Parrot Club Fees

[Michael]

Folks who are in clubs and paying (relatively small fees like $25), how many members are in the club? I would imagine it would take a lot of members at that kind of rate to be able to cover costs unless meetings are held at public places?

[Rue]

Our riding club had about 20. We took turns hosting it in our homes.

The kennel club has 40-50 I think...but I`ll know better this weekend. However they make money through hosting shows and offering obed. classes. They rent a facility (since we need space to train dogs) year round and all meetings, etc. are held there.

[lzver]

Folks who are in clubs and paying (relatively small fees like $25), how many members are in the club? I would imagine it would take a lot of members at that kind of rate to be able to cover costs unless meetings are held at public places?

Since I've only attended 2 meetings, it is hard to say how many members there are. I would say there were 20 - 30 members (even more parrots because some people brought more than 1 parrot), but I was told they were quiet meetings. The Golden Triangle Parrot Club meets in a room out of the Ontario Veterinary College (part of Guelph University). Not sure if they are charged for the use of the room ... I kind of doubt it because one of the coordinator's is associated with the OVC.

[Michael]

Without a formal meeting location, club dues could be negligible or even none. What do you think of meeting at an outdoor park? Would this mitigate the transfer of diseases risk or people touching each birds is as likely to spread disease outdoors as indoors? Do you think having outdoor meetings would be too problematic for people to bring their birds? Am I the only one accustomed to bringing parrots outside regularly?

Of course this would be a problem for winter meetings but that does reduce the number of indoor meetings from 12 to maybe 6.

[Rrrma]

Am I the only one accustomed to bringing parrots outside regularly?

Yes!

ok, not really. I'd take my Rosie outside more often if it wasn't for the extremely high rate of west nile cases we have in our area. It was only a few months ago(or maybe the end of fall last year, hard to remember the exact date) that one of the bird club members lost their macaw to west nile.

I think a lot of this needs to be discussed with the people interested. Maybe you could get a group together who want this to happen and meet, without the birds, at a restaurant or other place to discuss details. The beginning group can help decide how things will work best and then you can write out the exacts and have new members stick to them.

[Michael]

I think a lot of this needs to be discussed with the people interested. Maybe you could get a group together who want this to happen and meet, without the birds, at a restaurant or other place to discuss details. The beginning group can help decide how things will work best and then you can write out the exacts and have new members stick to them.

Sure, sure. The thing is that I want to first get some ideas so that when I start talking to people about preliminary meetings of this sort, that I have a batch of ideas laid out to entice them to even give it a try. I gotta have a foundation of proposals to get people on board.

[Rrrma]

Well so far I think a lot of them sound good, but keep the options open. Do you have anyone at all interested? I'd try to find just a handful of people(4/5 including you) to start, kind of like a "board of founders" type thing.

[Michael]

Nah, if I did it would be easy. I really don't know any bird people. I've bumped into random ones on the street cause I really stand out walking around with my parrots. But otherwise I don't actually keep in touch with anyone with parrots locally. This is kind of why I feel there is a market and need for such a club around here. The NY Bird club is more about wild bird watching than parrots as far as I can tell.

[Kim S]

If you think you stand our with your parrots in the park, think what a parrotclub would look like! You wouldnt have a moments peace for all the people coming up to watch you.

I'd love to come and visit one day to watch the club in action. Maybe meet some people on the forum.

[Rrrma]

Ah, well then yes that would be too easy

It seems like everyone I know is a bird person, and I don't know that many people! lol!

How about make up a flyer and post it at some of the local pet stores? Just a simple "Interested in starting a local bird club for parrot lovers. Would love to have outdoor and indoor events including guest speakers, fly days, toy making workshops, and much more. If you are interested in something similar, email me at..." or something like that. Including a picture of you and your fids(like the avatar you have now ) would be a bonus. You could create an email address specifically for this, so you don't get spammed. NYParrotClub@gmail or something similar.

I bet it wouldn't be too hard to find people if you put out a basic flyer like that.