Bird stores

[roseicollis6]

I saw a bird store in one of Michael's videos. All species of parrots are together in a room, out of their cages and people come to see them and handle them. They seem very confortable around people.
When i bought my bird, he was very scared and i coudnt touch him because he is scared from hands. The birds were in cages and not confortable with people.
Are the parrots at this bird store handfed or tamed?

[Michael]

Hand fed by the store owners, tamed by the visitors. It's because of the store's very lenient policy where visitors can handle the birds that makes them very tame and hardy. Not all of them, some are pretty mean. But if you are selecting by tameness (as I was when Kili picked me), you can certainly find one. I find it a pleasure to go there to play with the birds cause I get to experience all the species I don't have the time or money to keep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOxRa2eSdnY

For example this Jardine's Parrot wasn't particularly tame or used to stepping up but over the span of a few visits I worked with it and taught it to step up. It's win/win/win for me, store, and eventual buyer.

[roseicollis6]

Yes i find this very useful to everyone.
I own my peach-faced lovebird since last year and until today he is still scared of me and especially hands. He accepts to eat from my hand in his cage and out. He sometimes eats on my hand too.
I started teaching him to target and to step up a week ago when i discovered your website. It is very difficult because he is not handfed and was never handled at the bird store.
Any advices are needed, im hoping to build a relationship with him so he can feel safe with me like your parrots are with you.

[Michael]

Hand feeding isn't everything. It simply creates a window for easy bonding/training in the early years of a bird's life. If that window isn't properly utilized, the hand fed parrot will turn just as wild as the parent fed one. However, wild parrots can be tamed and trained to be the same as hand fed ones. It's just harder. Hand feeding just gets a parrots used to people enough to the point that they can hold/touch it. Past there it's all the same. And since you can hold your bird, you are ready to get started.

This article tells you all you need to know about target training and early taming:

http://TrainedParrot.com/Taming

[roseicollis6]

Thank you!
I cant hold him yet, but i am working with him. I will try my best to tame him. Thanks again

[Naurthon]

The store in San Diego where I bought Nikko has a similar situation where there are parrots of many species in a single room, with many of the larger birds out on stands for people to interact with and handle. In most cases, it seemed to work out really well, however, there were two incidents while I visited there where people were bitten, once very severely, causing a lot of bleeding. In both cases, the parrots bit when the customer tried to put them back onto the perch or into a cage. They were enjoying the attention and didn't want to be put down, and they communicated it the best way they knew. I was nipped by a female eclectus for the same reason. Customers visiting stores like this should be made aware of the possibility of being bitten by a seemingly friendly bird when they return it to its stand or cage so they know the risk.

[Michael]

n most cases, it seemed to work out really well, however, there were two incidents while I visited there where people were bitten, once very severely, causing a lot of bleeding. In both cases, the parrots bit when the customer tried to put them back onto the perch or into a cage.

Excellent. A learning experience going both ways!

[GlassOnion]

For the most part, I don't support bird stores in general for several reasons.

In one of Michael's videos, there is store where I believe multiple Macaws and dusty birds such as Cockataoos and Greys are kept in the same air space. Macaws have extremely sensitive respiratory systems and that much dust is very harmful to their health. A Mac sharing the living space with even a single dusty bird should have an air filter in the room.

Another thing I've noticed is how many enclosures in that store were simply aquariums with bowls on the bottom. I saw tiny glass tanks with large birds like Goffins 'toos just walking around on the shavings because there were no perches. Even the birds that were out, they were all perched on the aquarium rims because again, no perches.

I don't like how stores generally don't know that much about the species specifics of what they're selling, or the fact that birds NEED to fledge. Many will force wean as well.

Now the cost... Store birds usually cost 2-3x as much as a breeder would charge, for usually less the pet quality.

Responsible, knowledgable breeders are the way to go if you're gonna get a baby bird.

[CrazzMc]

Michael what bird store are you at in this video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNiSTHaT ... ideo_title

I believe you live in NY so I was just wondering where and what the bird store was called as I live in CT.