EXCERPTS FROM
THE LONG SAD TALE OF AN EXCELLENT BIRD BREEDER.
(Anonymous)

Like most people in the old days (pre 1980) I saw a beautiful parrot in a pet shop. I took her home knowing nothing about birds, what they eat or their needs. I was sold a bag of seeds and some grit.  One day a few months later I went to the pet shop to buy seed with Peachy on my shoulder. Lo and behold there was another Amazon of the same species in the store. She took one look at this bird, flew off my shoulder and threw herself at the other bird. They started to scream and chatter with sounds I had never heard before. I bought the bird and took them home together. They have been together ever since, some 27 years later. They had a baby in 1980. I had never heard of hand feeding so the baby stayed with mom and dad until he fell out of the nail keg. He fledged in the kitchen and we had a family of three. 

 
I caught the fever and bought a pair of Macaws, then another pair, buying more species including the little Macaws.  Birds were cheap and there were lots of them. Evidently I had the touch because I soon had babies all over the place.
The first babies were given to friends, then I heard you could sell them. I started taking the babies at a few weeks from their parents and soon had the sweetest handfed loved cuddly babies in all birddom. I was now a breeder.
I read everything I could get my hands on and began attending the only bird convention in the 80s. People came from all over to buy one of my little ones. I did everything right. I found an avian vet and began taking everyone. I sold them weaned and vet checked.
The people who bought the babies said they would love them forever. I begged them if they couldn’t keep their baby to let me know and I would buy them back.
12 years passed. By this time I had fallen in love with a specific species.  I soon found terrific breeders to buy my Macaws. What wonderful homes they were going to. Within a few years every pair had been resold.
To this day I don’t know where they are.
By 1995 the bird industry had taken off. The kind gentle people who wanted to buy my babies were replaced with bargain hunters. Something died in me that year. I stopped breeding birds.
By this time I had bought back or was given back several of my large Macaws that had matured into big sexual demanding parrots the way God intended them to be. I placed them the best I could.
One story stays with me. A mini Macaw bred in the 80s went to a loving home locally. He grew up with the kids and had full run of the house. Two years ago there was a knock at the door. Standing before me was the longtime keeper of this dear spoiled bird. “I don’t want him anymore” she said. “I have grandchildren now and he bites them.” With that she handed him to me.
I still consider parrots my heart. Going to conventions, joining organizations, donating money to worthy causes, supporting the rescues and sanctuaries and observing parrots in the wild nowadays is my way of giving back. The small hobbyists as I was who have a true love for parrots are fast disappearing. Taking our places is the bird industry of Animals Users. Incubate them, hatch them and sell them as cheaply as possible.
The legitimate rescues are turning away parrots every day. If the breeding is not curtailed we will have the same situation as the cat and dog industry.
Parrots live too long. It is as simple as that. We live in a transient society with an unsure economic forecast.  People aren’t bad. Events happen that we cannot predict. We deal with death, aging, divorce, job loss. A credit card can purchase a bird and a cage at any shop.
The answer is education.
• Inform the public about the immense commitment of time and effort a pet parrot takes out of your life. Perhaps if potential buyers are aware of the down side of having a parrot they will think twice before they take the step to buy one.
• Protest ads that claim parrots are low maintenance.
• Join eco tours. Seeing parrots in their natural habitat is a life changing experience.
This year I have had five requests to take back my beloved babies all about ages 10 to 12. I have bought back two and am trying to place the others.
I wake up at night thinking of the ones I have lost track of.
Where are they now those sweet trusting little babies? God only knows.