| My first bird mart experience... - CLICK HERE for the Pet Manual Forum Home Page |
| AnotherBirdLover |
While I'm sure many of you cringe at the thought of these sort of
things, I thought I'd share my experience for those who might consider
going. The bird mart I attended was actually advertised as a "bird
show", I don't know if this is common. In the world of animals when I
think of "show" as in "dog show" I think of beautiful animals in a
competition, this "show" was actually a birdmart.
The "show" was held in a convention center, fairly good sized with
15-20 breeders on hand selling everything from snakes to dogs, the
majority (I'd say 90%) of the vendors were bird breeders. There were a
few vendors there to market/advertise products.
Selection was mostly smaller birds: Conures, Quakers, Love Birds,
Cockatiel were the majority of the stock and so prices on these birds
were much lower than I expected. There were very few larger birds, I
counted three Congo African Grey's, three Amazons and two Macaws.
Prices on the larger birds were competitive to normal breeder pricing
in the area.
Cages and accessories were priced amazingly well. A cage I could
normally pay maybe $60 at a local bird speciality store were going for
about half that. The best "bargin" to be had on birds was on Quakers
and Pyrrhura Conures, these two were the most widely available as well.
Quakers were going from $110-$150. Normal Green Cheeks were going from
$120-$160. In contrast, in the local market here, pet stores sell
Quakers for around $175-$200, Normal Green Cheeks go from $200-$250.
The show really opened my eyes to the different quality of breeders.
Some were very knowledgable, some seemed to be purely in it for the
money and could care less about care. That was a bit sad, but not too
suprising I suppose.
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| Joanne |
"AnotherBirdLover" <Jeremy.Deats@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1120192112.517214.40560@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> The show really opened my eyes to the different quality of breeders.
> Some were very knowledgable, some seemed to be purely in it for the
> money and could care less about care. That was a bit sad, but not too
> suprising I suppose.
I'm feeling crawly. I hope you sanitized the minute you got home, not just
washed your hands.
--
Sincerely,
Joanne
If it's right for you, then it's right, . . . . . for you!!!
Play - http://www.jobird.com
Pay for Play - http://www.jobird.com/refund.htm
Looking for Love? - http://www.jobird.com/hearts.htm
Garden Kinder CDs
http://www.jobird.com/cd/gardenkinderhome.html
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| Sprite |
Xref: 127.0.0.1 rec.pets.birds:213034
I found the breeder I bought my green cheek from at a bird fair. Here
green cheeks were running around $600 in the pet stores :/ On top of
that none in my area had green cheeks except one that gave me a run
around on a new green cheek that had just arrived that day. I had
already zeroed in on the species I wanted to start with. There was no
changing my mind especially after playing with one!
I still love the fairs for finding neat toys and good prices on supplies
(5 lb box of millet and all the pellets and seeds I can stuff in the deep
freeze). I also love being able to observe so many species in one place.
And being able to cut out the middle man (aka pet store chains) was nice
as well. I would buy another bird from this breeder in a heart beat, but
could not say that of all present at the fairs. I still send her Loki
updates via email once in awhile :)
I have since found 2 local pet stores that are more focused on birds, one
caters to birds exclusively and the other is an all around pet store with
a HUGE bird room. Neither store is in my city *shrug* I also observed
varying qualities of breeders at the fairs.
"AnotherBirdLover" <Jeremy.Deats@gmail.com> wrote in
news:1120192112.517214.40560@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
> While I'm sure many of you cringe at the thought of these sort of
> things, I thought I'd share my experience for those who might consider
> going. The bird mart I attended was actually advertised as a "bird
> show", I don't know if this is common. In the world of animals when I
> think of "show" as in "dog show" I think of beautiful animals in a
> competition, this "show" was actually a birdmart.
>
> The "show" was held in a convention center, fairly good sized with
> 15-20 breeders on hand selling everything from snakes to dogs, the
> majority (I'd say 90%) of the vendors were bird breeders. There were a
> few vendors there to market/advertise products.
