be a rarity. Most birds here have some issue or another. 90% are pluckers, screamers, have airsack issues, only one leg, messed up wing, broke beak. Most of these issues shouldn't be attempted by a person or family looking for that first bird and wanting that loving bond between feathered friend and human. Unfortunately, there are folks who jump to rescues to get that warm fuzzy feeling which is great as long as it lasts. But the reality is, they wind up biting off more than they can chew. Then the bird goes back and that person loses that warm feeling and decides to get a dog instead.

The two pet shops not so near me have great birds and they are usually quite tame and manageable because the employees interact with them daily. Now, as far as where they get them from like a bird mill breeder or what ever, I can not attest to. But the birds look healthy. Here in Florida, you have like a 72 hour warranty period to get your new bird to the vet for a checkup, which is a good thing.

Spiritbird · Mar 24, 2011

My bird Rosie was bred in Fla by a pretty well known lady named Jean Patterson or The African Queen as she breeds nothing but the African birds. She then turns them over to a hand feeder of which she has several in the US. Do you think your state has more abused birds than other states?

Interesting and another topic that could also be debated, but lets not. The instructor and avain behaviorist that spoke at the class I attended this past weekend feels that a parent raised bird is more well rounded and has less behavior issues in adulthood than a hand fed baby bird. Her reasoning sounded very logical to me. Oh boy she would make breeders angry. Says by hand feeding baby birds they can turn out more in a shorter period of time and it all = $$$$.

BanalityBob · Mar 24, 2011

I'm not going to pet stores; I'm going straight to breeders at this point. For one thing, the birds cost less. For another, I don't have to worry about the bird being bird mill babies as all the pet stores in my area are big box Petsmart/Petco/Pet Supplies Plus with transitory staffers who know next to nothing about birds as a general rule. There are two breeders with Black Cap and Green Cheek Conures (the two species I'm looking most heavily at) in my area, and one has babies for sale now and the other has babies that will be weaned by the end of April. At this point, the one I buy from most depends on when the cage I ordered online gets delivered...

Ozzy · Mar 24, 2011

Spiritbird- Its a small small world. My boyfriends mother got her grey from Jean two years ago. Maybe they are siblings!

MikeyTN · Mar 24, 2011

Breeders are not all equal. Some have to handfeed so many babies that they don't train or play with the babies what so ever. That is part of the issue, then they turn them to someone that doesn't know what they're doing then behavior issues came about. Only very few breeder that does any training. They need to be taught young! Some better pet shops takes over the training process that the breeder doesn't do. The behavior issues is mainly caused by ignorant owners that don't know any better then they end up in rescue centers. Its very sad!!!!

mtdoramike · Mar 25, 2011

MikeyTN said:
Breeders are not all equal. Some have to handfeed so many babies that they don't train or play with the babies what so ever. That is part of the issue, then they turn them to someone that doesn't know what they're doing then behavior issues came about. Only very few breeder that does any training. They need to be taught young! Some better pet shops takes over the training process that the breeder doesn't do. The behavior issues is mainly caused by ignorant owners that don't know any better then they end up in rescue centers. Its very sad!!!!

I know what you mean Mikey, but to me the sadder part is the birds that keep getting bounced back to rescue centers by the ignorant people that jump to rescue centers because they have cheaper birds. Then realize man what did I get myself into. Then it's back to the rescue center until if their lucky, they will eventually find a bird without a whole lot of issues and that is basically hand tame. They may have to work their way through 10-12 birds to get to that one though.

mtdoramike · Mar 25, 2011

Ozzy said:
Spiritbird- Its a small small world. My boyfriends mother got her grey from Jean two years ago. Maybe they are siblings!

I've seen her ads on the internet. I think she lives in or around Lakeland, which is about 65 miles or so from me. I wouldn't have minded take a trip over there one day.

There's a breeder in Clermont called tropicalparrotise.com - Home that is about 35 miles from me that if I ever got a bird from a breeder, I would get one from her. This way, it's close enough that i could drive over there a couple to three times a week and help hand feed my baby.

MikeyTN · Mar 25, 2011

mike,

I have adopted a few in the past that I tamed down from a wild bird. At least they were hand tame and doesn't bite when they went to the new owners. I had to give up all my birds long ago because of my stupid ex who give away all my birds behind my back, even my dog that was registered in my name....I was out of town working and we were fighting over the phone, there goes my babies.... Needless to say I'm no longer in that relationship.... I was super angry when I found out my babies are gone....

Gandolf · Mar 29, 2011

If this is your 1st bird I would warns against it. Breeder birds especially Conures do not make loving pets because they usually have not been given much attention by humans. I have rescued 2 green checks before that were breeders and they are nothing like my sun who is very loving and loves to play and be held. On the other side of the coin....if the bird needs rescued then by all means get the bird out of its current situation. Just be warned that breeder birds take allot of PATIENTS and love and you still might not end up with the type of pet that U R looking for. Good luck

keetmom · Mar 29, 2011

Which cage did you order? I ordered two of the Prevue Hendrx black flight cage. Reg $149 on sale for $119 on petco.com. I LOVE THIS CAGE!!! the spring loaded 6 side doors need to be tied for more than a parakeet. The two big front doors have latches. NO cons w this cage for me!!!!

keetmom · Mar 29, 2011

I have a Quaker in one and a Red Rump Parakeet in the other.

MikeyTN · Mar 29, 2011

Gandolf said:
If this is your 1st bird I would warns against it. Breeder birds especially Conures do not make loving pets because they usually have not been given much attention by humans. I have rescued 2 green checks before that were breeders and they are nothing like my sun who is very loving and loves to play and be held. On the other side of the coin....if the bird needs rescued then by all means get the bird out of its current situation. Just be warned that breeder birds take allot of PATIENTS and love and you still might not end up with the type of pet that U R looking for. Good luck

I bought two breeder birds from a breeder long ago. A Nanday and a Jenday Conure, the Jenday doesn't want to be around us period while the Nanday tamed down and comes out to play all the time. I left them with my best friend cause they like him better anyway, plus that's when I learned Conures are not the type of birds for me....They were both around 3 years old at that time being used as breeding stock....Not all breeder birds are bad!

whitejory97 · Dec 9, 2017

There were a pair of Senegal's on Craigslist
For sale for$300-i contacted him and he said they
We're better as breeding birds-i didn't know if I could have them for pets

Do former breeders make good pets?

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my Green Cheek Conure

Aggressive, feral Conure?

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