Purchasing a bird from an online site

[Falconry]

A friend of mine wants to get a bird from an online site. I dont want her to get cheated of her money so I am asking you. Is birdsexpress a legit site. Has anyone purchased any birds from this site? I myself dont have any parrots but I dont want my friend to purchase from a shady website.


any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

I've never had a bird through bird express, I'd recommend your friend to look into a quality breeder who ships if no one nearby has the bird she wants. Birds express looks like they might get birds from suppliers, who breed only for profit and the birds are of less quality.

 

[SilverSage]

Nope. nope nope nope do NOT buy from this kind of place! This is a wholesale seller! They are basically a hub for lazy, unethical breeders to sell their birds to for low prices (and who is willing to take those super low prices for their birds? People who don't put the effort and money into raising babies right!) and then they turn around and sell them to pet shops, who sell them to people. Notice the minimum order? RUN AWAY!!! Think about it, these birds are so low quality that they are being SOLD to a whole-sale company, who most likely sells to a pet store. The pet store probably pays around 30% of the price they plan to charge.

Lets do some math. Cockatiels are easy because they sell for around $100. So if a pet store is buying from a whole-sale company, they will pay around $30 for the cockatiel and sell it to you for $100. Now imagine that the whole sale company pays 50% (which is a VERY HIGH estimate!) of the price they plan to charge - so they would charge around $15. Again, this is a HIGH estimate, so it may even be less than $10 for a cockatiel! Do you know how many babies you have to pump out like an assembly line, no interaction, no proper care, in order to make MONEY selling cockatiels for $15 each to a whole sale company?

There is basically a 0% chance of these babies being the kind of healthy, well socialized birds that make good pets. Do NOT encourage your friend to buy from this site. Find a REAL LIVE BREEDER and buy DIRECTLY from that breeder, but only after checking them out to make sure they are on the up and up.

What should you look for in a breeder?
Someone who feeds a good diet that is NOT seed based
someone who lets their babies fledge properly before clipping - hint, that does not mean "just the first few flights"
Someone who will not sell you an unweaned baby, or at least won't sell it to you without TEACHING you how to handfeed, not asking you if you have done it before.
Someone who sells birds with a contract
Someone who encourages you to come and visit your baby before you buy
someone with good reviews online
someone you find and show to us online so we can help vet them we are pretty good at sniffing out fraud.

Let me ask you this, have you ever heard of a puppy mill? Where dogs are kept in tiny cages and horrible conditions just to pump out babies? The kind of bird that comes from this site is most likely a "bird mill bird". I know it is tempting to want to "save" them, but by buying from them you create a reward for the people who treat animals like garbage. Sure, maybe some clueless accidental breeders sell their birds here, too, but the same reasons for not buying the babies and not supporting the practice apply.

 

[Falconry]

Thats a good enough reason for me. I will convince her not to buy from there. I dont support petstores as most of the time they get their animals from mills. Does anyone know any breeders near Sacramento california that have african ringnecks or indian ringnecks for sale? She isnt looking for that particular bird but prefers it.

 

[EAI]

Have you thought about Bird Specialty stores. I think for the most part they have far more superior care for the birds and there will be most likely, the birds she's looking for. And most specialty stores, from what I saw on Youtube, are knowledgable and are able to answer pretty much any questions you have.

There's also a bunch of rescues there, has your friend thought about adopting? There's a bunch of options to find a bird, that will hopefully "click" to her.

Good luck to your friend!

 

[RainbowRose]

Nope. nope nope nope do NOT buy from this kind of place! This is a wholesale seller! They are basically a hub for lazy, unethical breeders to sell their birds to for low prices (and who is willing to take those super low prices for their birds? People who don't put the effort and money into raising babies right!) and then they turn around and sell them to pet shops, who sell them to people. Notice the minimum order? RUN AWAY!!! Think about it, these birds are so low quality that they are being SOLD to a whole-sale company, who most likely sells to a pet store. The pet store probably pays around 30% of the price they plan to charge.