>
> Selection was mostly smaller birds: Conures, Quakers, Love Birds,
> Cockatiel were the majority of the stock and so prices on these birds
> were much lower than I expected. There were very few larger birds, I
> counted three Congo African Grey's, three Amazons and two Macaws.
> Prices on the larger birds were competitive to normal breeder pricing
> in the area.
>
> Cages and accessories were priced amazingly well. A cage I could
> normally pay maybe $60 at a local bird speciality store were going for
> about half that. The best "bargin" to be had on birds was on Quakers
> and Pyrrhura Conures, these two were the most widely available as well.
> Quakers were going from $110-$150. Normal Green Cheeks were going from
> $120-$160. In contrast, in the local market here, pet stores sell
> Quakers for around $175-$200, Normal Green Cheeks go from $200-$250.
>
> The show really opened my eyes to the different quality of breeders.
> Some were very knowledgable, some seemed to be purely in it for the
> money and could care less about care. That was a bit sad, but not too
> suprising I suppose.
>
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| AnotherBirdLover |
I'm not sure where you're located, but you do realize that $600 for a
"Normal" Green Cheek conure is about 3x the average asking price... The
rarer Crimson bellys go for that around here... Regardless, I have to
say my experience was a positive one and I'll probably go to another.
On Green Cheeks, they remain my favorite species. Their small size even
makes them that much more entertaining and often times you could almost
swear they really understand...
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| Sprite |
Xref: 127.0.0.1 rec.pets.birds:213039
All birds seemed over-priced at the pet store chains here. $600 was what
the local "Petco" wanted when I started shopping. One more reason I was
glad I tried a bird fair before I spent that much! I've been inside
retail long enough (unfortunately) to know mark-ups are absurd in chains
:P I'm in near DFW TX area and bought my green cheek hmm a little over
4 years ago. At this same fair the breeder I bought from was the only one
selling baby green cheeks. There were 2 adults that had been breeders.
Not a good choice for a first bird :/ Not sure if they just weren't
popular here yet or what. Lately when I go to fairs there are conures
EVERYWHERE.
I haven't priced recently because I'm still undecided on whether I want
to try 2 parrots. This little munchkin is such a handful lol. He's very
snuggly when I get home from work. I know that HE sometimes feels I
don't spend enough time with him but usually he seems happy with the time
I give him. Probably not less than 2 hours of direct interaction a day.
Other times he may be in/on a cage nearby while I read or pay bills or
whatever as long as it doesn't involve cooking/cleaning/laundry.
Sometimes he's content just to be in the same room and not glued to my
shoulder.
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| AnotherBirdLover |
On the two parrot idea... When my wife and I decided we would move the
birds (at that time two budgies and my Green Cheek, kadin) up to my
office I decided the only way I would do this is if I could get another
bird to entertain Kadin during the day. I decided on a Jenday Conure,
but I also had a fixed price I was willing to pay. Based on my budget I
decided looking at the classified adds was my best bet. The only trick
with this idea is that you have to be willing to wait for the right
bird, and if there's any warning sign at all don't buy the bird without
some type of written agreement. I live in Houston (just a bit down
south of you) and our major newspaper (The Houston Chronicle) covers a
very large population, so it didn't take long.. In the end, I ended up
with a Sun Conure instead of a Jenday, but I found a young, well
behaved bird who really needed a home and I got an amazing deal on
bird, cage, and about $200 in accessories. I ended up paying about 1/4
of the new retail value on the sum of it all. So I would recommend this
path to someone who wants a bird and is willing to forego that who baby
bird experience (which many think is a good idea anyway).
The bird I ended up with came from an owner I knew, so I decided
against the whole quarenteen, but I did keep their cages on seperate
sides of the room for the first several days and I didn't let them
socialize, one day my wife had our Sun and I had the Green Cheek and
the Green Cheek flew off my shoulder over to my wife, he started
preening the Sun, they've gotten some play time togeather every day
since then and this really lowered my concern about time sharing (now I
just do things with both of them togeather, this works out since our
Sun is less demanding of attention).
So I say thumbs up on the idea of a second bird, I wouldn't recommend
another Green Cheek or they might get "too close" and I wouldn't get
something too big or they probably wouldn't be able to play
togeather...
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