by Sarahk » Sat Jul 15, 2017 12:17 am
Well, things didn't go quite to plan. The two year old female has found a home elsewhere, which is a shame.
I went to get Alfie a new seedmate feeder in the bird store. I intended to ask them about what hand reared babies they were expecting in the coming breeding season (I am in Australia, so we are mid winter at the moment). This store has really good reviews, so I was expecting great things from them. I was pretty disappointed, the guy was very nice and trying to be helpful, but he was fairly dismissive of my (I though) well researched ideas.
They clip the wings of the babies that come in - so they don't lose them in free flight around the store. I asked if it were possible to get them without a clip. He asked me why, I gave him a rant about all the advantages of not clipping and I wanted a baby that would have a chance to develop fully without a handicap. He was insistent that it would not make a difference. He said if I wanted an unclipped bird, I would have to contact them before they clipped them, but after the babies came in. I asked how would I know when they were in, can you call me. He said no... Then how am I supposed to get to you before they are clipped? Should I call once a week? It became pretty clear that he just didn't want to sell me an unclipped bird, so I dropped it. I didn't really want to buy the feeder from him a at this stage, but it was the only place I could get it.
While he was getting it for me, I was visiting with the birds, and there was a baby cockatiel female. (You know where this is going...) She was in a cage with her brother, a big lutino. She has a very untidy one sided wing clip, she is tiny, supposedly hand reared, but not hand tame. I know I shouldn't have given the store my business, but I hated the idea of someone else taking her.
So, now we have a juvenile female, we named her Bunny, because she looks like a dust bunny. She isn't too happy with me right now, but she is eating and exploring her cage. She and Alfie have been calling to one another from two rooms away. When she is done with quarantine I will try and get a side by side so you can see how little she is.
She is eating gloop, which I am pretty happy about, because Alfie is yet to be convinced about it. Despite her dodgy wing clip, she can glide pretty well, so I don't think I will do the other one. The sooner it's moulting time the better.
Needless to say, I will not be going back there. I cannot save all their birds, and despite my experience with the store, they are very well respected, the place was clean and the birds healthy, but they have very old school ideas of bird keeping. Maybe that is the standard in Australia, I don't know.