Breeders of Happy, Healthy, Well Socialized Baby Parrots as Lifelong Companions
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Frequently Asked Questions For Parrot Owners
Q. How can I reserve a baby?
A. We require a 50% deposit to reserve babies.25% for eggs. All deposits are non-refundable. You can reserve an egg or a baby at any age.
Q. Do you sell unweaned babies?
A. We do not sell unweaned babies to the public. Any benefits that people believe exist in weaning a baby themselves are just myths.
Q. Do you allow visitors to your nursery or aviary?
A. Sorry, we don't. Not only do we not have a place for people to see the babies in a retail-like setting, but also because of disease and security concerns.

Q. How are parrots to live with, really?

A. Parrots are wonderful, fulfilling animals to have as pets. The bad news first: They are also messy, loud, demanding, naughty and destructive. To what degree, depends upon the individual species, as well as the individual parrot. Living with a parrot is a job. You can't put off taking care of them for a day. If you can't deal with daily noise, feather dust or cleaning food off of the floor and wall, a parrot is NOT for you. The Good News: They are funny, entertaining, interactive, beautiful, affectionate LONG LIVED companions. The main reason that there are "bad parrots" are because somewhere down the line, there were humans involved in their care and/or upbringing that didn't do the right things.
Q. What is basically involved?
A. Besides the basics of a variety of foods and a change of water at least once per day, and a cleaning of the cage, they need out of cage time - on playgym with toys and also on you, in-your-face-time. If their needs aren't attended to, they can be painful to live with. See the glow of outstanding health coming from the Goffin's picture to the right? It's not just a fantastic diet of a variety of fresh foods, and a warm water spritz that keeps him in perfect feather. He also gets daily attention. He is petted, talked to, played with. He can flap his wings, he can tear up some cardboard, he can fling his cooked pasta around, he can scream, he can take out his mini-might on his toys. It seems all about him, right? It is to an extent, but he is managed and he does have limits. Parrots have been compared to young children. It's true, they are much like that at times. Just keep in mind that you are living with a parrot, not making them adapt to your lifestyle.
Q. What equipment do I need?
A. Caging should be large. Much larger than many people think. They need room to climb about & play with the several different types of toys (that you should be rotating in and out to prevent boredom). Their cage should give them room to outstretch their wings and flap. I prefer dometop cages with separate play gyms. Others like the playtop cages. It's important to pay attention to the spacing of the cage bars as well. You wouldn't want a curious head to be caught between them. It would also be a good idea to have a play gym. When not with you or in their cage, this is their hangout spot.

Toys, toys, toys. Parrots love to play! ~ Or they should be taught how as youngsters. ~ Nowadays, there are many toys to choose from to satisfy your parrot's desire to chew, destroy, make noise, etc. Not all parrots like the same thing. Some are cheap dates and love to tear apart everyday items like cardboard tubes or blocks of wood. Don't sell your small parrot out either. Even the smaller species need enrichment, which can range from a preening toy to a snuggle hut, to a swing, etc. Parrots can also get bored with the same old same old. Rotate toys in and out of their cage regularly and keep a good supply of their favorite ones that they love to destroy.
Q. What about diet?
A. Parrots should be fed a variety of fresh and cooked foods, along with a high quality commercial pellet and appropriate parrot seed mix and fresh cracked nuts (depending upon the type of nut and the size parrot -some can definitely crack their own nuts!). Fresh ( thawed out of season) fruits and vegetables (plain, no sugar, salt or sauce added), cooked plain pasta, cooked bean mix, parrot bread, etc. And always fresh water. Parrots love to dunk their food in their water dishes, take a bath in their water dishes and generally make a mess. It's fun and enriching to them!
Q. Warm water spritzing.
A. Think rainforest! Warm water spritzed in the air, over their back and wings. It's needed for good feather health as well as mental health. We recommend it a few times a week at least.
Q. How our babies are raised.
A. Our parrot babies are highly socialized in our very active household of children, dogs and cats. They are accustomed to being handled by adults and children, are taught the step-up command, are stick trained, used to living in a big parrot cage, are encouraged to play with toys by themselves and with a human, are allowed to fledge and are of course fully Abundantly Weaned. Our babies also get accustomed to riding in the car in their specially designed airline approved carriers. Over the years, we have developed a program that produces happy, healthy, outgoing babies. It's the new owner's responsibility to continue to keep them that way. :-)
Q. Do you offer DNA testing?
Yes. We will DNA sex a baby for a fee of $ 30, once reserved. We cannot guarantee gender. For breeding birds for sale, ours are always surgically sexed. Surgical sexing is the only sure way to determine not only gender but the condition of the reproductive organs.
Q. How does our new baby get to us?
A. We ship your baby via Continental Airlines to the nearest major airport to you. Continental Airlines protects all of the animals it ships from the heat of the summer and the cold of the winter by transferring them to temperature controlled vehicles to and from the aircraft, as well as placing them in a temperature controlled room before and after their flight. No other airline does this! Please check to see if Continental services your airport before ordering. Airline and crate charges will depend upon the size of the parrot. Total charges are $225-$250.
Q. Support.
A. We are here to help you now and for the years to come. Don't hesitate to email or call us with any questions. We also like to see pictures and hear updates on how your parrot is coming along!

Q. Pictures of Your Baby

Once reserved, we do email pictures of your baby to you at different stages of their development so that you can see how s/he is growing up! Note: We don't like to take pictures of your baby, subjecting them to the flash of the camera, until the eyes are open at about 3-4 weeks. Photo sessions are every two weeks.
Q. Pictures of Babies
With the number of babies in the nursery we don't take regular pictures of every single one, so we don't have pictures of all available babies. When a deposit is made, we'll have pictures for you on the next scheduled date of picture taking for our clients. This is on an approx. 2 week cycle, so that we can do pictures all at once.
Q. Pictures of Parents
The pictures on our website of parent birds are the only ones that we have, as it was before the building of our enclosed aviaries. Now, it is nearly impossible to get good photos of the adults, with the way that the cages are setup so high... and with a few hundred pairs to go through.
Q. Guarantee
Our birds are guaranteed to be free of any congenital defects. We also guarantee that they are healthy and free of any disease or illness at the time of shipping and 72 hours afterwards. If you are concerned, you should make an appointment with an avian vet to have your bird checked out before the 72 hour time period is up. Note that a slight gram negative bacterial infection can occur due to the stress of shipping. We have a limit on our disease/illness guarantee, because you could easily infect your new baby if you have been to a bird shop, bird show, etc. Pathogens carry easily on your clothes, on toys you have bought, etc.
 
Q. Do you sell parrot toys and food?
A. Yes. Click on the link for the pdf file of our retail catalogue.
 
Frequently Asked Questions For Retailers
 
Q. Do you ship?

A. Yes, via Continental Airlines.
Q. Do you offer terms for wholesale?
Yes we do, on established accounts.
Q. Do you have a catalogue?
A. Yes, we have a wholesale catalogue with fantastic pictures of our toys and playgyms available to retailers. Email or call us with your mailing address.
Q. Do you do referrals from leads that you receive?
A. Absolutely. If you carry our parrot babies, toys or cages, we will send customers to you for the quality that that we have sold to you! :-)
 








 

 

 


















Shady Wings Aviary, Breeders of Highly Socialized baby Parrots as lifelong companions.



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