Hello Parrot Forum, Can you help me find the right Grey?

[FirstPenguin]

Hi,

My girlfriend and I have had a Senegal for about 3 years now and live in the concrete jungle of NYC. We love her and want to add to the flock. Shortly after getting Evie our Sennie, we stopped clipping her wings. We really believe in keeping her flighted and wouldn't have it any other way. Our hope is to find a breeder that will sell us a Grey unclipped. This is proving harder than I hoped. We've gotten reply emails more than once telling us how wrong they think we are to want this because of horror stories of injured birds, and how it's hard to socialize a bird that's flighted. We find it quite easy, evie lands on people she's just met. However most of the horror stories I hear seem to be the result of a no-duh human error, and not the fault of the bird. Many people puppy proof their home before getting a dog, it seems you should put even more effort into bird proofing your home. If you're not willing to change your lifestyle and your home then you should probably get a hamster or a cat. The companion parrot world seems to break down into an old school, and a new school of thinking.

I would greatly appreciate the help of the people of this forum in finding a breeder who is likeminded. So far I've only found 2, but all would require airfare rather than gas money to get to. Thanks for reading.

[marie83]

I know this is no help as I'm from the UK but I just wanted to say good luck finding someone.
Stick to your guns too, no matter how long it takes- it will be worth your patience because the more people who don't want clipped birds the more likely the breeders are to leave them flighted in the first place.

[terri]

Actually I do know a breeder that might honor your request[ he normaly clips them]I would think that if you explained to him how important it is [and your experienced with birds] that it would be ok with him. He has kind of a dry personality his names Paul .If Im not getting rescues this is who I trust to get my birds from.I know there will be no health issues and hes the bird guy around here,It would be worth the trip.He seems to always have greys timnahs and congos .Really try to check out his website.Birds unlimited in Webster Ny[read his blog its lets you know who he is ]585-288-4457 Let me know what you think .Oh and I live in upstate Ny

[FirstPenguin]

Thanks, for the words of encouragement. I too feel that even if I feel I'll get a NO, people like this should know people like myself exist. From what I can see from a quick look at the website, Birds Unlimited and it's proprietor looks good. However, I'm generally not a fan of the retailer/breeders especially those who ship in a large number of their birds from bird farms for various reasons. First and foremost is disease, people who buy and sell birds from multiple sources can easily import disease and I much prefer to deal with a closed aviary system. Second I try not to support this for the same reason I don't believe in puppy mills. I appreciate the suggestion and will keep it in mind. Thanks.

[terri]

Thanks, for the words of encouragement. I too feel that even if I feel I'll get a NO, people like this should know people like myself exist. From what I can see from a quick look at the website, Birds Unlimited and it's proprietor looks good. However, I'm generally not a fan of the retailer/breeders especially those who ship in a large number of their birds from bird farms for various reasons. First and foremost is disease, people who buy and sell birds from multiple sources can easily import disease and I much prefer to deal with a closed aviary system. Second I try not to support this for the same reason I don't believe in puppy mills. I appreciate the suggestion and will keep it in mind. Thanks.

Hes definitely not a puppymill!! I would have no part of that.He has to use muitiple sources due to lack of light in upstate New York they have a hard time breeding.