Sad story of a pet supermarket bird :(

[Sabbath]

Went to go pick up some treats for my bird today and they have a 6 month old Sun Conure there, some tiels, and another bird(I'm not sure exactly what it was at the moment, not deformed just I wasn't sure).

Well while I was there I visited the Sun and tiels for a bit and I was getting a bit mad! The sun and tiels tail feathers were cut! It didn't look like plucking to me as they had the scissors marks(very poorly done) and the feathers were clipped terribly too! Only one wing was clipped.

I wanted to ask what happen as the other bird was cage mates with the sun for a while and kind of bullied him(seperated now) but this happened to the tiels that were in a different part of the room. Kind of sad that people did this :/.

The other bird(I didn't get a picture of this one) attacks anyone who comes by, so I'm thinking he has some bad feeling toward people.
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[Atwee921]

Wha!?!? Why would people cut their tail feathers? My local Petco's birds look like their wings are pretty nicely done but they are selling their sun conures are like 600! And I highly doubt they are hand fed. The tiels there hiss at everyone that comes by. There was a GCC there that was trying to open the door and get out because the cages only have dowels and the water always has seeds in it and they only have like one toy!!

 

[Sabbath]

This sun conure seemed shy but not exactly afraid of humans(He wouldn't let you touch him but your presence didn't disturb him) I think this conure was going for 250. He seemed hungry as he was reaching through the bars for the seeds that they use for bedding to eat(which I didn't think was healthy at all!) To be honest I didn't see a water bowl in his cage now that I think about it. The wings on these bird were bad as some reason they felt the need only to cut one wing and leave the other the same, and as I said, there tail feathers were completely cut off!

The tiels seemed nice enough though, just didn't want people touching them, though I did have one tiel come lay next to the plastic separating me and him.

Wish I could give the poor bird a home but as a first time I know I can't handle two birds at a time.

 

[MikeyTN]

Just for you guys to know, birds DO have the tendency to break their tail feathers off, especially young birds! Also clipped birds too, when they jump and fall on their rump they break their tail feathers!!!! They also break them from playing on the bottom of the grate, it happens even to my macaw when he goes to the bottom of the grate to visit with the dogs when they go see him. My mean tiel that I have clipped so I can perch train him, he lost ALL his tail feathers from jumping and falling right on his tail feathers breaking them. He is just now starting to grow them back again cause I don't clip him anymore so he can be free to do what he wants in the aviary. Even my other tame ones have broken tail feathers at times, but not as often. When I used to raise them, I remove the grates for that reason, also easier to wean with food on the bottom as they are bottom graziers.

Just thought I mention this so you would understand the birds may not necessary be mistreated.

 

[Sabbath]

Well the sun conure may have got the tail stuck in the grate but the sun conure and tiel didn't have perchs to go on so they couldn't have fallen.

The tiel had a seed bedding as well and the bottom was a flat bottom. The people at the store are good people, I don't think they are being mistreated at all.

 

[Pedro]

Sabbath I have to agree with Mikey. Being a breeder & raising many babies we always have a few that are a little on the clumbsy side. I have one such bird at the moment. He has a shocking looking tail, looks like the rats have nawed on it. LOL. where as his cage mate's tail is perfect. They can also damage their tail feathers by climbing the sides of their cage & then slide down the bars, doing this all the time weekens the feather & they eventually break off.

But as far as not having a perch or food & water I do have to question that. Seems a strange practice to me. But the shop must have their reasons. Perhaps you could ask them.

 

[Sabbath]

Sabbath I have to agree with Mikey. Being a breeder & raising many babies we always have a few that are a little on the clumbsy side. I have one such bird at the moment. He has a shocking looking tail, looks like the rats have nawed on it. LOL. where as his cage mate's tail is perfect. They can also damage their tail feathers by climbing the sides of their cage & then slide down the bars, doing this all the time weekens the feather & they eventually break off.

But as far as not having a perch or food & water I do have to question that. Seems a strange practice to me. But the shop must have their reasons. Perhaps you could ask them.

Well the Sun conure could have climbed as well(and he did seem to be a bit clumsy so that may be it) but the tiels has no bars to climb on(think a giant, stop sign plastic box), though maybe the bird just bumbed the tails again the plastic one to many times. Though the tiel did have plenty of room and the feathers did look to clean of a cut.

 

[Garnet]

It isn't a common practice, but some people believe when you do not want a bird to fly you not only clip their wings, you also clip their tailfeathers. I've seen this in some pet stores, usually they clip the tailfeathers in a V shape so if the bird were to somehow get out, they could easily catch it and return it to the cage.

Little guy looks so lonely.

 

[Abzeez]

I am not a fan of the way most pet stores treat animals. Larger chains are the worst.