Does this seem 'right' to you?

[penelope's person]

Well, I was surfing kijiji in my local area as I normally do, and came across this ad for birds: http://capebreton.kijiji.ca/c-pets-birds-for-sale-Birds-W0QQAdIdZ210285978#

I had this visceral 'ugh' feeling when I took a look at the pictures, but then again, I don't know. Do the birds seem healthy to you? Even so, it's in bad taste to have a baby bird posing with a cigarette lighter in a filthy box.

[Kim S]

Keep in mind that baby birds poop A LOT. The poop pictured on this photo looks fresh and could be from the last 2-3 hours. Even I dont clean my cages that often.

That said, I always take care to make clean healthy pictures to put online. This seems a bit careless. And about the cigarette lighter, beats me what thats doing there

The rest of the birds do look fine and healthy, just very scared of people. My young birds never fly up the cage like then when I make pictures.

[penelope's person]

Thanks for the reply!

The reason I was curious is that this is basically the only breeder I know of in the area, and although I bought mine from the pet store, I was told it came from a local, and not one of the big breeders like the others. So, if the birds were sick, it's possible mine could be too.

Good to know that all seems well, except of course, for the lighter!

[tacotaco]

i'm sure the lighter is there to compare to the size of the birds, so people realize how little they are.

[pchela]

Yes, taco is right. The lighter is to compare size and there isn't anything wrong with having a lighter near them... it's if they use the lighter to light a cigarette near them that we have a problem! Also, having hand raised a lot of babies, they poop constantly! It is impossible to keep a towel clean for more than a few minutes. That towel was probably changed shortly before the pic was taken. (I still would have had a clean towel for the photo)

The birds in the photos look healthy to me though there is now way to know for sure without a vet check.