Hello - Yellow-Naped Amazon (band code help needed)

[ChrisYNA]

Hi, guys. I'm Chris. I've been looking for a large and active forum. Glad to find it here. I actually need some help locating the hatch record of my bird. If anyone could be kind enough to help.

About 3 years ago, I adopted a Yellow-Naped Amazon when my dad got sick soon after receiving her from the original owner who couldn't take care of her any longer. I was told at the time that the bird was a male and 11 years old. Well, about a year ago, she built a nest in my closet and laid an egg. So... she's a girl. She would be 13-14 years old now, however, if the original owner had the sex wrong, he may as well have had the age wrong.

Her code is HJV(v)21346. (left foot)

It took me a while to find that HJV stands for Howard Voren who was a huge breeder in Florida. It seems he passed away a couple years ago and I don't know if anyone took over the business or kept the old records. I don't know how to get in touch with his family or if anyone even maintains their website.

Voren\'s Aviaries - Advancement of Psittacultural Science

I did find an interview where he spoke about breeding 1,000 birds per year. I also found this conversation here...

I Found Out How Old - Quaker Parrot Talk - Quaker Parrot Forum

Doing some math... if he did 1,000 birds per year and bird number HJV 13042 was hatched in 2001, it would add up to my bird with number 21346 being born in 2009, meaning, she would be about 9 now.

If anyone has adopted a bird from Howard or knows how to get in touch with his family that I know was involved in parrot breeding, would you either try to have them look up their records or help me find a way to speak with them.

Here she is at the park, at a store, and at KFC resting on my mom's head after enjoying her potato wedge. We take her out almost daily. And she hates being locked in, so her cage is always open and she usually just goes in to eat, then hangs out somewhere around the house.

Chris


http://www.parrotforums.com/members/chrisyna-albums-kuba-picture20150-kuba-park.jpg
http://www.parrotforums.com/members/chrisyna-albums-kuba-picture20151-kuba-ape.jpg
http://www.parrotforums.com/members/chrisyna-albums-kuba-picture20152-kuba-kfc.jpg

 

[SailBoat]

Welcome to Parrot Forums!

That is one great YNA you have there and she appears to be very happily in control of her World.

Sadly, I have little if anything to really help you regarding your quest for additional information other than rarely does the number imply a count of number of birds per year. That is especially true with the size of operation that he had.

There is no question that a laid egg does confirm her status as a female so there is little reason for a DNA test.

With luck one of our Breeders maybe along to provide some insight as to the Band Number.

In the meantime, please take a look at The Amazon Forum and at that very top of the page in that Forum are two highlighted Threads, found in light blue. The Thread regarding Amazon Body Language will help with understanding your Amazon's Base Body Language, which will provide greater insight into the World of Being Loved by an Amazon. The other Thread will provide insight in to Loving and Living with Amazons. It is Titled: I Love Amazons - ... and is a huge Threads with tons of useful information.

Again, Welcome to Parrot Forums and also the Amazon Forum where Amazons have much more Fun!

 

[Flboy]

Hello and welcome!

 

[ChristaNL]

Not sure how you got to that number-

here (as a breeder) you just order rings per anum -> so every year you start with 1 and then it is up and up.
The first ringed one actually will get number one with (this year/ 18 or 2018 on the ring as well as your ident. code), if you have different ringsizes the batches number through: 1-50 small, 51-100 medium etc.
Not all the rings will be used (and if you do- order extra..) so there will be gaps.

Smaller birds get colourcoded (one year the rings will be green, the next red etc.) because there is not much room on small rings.


Oef- that guy really bred a lot of birds!!


I hope you'll enjoy living with your grilfriend for a long, long time to come.

(and you can always hide behind the old excuse "it's not polite to inquire about a lady's age" )

 

[EllenD]

Welcome to the forum...

Have you been to the Voren Aviaries website yet? Contact info listed there...

Voren\'s Aviaries - Advancement of Psittacultural Science

I'm familiar with them from my prior breeding experience/growing-up in the middle of it, and unfortunately they were/are a mass-breeder who used to supply birds to large chain-stores, other pet shops, etc. Florida is full of these, most-all of the birds that are sold in Petco, Petsmart, etc., come out of aviaries like this in Florida...Voren used to be the big one, now it's Barney's...I suspect they are still in-business, as their website seems to be current...

