has anybody here bought a parrot from birdbreeders.com?

[Zentg]

I've kinda been wanting to buy a normal green cheek conure, even though they are supposed to be the most common all I can find are cinammons and pineapples and I really liket he normal ones the best!

I found this website 'birdbreeders.com' which lets you browse breeders and birds all over the country and I found a GCC for a good price and they say they can use delta air lines and ship the bird in a day or 2 (they go to the air port and send it off with all the proper paperwork and regulations, and the flight is about 1-2 hours, and then I will go pick it up from my local air port when it gets here)

the only thing I am worried about is if they scam me or send me a sick bird or a different bird than what I wanted or take my credit card number and charge me twice or something. Has anyone bought their parrot like this from a breeder and had it shipped? and the shipping is like 150$ so its not like I can just send it back easily if there is a problem...

thanks

[Wolf]

I have never had any dealings with these people, so I can't really be of any help. I did look at their website and other than being able to place an evaluation of a breeder that you bought a bird from through them there in nothing else that I see as recourse if a breeder acts inappropriately. That really doesn't surprise me though.
Wish I could be of more help.

[Navre]

I wouldn't buy a bird sight unseen, and I wouldn't have a bird shipped. I don't know where you are, but you might want to check out Parrot rescues, the ASPCA, etc, and see if anyone has an adult bird you can visit with.

You will get a whole lot better idea of the temperament of a bird of you deal with one who is already an adult. Also, go in with the mindset that you are going to let the bird pick you.

Normal greencheeks should be easy to find in a pet store. Petco, petsmart, usually have them, and if they don't have one right now, they will have one soon. They can also probably get one in for you in short order, or steer you to a store that does have one.

If you're in New England, get in touch with me. We have a peach front, a Jenday, and 2 blue crown conures at the rescue. One might decide that they want to go home with you.

[Navre]

I wouldn't buy a bird sight unseen, and I wouldn't have a bird shipped. I don't know where you are, but you might want to check out Parrot rescues, the ASPCA, etc, and see if anyone has an adult bird you can visit with.

You will get a whole lot better idea of the temperament of a bird of you deal with one who is already an adult. Also, go in with the mindset that you are going to let the bird pick you.

Normal greencheeks should be easy to find in a pet store. Petco, petsmart, usually have them, and if they don't have one right now, they will have one soon. They can also probably get one in for you in short order, or steer you to a store that does have one.

If you're in New England, get in touch with me. We have a peach front, a Jenday, and 2 blue crown conures at the rescue. One might decide that they want to go home with you.

[Pajarita]

I would not buy a baby from any breeder or store. I would rehome or adopt an adult bird. And this is not only because of the huge overpopulation problem but also because, in my personal opinion, it's 300 times better to start off with an adult than with a baby. But, if I was going to buy a baby, I would not go to Petsmart (they buy from bird mills) or to a breeder that ships (it tells me the breeder doesn't care at all about the babies).

A wild phenotype GCC is super easy to find and there are lots of rescues all over that have them but, if you cannot find one in any of the ones near you, check Craigslist, Kijiji and Rescueme. There are always GCCs in them as there was a huge explosion of them a while ago and they are now beginning to show up in rescue all over the place (they are not easy birds to keep happy, they require A LOT of time and devotion). ABBA, a birdfood manufacturer where I get my seed mixes and supplements from, has adult birds for adoption every now and then and they had four GCCs when I went yesterday...

[Zentg]

thanks for the replies guys! I agree I don't think it's a good idea to buy the bird sight unseen, the petco near me does have conures but I notice they always have only cinamon/pineapple/other mutations and I have been checking the local petcos for many months now every week and they never seem to have anything besides cinammons... and I really like the normal green cheek conure color the best, but I guess in the end color doesn't matter that much and they are all very cool birds.

I wouldn't mind rescuing a conure, can you recommend any website to browse local shelters? I went to the local animal shelter in my town but they don't have any birds. Rescuing sounds like a good idea cus it gives a home also it would be cheaper also since the conure would be older it could possibly die at the same time i do so that would be nice.

Also what does "wild phenotype gcc" mean? does that mean it is a wild and untamed conure that will be too scared to interact with me? I have a friend who is actually very good with birds and has a COG and amazon parrot, but he rescued a ringneck 1 year ago and it still doesn't like to be touched or anything and if anyone could tame that bird it would have been him I kinda want a bird that will want to hang out with me and play with me - the conures at petco were VERY friendly, they never seen me before but in 2 seconds they were hanging out on my shoulder and nibbling my ear lol.

[Zentg]

OMG U GUYS - I JUST CHECKED PET FINDER AND FOUND THIS GORGEOUS CONURE 2 HOURS FROM ME

WHAT DO U THINK?? I LOVE IT!! MAYBE ILL GO CHECK IT OUT TOMORROW!!!

]


btw is it safe to get a bird from shelter? i thought birds need to be quarantined, and i would think a shelter just brings in brids everyday - are shelter birds healthy? will be he social?

ALSO the listing says this conure is NOT tame and is afraid of hands - so should i be able to tame him fairly easily in a few weeks if I follow the right steps? or will it be a long 6-12 month road like my budgie? I hear generally conures are a lot more cuddly than budgies.

[Navre]

The rescue at which I work does lab work on all new arrivals and keeps them in quarrentine for 30 days before they go out to the main bird room.

The birds at Petco are friendly because they are all baby birds. They will list the hatch date of each bird there somewhere.

[Navre]

Is that a normal or a turquoise?

[Wolf]

Wild phenotype - gcc simply means that it is a normally colored Green Cheek Conure.
Shelters take in birds and quarantine them before the are allowed out into the general population of birds up for adoption and the better ones also have them checked out by a vet during their quarantine period. One should not take this to mean that they should skip the quarantine period when they bring the bird home as that could be a mistake.
As far as how long it would take to tame the bird that depends on you and the bird and what it has been through.