Lets do some math. Cockatiels are easy because they sell for around $100. So if a pet store is buying from a whole-sale company, they will pay around $30 for the cockatiel and sell it to you for $100. Now imagine that the whole sale company pays 50% (which is a VERY HIGH estimate!) of the price they plan to charge - so they would charge around $15. Again, this is a HIGH estimate, so it may even be less than $10 for a cockatiel! Do you know how many babies you have to pump out like an assembly line, no interaction, no proper care, in order to make MONEY selling cockatiels for $15 each to a whole sale company?

There is basically a 0% chance of these babies being the kind of healthy, well socialized birds that make good pets. Do NOT encourage your friend to buy from this site. Find a REAL LIVE BREEDER and buy DIRECTLY from that breeder, but only after checking them out to make sure they are on the up and up.

What should you look for in a breeder?
Someone who feeds a good diet that is NOT seed based
someone who lets their babies fledge properly before clipping - hint, that does not mean "just the first few flights"
Someone who will not sell you an unweaned baby, or at least won't sell it to you without TEACHING you how to handfeed, not asking you if you have done it before.
Someone who sells birds with a contract
Someone who encourages you to come and visit your baby before you buy
someone with good reviews online
someone you find and show to us online so we can help vet them we are pretty good at sniffing out fraud.

Let me ask you this, have you ever heard of a puppy mill? Where dogs are kept in tiny cages and horrible conditions just to pump out babies? The kind of bird that comes from this site is most likely a "bird mill bird". I know it is tempting to want to "save" them, but by buying from them you create a reward for the people who treat animals like garbage. Sure, maybe some clueless accidental breeders sell their birds here, too, but the same reasons for not buying the babies and not supporting the practice apply.

This is so sad to think about I feel really bad for animals getting abused like this. My first bird ever was a parakeet named Kiwi and I bought him from petco. I bought him because he was the scraggliest, unattractive parakeet of the bunch and the oldest baby (no one wanted him.) so I picked him and I brought him home and my family was like THAT'S the one you picked?! I loved him like crazy and even got him a lady friend soon after named Maui and they were the greatest birds ever. The love was there. I think they were happy to be in a caring environment and not a money making environment anymore. I miss them I took them everywhere together, such sweet babies. I wish I could help them all. It is very sad...

 

[RainbowRose]

Have you thought about Bird Specialty stores. I think for the most part they have far more superior care for the birds and there will be most likely, the birds she's looking for. And most specialty stores, from what I saw on Youtube, are knowledgable and are able to answer pretty much any questions you have.

There's also a bunch of rescues there, has your friend thought about adopting? There's a bunch of options to find a bird, that will hopefully "click" to her.

Good luck to your friend!

I agree with you. My current bird, my kakariki, I bought from an exotic bird store. It's a privately owned store and it's all birds, so many beautiful birds and they are excellently cared for. It's not like buying from chain pet stores. They care about the birds and give out great advice and recommend good exotic avian specialists. And they coordinate with rescues too.

Def a good idea to look into!!!

 

[RavensGryf]

I also feel I have to add... When I had Adrion, a beautiful Bronze Winged Pionus 8 years before Raven (my current BW Pi), I bought her from a small independent bird store. The store bought her from a broker and the broker got her from who knows where. My point is, when birds change hands so many times before retail, it's usually from people interested in the money (making/saving) more than being on the up and up, which means DISEASE can be spread! Though Adrion "looked" beautiful, she never made it to maturity because she died of PDD.

Also... There are some breeders out there who are more cautious than most, and they operate what they call a "closed aviary". They do NOT allow the public to see the aviaries, OR visit their home and see the babies for sale, since it 'is possible' for customers to bring in deadly virus particles on their shoes, hair, clothes, etc. SO.... It's not ALWAYS bad if a breeder won't let you see the birds. Breeders with closed aviaries or a MAP Certified closed aviary, are usually well known professional breeders, or at least have a good reputation that can be confirmed.

 

[SilverSage]

I always suggest a breeder if you want a baby, and a rescue if you are open to an adult. Any pet store, etc, can get its birds from anywhere, and they can lie about where the bird is from. Any "online store" is simply out of the question. A breeder with a web site? That's fine. Anywhere where you can actually "buy online"? NO!