One of the most unique parrots we have bred was the Eclectus. These are very gentle and quiet birds that are rapidly becoming popular by pet owners. But they are not the easiest birds to breed, making them in low supply, and therefore driving up the cost to well over $1000.

"In all the years we have raised birds, and after all the birds we have bred and owned, the Amazon is one of the most difficult birds to understand and raise. You will either grow to deeply love these birds, or totally hate them!"

Excellent resource if you are a sun conure owner or planning of buying one

"One of the sad facts about bird owners is that they rarely give their birds a careful health examination. This is mainly due to the lack of education on what to look for. What are the signs of a sick bird? How do they act? What should you do if they are showing signs of being sick?"

"I’m sure many of you have lost your pet, or certainly know someone who has. The sad fact is that most lost pets are never recovered. About ten years ago, technology was developed that allowed you to implant a special microchip under the skin of your pet. This chip would enable any vet, rescue agency or shelter to identify the pet by “scanning” the chip with a hand held reader. By searching through a database, they can identify the pet owner and reunite the pet with its owners."

We are always being asked what type of bird someone should get if they don’t have any experience with birds. They don’t want a finch or parakeet (boring!) but don’t want a large parrot (expensive, large, and destructive). They want something they can handle that is easy to train. There are a lot of birds that fit this category, and I’ve written about them in some of my past blogs. They include Quakers, and some of the conure family like the Sun and Jenday. Another good choice is the Green Cheeked Conure. This is one of the smallest in the conure famile, measuring about 10 inches, or roughly the size of a cockatiel. Their price is reasonable, and can be purchased for around $150-$200.

"Green Cheek conures are one of most playful and intelligent conures out there. But they are known to be a little nippy."

"Several years ago, we were introduced to a very unique little bird…the Blue Quaker. We never heard of them before. We were introduced to them by a breeder who was getting rid of her green Quakers so she could concentrate on breeding blues."

"If you want to know how to prevent, or clean up, a Psittacosis outbreak, who would you go to? A veterinarian or someone who had it happen to them? That would be me! But the good part of this story is it we were very lucky… it was an incorrect test result. But at the time we did not know that, and had one of the worst three months of our lives!"