Four Characteristics of a Good Parrot Breeder

Parrot breeders begin as parrot owners. They become so enamored with the bird that they want to dedicate their life to breeding, raising, and caring these beautiful feathered friends. There are some characteristics that make someone a good parrot breeder. These are the things you should look for when choosing a pet parrot.

Interaction

A good parrot breeder is constantly interacting with her parrots. She has handled each bird extensively since birth to ensure that it is comfortable around humans. She has socialized the baby parrots with other parrots and sometimes even other household pets. The parrots have been hand-fed, tame, and trust humans.

Care

A quality parrot breeder puts quality of care as her utmost priority. She will have an indoor or outdoor aviary full of clean cages, perches, toys, and enough room for her birds to stretch their wings and exercise. Quality food is always available, even if it means a special trip to the grocery store to stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables.

The good parrot breeder also has a close relationship with a good veterinarian that specializes in bird care. Keeping her birds healthy is very important. Birds should be healthy and free of avian diseases before they are adopted.

It’s time consuming and even exhausting work to take care of multiple parrots, but the parrot breeder has a passion for her feathered friends, which makes the job easier.

Knowledge

A good parrot breeder knows everything there is to know about her chosen breed of parrot. She reads books, articles and websites. She consults with other parrot breeders to trade tips on raising parrots. If she comes up with a problem, she knows where to go to find an answer quickly.

Relationships

Serious parrot breeders want the best for their baby birds. They will ask potential buyers about their home environment, children, and other pets to be sure your parrot will be safe and have enough room. They will also want to know how often you will be home to interact with the bird. Since parrots are very social creatures, they need to be entertained. If your job requires you to be away from home for most of the day, a parrot would not be a good fit. (In that case, if your heart is set on having a parrot, you may want to adopt two smaller parrots who can entertain each other.)

If you find a breeder who is talking all money and not answering your questions about how the bird was raised, this is a red flag that you are not dealing with a reputable parrot breeder. While it is tempting to “save” a parrot from a bad situation, you will most likely get an unhealthy bird (and giving money to the very person who made him that way!).

A good parrot breeder will give you all of the information about owning a parrot. Some even have a contract for you to sign stating that if you ever need to give the parrot away, that you will bring it back to the breeder for re-adoption.

Parrots make wonderful life-long pets, but be sure before you adopt to find a reputable parrot breeder so you know that your feathered friend is healthy, friendly, and ready to be a new member of your family.