by Scott Lewis
Honor among thieves. Does it exist in aviculture? In the last 3 years we have gone from one pet Grey to 86 parrots and counting. (At the time of this writing we had 86, we have about 120 now.) The thing that has amazed me most is that so many breeders will say whatever they think you want to hear to sell birds. “Oh yes, this pair of Greys is proven.” Then, we find out that the proven pair consists of two males. “Oh yes, these are proven Meyers.” Then, once we learn a little more, and we determine that the hen is a juvenile that never thought about laying an egg. Is this pair of Goffins proven and are they disease free? “Oh yes, we have had them for 4 years.” Only to find out that the male is PBFD positive and the seller had had them for all of a month. Is this a producing pair and is there anything I should know about them? “Oh yes, they produce with no problems.” Only to find out that the hen has never sat her eggs and we are faced with incubating and feeding day-1 babies.
And what about the breeders who will sell a complete novice with no hand-feeding experience a baby that is still on three feedings per day? “Oh yes, you should buy the baby now so it will bond to you.” We all know that this is crap, puts the baby at serious risk, and only serves to save the breeder work. It damages the reputations of responsible breeders and generally hurts the companion-bird market.
I don’t mean to imply that there aren’t honest, reputable breeders. There are, I have met some, and some are my good friends. But I have never been associated with an industry in which caveat emptor is more applicable.
What is the problem in aviculture? Why are so many breeders dishonest? I don’t know. But I do know that I will never join their ranks.