Just to point out to you that I'm not directing any animosity towards you or your bird due to him being from Voren, just want to clear that up...It's just unfortunate, as basically Howard Voren is considered to be the first creator/founder and father of the "Bird-Mill"...He was the first to do it in this country, mass-produce birds for wholesale to pet shops, and usually in horrible conditions...They were investigated by the authorities many times and I believe they did eventually clean themselves up bit, but they also started breeding new and totally unnatural Amazon color-mutations in mass-numbers as well...

A well-know quote from Howard Voren during an interview: ""I'm a capitalist. I'm in business. No personal relationships with the parrots."

 

[EllenD]

I would contact Voren Aviaries from either their website or their Facebook page and give them her closed-band number, they will be easily able to decode it for you...

BTW, Voren didn't produce 1,000 birds a year...they did an average of 30,000 birds a year back in 2005, so probably many more now...So that equation you listed probably isn't correct...Voren Aviaries boasts about putting more than 1 million birds into the domestic population....

 

[Scott]

Welcome aboard, Chris! Enjoy your stay, hope you find the hatch records!

 

[EllenD]

I was trying to find a contact phone number or email for you on Voren's website, but there is no "Contact" info...weird...They definitely look to still be in-business though, so that's good, as you should be able to contact them...

I also took a look in the "Leg-Band Breeder's Registry", but Voren isn't listed, which is really bizarre since they have bred so many birds...Half of the websites that used to exist to look-up leg-band codes are now defunct too...Maybe you'll have better luck than me looking for their contact information...

Something else you might want to try is calling L&M Bird Leg-Bands, as not only are they pretty much the only supplier of leg-bands to the entire country, but I guarantee that they are familiar with most-all of the major Breeder-codes, and can probably tell you everything decoded in her leg-band number if you give it to them...Their phone number is (909) 882-4649...I'd definitely give them a call and give them her leg-band number...They are located in California, so PST hours

 

[ChrisYNA]

If you click the "3 amazing flavors" on the main page, you can see a link for email inquiries. I sent an email but like I said, I don't know if they still operate or if anyone looks after the website. I read a post somewhere on another forum where a person this year had the same issue and tried to contact them on Facebook, but didn't get a reply. I was hoping someone here may have adopted from Howard and has a way to contact the family directly.

As far as Howard, I did do some reading a few weeks back. Seems some people have much respect for the guy and others have a problem with his methods. It looks to me like he cared for his birds, yet wanted to make money by breeding a whole lot of them.

I'm also aware that he sold his birds to Petco. I'm pretty sure the original owner - not a bird enthusiast by any means - bought her at such a store, since, frankly, he or his wife didn't know how to properly take care of her. She wasn't abused or anything like that, but neglected to an extent.. yes. One, the cage she was kept in was 3 times smaller that she has now and was for smaller birds.. barely to my thigh level. Two, when he gave her to my dad, he told him to just buy some random bird seed mix at Walmart. Three, she was deathly afraid of towels when I got her. I'd stand 10 feet away with one and she would visibly become scared and start pacing around. Apparently, the guy told my dad to just force wrap her in a towel to put her in the cage or wherever (she's totally fine with towels now). I even had a couple police officers stop by to see how she's doing a few months after I got her because the guy's neighbor reported on him for keeping her in the small cage, covered, and on the kitchen floor for most of the day. I think this is why she has a strong aversion to being locked inside a cage now and why I always keep it open. Anyway, I do not believe the original owner would seek out a breeder to buy her and it was likely a random purchase at a store. Well, whatever road she took to get to me, she's healthy and happy and everything is fine. My mom is actually her "chosen" human, but she loves me just as much.

Where did I get the 1,000 birds per year? From this article/interview here. That was written in 2013.

No-Fly Zone, Page 3: Inside a Parrot Mill : The Humane Society of the United States

*He began his business more than 30 years ago when he went to Honduras and South America with a copy of Forshaw’s Parrots of the World. “It was my shopping list,” he says. “Once I brought in 500 yellow-naped Amazons. I brought in probably the largest shipment of hyacinth macaws to the United States. My memory is 50.” Voren sold the macaws for $20,000 per pair (legal then) and used the money to set up shop, importing other birds to supply the breeding stock.

Since then, Voren says he has produced about 30,000 parrots–1,000 per year.*

Ellen - I'll try that L&M place later and see what that say.