Hand fed babies vs. parent raised

I would like to talk to you about several phone calls I received in the last few months. I have had several calls asking about taming birds. In one case a young lady picked out beautiful cockatiel in a cage filled with assorted colors. The person selling these birds for $35.00 each put on his glove and chased the bird around until finally pinning it against the side of the wire cage. He assured her the bird would tame easily and told her it was a young bird of nine weeks of age.

She called me and asked how to get it to stop biting her every time she tried to touch it. It another case a man with little or no experience bought a large Greenwing Macaw that was parent raised. It was not a friendly bird at all! Sure, it will tame right down, just keep petting it. I actually saw that transaction. It made me sick! I talked to the seller and he flat out told me he was only in it for the $money$ and didn't have time to worry about who bought his birds. Well, my friends if you are going to spend $35.00 or $700.00 you should spend it wisely.

If you are looking for a loving, sweet parrot "DO NOT BUY" a parent raised bird. The only exception is a budgie. They are rarely hand feed but tame easily. If you see a vendor, pet store or an ad in the paper selling birds "real cheap" and they have to net it or chase it around to capture, start asking questions.

Pay the extra money a buy a sweet, hand feed baby bird, please! I used to sell Cockatiels when I was a breeder. I remember being at an expo in Palm Bay years ago. I was assigned a table directly across from a man selling Cockatiels just like me. He had a large cage filled with Cockatiels. I was asking $50.00 each he was asking $25.00 each. people would say why should I pay twice as much for you birds. My answer was pet one of his and then come back and pet my hand raised babies. He out sold me by far that day.

I actually quit breeding Cockatiels because of that day. People were told they would tame easily as he chased their pick around the cage with a net. Guess what?