Breeder

[asterroc]

Talked to a breeder on the phone again today - same one who called me when I was walking over to rumorofrain's house the other week, but this time I was at home so I could jot down notes. Some of the questions and answers below in case anyone's interested or wants to give me their thoughts on it.


Breeder
Tatiana

Location
Ludlow

When can I visit?
Check the website, http://www.birdbreeders.com/breederavailability.aspx?B=2139
Contact her again late March

How many species do you have? How many breeding pairs do you have?
Sun conure (4 pair), jenday, green-cheeks (including yellow-sided and pineapple mutations, 6 pair)
Colors same personalities.

Do you pull the chicks for hand feeding or coparent?
Handfeed
Can’t visit breeders / aviary due to not wanting to expose them to germs, can visit babies.
Deposit, can spend time with them.
A couple months to wean, 12 weeks to wean, 3 months from hatching, 2 months from pulling
2.5-3 weeks from nest, then handfeed.

How do the parents live when not breeding?
Haven't asked; she will send me photos of the wild-type and two color mutations though, so that should give me an idea of their conditions. Plus she has referred to at least one Sun she has as a pet.

Price?
GCC’s cheapest ~$250 (varies by availability), other mutations cost more, $50/$75, pineapples at $400/450

Do you allow the chicks to fledge?
Muddled: mentioned both clipping, and waiting a couple weeks to learn to fly. She stressed that clipping adults not necessary once the bird knows you, recommends clip babies so don’t hurt themselves while learning.

What is the diet you wean them onto?
Wean onto pellets, veggies, fruits, nuts as a treat for training. Didn't ask what brand of pellets

Health guarantee?
Recommends a vet check w/in 72 hours, checks her bigger birds for polynoma (sp?), sends away to Florida for that and sexing. Sounds like she doesn't vet check her smaller birds. Wasn't clear on a health guarantee.

Any recommended reading?
Emailed her for this info, she was not at home when I called.


Some answers were less than idea, but I don't know that anyone will be perfect, and she's the only candidate for a breeder so far.

Comments

[meig.livejournal.com]

I don't think any breeder is going to fit the "ideal" that is put forth on parrot_lovers :P

My suggestion is to go see her setup and then trust your gut. That's how I found Gremlin. The breeder let me come over, she had the babies there and I interacted with them for about an hour and a half. Gremlin actually chose me :) Her house was clean, she had a decent amount of birds but her pet birds were in very large, clean cages with tons of toys. I could also tell this wasn't a "omg, there's someone coming over we need to clean!!" clean, it was just a general all around cleanliness. Her breeders were in decent cages, a toy or two but not many. They were not people birds, or pets, but they were definitely in good health and feather.

I'm a huge believer in trusting one's gut reaction. It's usually correct. If you go somewhere and you don't feel comfortable, find another breeder.

You've seen these sites? http://www.birdbreeders.com/ http://www.avianbiotech.com/Breeders/default.asp

I like the Avian Biotech site, they have a lot of breeders listed.

Good luck.

[meig.livejournal.com]

Here's another list I just found. I don't know how far some of these are from you.

http://www.boaf.com/breeders_list.shtml


eta: Oh duh. You found Tatiana on birdbreeders.com I saw it and yet didn't see it :)

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Yep, Google found me birdbreeders.com and boaf.com (none of them there are close). I sent emails to everyone nearby on birdbreeders.com, and only two people replied, the other of whom was actually really far. I haven't yet looked at CT or other nearby states on those lists though, just MA.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I don't think any breeder is going to fit the "ideal" that is put forth on parrot_lovers :P

True, but I also don't expect any bird to fit my "ideal" either - the one they jumped all over me about saying that I had an unrealistic idea and that I was being overly specific so I should keep looking for an adult from a rescue for many years until I found the perfect bird. It's good to have the ideal in mind so you know what to look for, and then pick the best that is actually realistically available and is also acceptable (if the "best" is still not very good, don't go with it, obviously).