Theme: About purchasing parrots

The purpose of this article is to help future - or current - aviculturists who have decided to buy one or more parrots, so that as much as possible you try to avoid making mistakes. Over the years, far too many have unfortunately been cheated by other aviculturists and breeders in connection with a purchase with formulations such as "the parrot gets all its feathers back in 14 days" or "it's a guaranteed breeding pair". I have therefore prepared the following checklist, which is a practical tool that you can use when purchasing parrots. As with so many other things in life, the successful purchase and sale of parrots is always a matter of trust between people, especially in situations where the information provided by the seller cannot be verified. The checklist is therefore not a guide to why you should buy a bird, but solely a tool that you can rely on in order to ensure the purchase of a flawless, healthy quality bird.

First of all, some general advice:

• Only buy birds from a person who clearly shows that on a daily basis he/she really takes care of his birds properly, so that the bird is also mentally healthy.
• The bird's plumage must always be clean and neat.
• If you want to be sure of buying a bird that will subsequently have a beautiful plumage, you must always refrain from buying any bird whose plumage for one reason or another according to the seller is not in order (typically because the bird plucks itself, or is picked by other birds, perhaps because it cannot cope, or - even worse - suffers from one of).
• Only buy birds from aviculturists and breeders who maintain a certain level of cleanliness and hygiene.
• Never buy birds from aviaries where there are visibly sick birds.
• As far as possible, avoid buying birds without fixed annual rings/microchips if you want to be completely sure of the bird's age.
• Always remember to put the bird in quarantine for minimum 6 - 8 weeks after returning home and use newspapers in the quarantine cage as a bottom layer, so it is easier to check the bird's excrement (must be continuous and shaped like small green sausages in parrots).

The checklist may seem comprehensive at first, but experienced aviculturists already have many of these checklists "sitting on their backs".

CHECKLIST FOR ACQUIRING PARROT(S) - click on the list in order to read a bigger version:

Notes:

ABV      =    Avian Borna Virus

PDD      =    Proventricular Dilatation Disease

APV      =    Avian Polyoma Virus

PBFD    =    Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease

CPS      =    Chlamydophila psittaci (Ornithosis).

Jorgen Petersen

Conceived/Updated: 23.11.2014 / 16.01.2024 

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