verifying out of state bird breeder

[Talon]

Wow, I really took a chance when I bought Talon. I live in Massachusetts, Talon came from Florida from a girl who was just breeding African Greys. She shipped Talon to me in the winter (watching the temps of course) when she was 9 1/2 weeks old, and she was weaned. I sent her money, and she shipped her by Delta. I was always concerned whether or not I would have a bird when I went to the airport to pick Talon up. But I was VERY lucky. I also had her home address and telephone number, but still I took a huge chance.

[DavidH]

It's always better to get references and verify what people tell you no matter how knowledgeable, professional and genuine they seem.

That's the smart way to go. So I'm going to be really smart when I get my NEXT bird.

I just sort of "winged it" with Shanti, trusting the pet store owner/breeder (he's the same person) on a handshake. I got lucky.

[Tycos_mom]

I've bought 2 of my birds from out of province and had them shipped to me. I paid for the bird and the shipping cost in advance and both time recieved my birds. I think most breeders are legit bt do be carful I would and ask your breeder for her vets phone number so that you can get some confermation that she trully is a breeder

[davek85]

I have been looking at birdbreeders.com. It looks pretty legimate. There are many breeders listing available birds. It even has feedback info about the breeders. Does anyone have any experience/opinions about this site?

[she]

In my view if a breeder is up front they will not object in any way to you asking questions and checking up.They have no reason to take offence. I would ask away and if the breader is not willing to give the information look elsewhere.<br><br>Post edited by: she, at: 2008/12/31 18:16

[GorgASS]

i found my breeder on birdbreeders.com

everything was going good until one day i went back on the site and she was gone! i emailed the site and asked if she removed herself or if she was removed (they will remove breeders with too many neg. comments) and i didn't get an answer (i didn't think i would) so i googled her name, and avairy name...got some bad reviews from places like ripoffreport.com etc. and ended up finding her reviews from birdbreeder.com that were bad. (when i found her she had all good ones, i sent her a deposit, and a few weeks later i discovered all this stuff. i drove to pick up my little guy to make sure i didn't get ripped off) so my experience wasn't the greatest (see the post about my guy having e. coli) but please don't take it as a knock to the site, i'm sure there are good breeders on there...i'm just giving my experience with it...and GOOGLE the person's name!! hope everything works out for you!

[Char]

davek85 wrote:

I have been looking at birdbreeders.com. It looks pretty legimate. There are many breeders listing available birds. It even has feedback info about the breeders. Does anyone have any experience/opinions about this site?

Just so you know, the breeder that I turned into the Humane Society is on BirdBreeders.com so that does not mean anything.

I had 2 bad experiences trying to find an Amazon so i would not buy without being able to visit the facility and check references.

[CarolandFamily]

I found my awesome breeder on Birdbreeder.com BUT also found a horrible one on there too that I got my money back from an initial deposit. I emailed my new breeder TO DEATH question after question lol. Yes it's better to see your babies up close BUT it was not the case for me, and im sure a few of us who have birds from other states. I would say ask question after question ask for refrances (sp), visit other bird forums and ask if they know about the breeder. Yeahhhh I did ALL of that! lol

Also my breeder told me that on Birdbreeders.com the breeders VIEW there testimonies then they DECIDE if they want to post them! hmy:

So with that being said do your homework "follow your GUT feeling" and things will work out. There's good and bad in ALL sites, places or homes BUT there is also GOOD too

[fofaviary]

Being a breeder, I can give you a few tips.

1. Interview them. Find out everything there is to know about the way they raise, feed and socialize not only the babies, but also how the adults are fed and housed. A good breeder may not allow you into their aviary or nursery, but they should never have anything to hide.

Edit: 1a: Make sure they have a GOOD website that's up to date!

2. Ask for pictures of the breeders. A lot of breeders won't give you an indepth photo album as our breeding birds usually think the camera spells their doom, but a general picture or two can let you know if the person is the actual breeder, or someone buying clutches of babies and hand-feeding them.

3. If you're REALLY feeling concerned, ask the breeder to write down your name and date, and snap a photo of it with the baby bird of your selected species upon it. Scammers won't normally do this.

4. Ask what forums the person belongs to. Most breeders are gun shy of forums because everyone on a bird forum is a prospective client and they don't want to offend someone or gain a bad reputation off their answers (or show their ignorance from their answers!). Then, visit that forum(s) and start PM'ing people on it. A lot of times you'll find good breeders who belong to forums have a lot of clients ON that forum - so a bit of reading posts can let you know a LOT about that breeder.

5. Don't just get references. USE THEM. I can go to a library, talk to my friends and family, and have them all send me wonderful references. But, are they real? On birdbreeders.com I can choose not to even SHOW my negative ratings! Wow, I'm always a 5 star breeder because I get to choose to be such! Not a good thing. At all. TALK TO REFERENCES. Having references does nothing for you if you don't use them.

6. Ask if they have videos. Just another way of seeing if someone's legit, or at least giving you a personal feel for them to add to your decision making.

7. Don't just wipe your hands of a breeder that has a bad review. You cannot please everyone all the time - even when you've done your very best for them. Example: I had a sweet fellow purchase a Sun from me. Less than a month later, the bird had died. By rights, I didn't have to do anything - the bird was healthy when I shipped it, healthy during its after sale vet check... I didn't owe him a thing. But, regardless, I replaced the bird with another Sun. Even though it went completely against nearly every bit of my health guarantee - no necropsy, no histology, etc.
(we actually figured it had metal poisoning from his necklace)

Then there was Mr. Nasty who purchased a Sun and 4 months after he had it, it died. He did vet check it when he bought it and it was squeaky clean. When it died, he had a necropsy done, and it along with his other birds were riddled with disease. He blamed me. Even though the bird was clean, even though I had zero psittacosis in my aviary, even though the pet shop where he bought his other birds had to be closed due to an outbreak of psittacosis.. he still blamed me. Needless to say, I pulled out my Miss Meany Hat and he did not get a replacement bird, nor would I sell him another baby. Thankfully, he didn't go around bad mouthing me (he really knew who's fault it was), but he could have! So, you or someone like you would come across someone who disliked me (or someone like me!) and you'd go "oh bad review!". Moral of this tale? Don't always believe good things OR bad things.

In the end, go with your gut. Don't feel pressured into ANY baby. Also, don't feel so anxious to get one that you leap out to grab the first one either. The relationship you build with a breeder can be many things - it shouldn't just be the place you got your bird. It should be there always with advice, with interest and support you even when that baby is 20 years old.

That's my two shekels worth of advice.

Good luck!

Post edited by: fofaviary, at: 2009/05/01 00:49<br><br>Post edited by: fofaviary, at: 2009/05/01 00:53