Standards for A Quality Bird Shop
by Sally Blanchard

This article is copyrighted and may not be reprinted without the written permission of Sally Blanchard or the PBIC, Inc. Illustration by Jeff Riebe. Contact us for permission.

Not all of the pet shops I recommend meet 100% of my criteria, but the closer they come, the more highly I recommend them. Exceptional care of the parrots there is one aspect that may balance out minor problems in other areas.

The first concept that comes to my mind in evaluating a bird shop is respect. It is almost immediately apparent to me if the people representing the shop have genuine respect for their parrots (and other animals in their care). People can say they love parrots, but that does not necessarily mean that love translates into quality care based on knowledge, ethics, and/or common sense.

When I enter a bird shop, I assess the general physical aspects of the shop. Then I carefully observe the way shop personnel relate to both their parrots and customers.

A Comfortable Ambience

The bird shops I enjoy being in have an ambience that exudes friendliness—for the birds and customers. Most of my favorite stores have many dedicated customers who come in just to visit or even to help socialize the birds from time to time. People love to visit because they want to be around others who care deeply about parrots - they enjoy the networking possibilities of a good shop. I have been in several stores where customers have enthusiastically helped novices make toy selections. Employees strive to make sure every bird has a proper situation. I have also been in shops where bird knowledgeable customers feel as if they continually need to address their concerns about inadequate care and housing for the birds. It can be very frustrating to be in a bird shop where the people who care for the birds are ignorant about their proper care. It is even worse when they don't care.

Physical Aspects of Shop Environment

The physical environment of a good bird store is clean and positive with good lighting and comfortable temperature and humidity. Dark, dirty, depressing, dingy pet shops should be a thing of the past. Cleaning is done as part of the daily routine. No store can be immaculate all the time because birds (especially if they are fed a varied diet) are messy, but a good shop strives to stay on top of the store's condition at all times.

Cage Environments

The cages, water bowls, and food dishes in a good shop are cleaned at least once daily. There are no stalagmite droppings in the cages. Filthy cages and dirty water give an accurate idea of the total care the birds receive. All of the cages are clean and roomy with toys and activities for each parrot. The cage area has good lighting. The cages are the proper size for the birds in them. This goes way beyond the concept of each bird having enough space to spread his wings. Each bird can move about comfortably and smaller, high-energy birds have lots of lateral room to go from perch to perch. In a quality shop, cages are not stacked everywhere on top of each other or on the floor.

Parrot Care and Condition

The parrots in a quality store are healthy and in good condition. Some birds may have ratty tails from playing hard but in general, feather condition should be excellent. Bappies are robust and curious.

Every bird in the shop has the chance for activity or exercise. Older weaned bappies who have not yet been sold are handled and come out on a playgym on a daily basis. A good shop does not have so many birds and too few employees to give each bird proper care and attention. Each bird should be handled at least every day to keep him tame and socialized.

The birds are fed a nutritious, varied diet of pellets, mashes, greens, vegetables, some fruit, and some seed. If a store still has parrots on a seed-only diet, they are in the "dark ages" and do not deserve your business. I believe that a pellet-only diet (especially one with artificial food coloring) can be just as detrimental. Baby parrots, older parrots, compromised birds, and boarded birds should be housed in separate areas. If a store boards birds, they should require proof of a recent veterinary check that has established good health. One shop I really enjoy has an employee whose sole job in the morning is to do a written health and welfare check. Each bird and his or her cage are visually checked to make sure everything looks right. An avian veterinarian is consulted in regards to all health concerns. A quality parrot shop has a positive relationship with a qualified avian veterinarian in their area.

Baby Care

In a quality shop, customers do not have direct access to young babies. If they are allowed to handle the birds, they must wash hands first and then handle them with employee supervision.

I have known of several parrot shops through the years that would purchase birds from almost anyone rather than lose the sale of a certain species. In the long run, this caused serious health problems for many of the parrots in the shop. I believe that a knowledgeable pet shop will only buy from reliable, proven sources of healthy babies. If the shop doesn't have a certain parrot species that someone wants, they do not buy from an unknown source unless they have impeccable references. In other words, the buyer will not compromise the health of all store birds for the sale of one bird.

A good bird shop feeds their babies abundantly and gradually weans them to a nutritious varied diet. They do not feed babies according to an arbitrary timetable, gavage (tube) feed them routinely, and/or force-wean them by depriving them of handfeeding. I am opposed to the sale of unweaned birds to novice bird owners and therefore, use this as a criterion in evaluating a bird shop.

The People Working There

The shop owner, management, and employees all have a genuine interest in making sure their parrots go to good homes. They want to know as much about you as you want to know about them. A good shop will refuse to sell a bird to someone they suspect will not provide proper care for that bird.

I love a story about Parrot Island in the Minneapolis area. Terry Beaudoin has had the high quality shop for several years and developed a reputation for not selling parrots to anyone he felt was not ready to have one. One day, several years ago, a woman came in wanting to buy aparrot. Terry talked to her for a while and determined she was not ready and therefore, he would not sell her a bird. He advised her to come back several times to become more comfortable with the birds.

She did but for some time, she made sure she came in on Terry's day off. Finally she knew she had to face him to be able to actually buy a bird. She did and she got her parrot. Eventually she became so involved with the birds that she became a partner in the shop. But even more delightful is the fact that Terry and Shari are now married and run Parrot Island together. Now that is one of my favorite bird people stories.

Knowledgeable People

Employees are knowledgeable and willing to help. They take time to know you rather than just push you into buying a parrot or a certain product. I read a quote some time ago but do not know who said it, "Asking a clerk in a pet shop about how to feed your parrot is like asking the bagboy in a supermarket how to feed a human baby." While this is definitely true of the inexperienced help in the majority of pet chain stores, it should not be true in a quality bird shop.

Although I would not expect everyone who works in the store to know all about parrot nutrition, there should be someone there who has taken the time to educate themselves about quality food products.

Providing References

Bird shop personnel are willing to recommend avian veterinarians, knowledgeable behavioral consultants, publications, and other information sources.

They also provide a source for the purchase of quality publications. A few good bird shops I have been visited have an educational corner with a couch where people can look through store copies of magazines or books or watch parrot-related videos. This is also a comfortable place where people can sit down and relax to play with their new parrots until the birds are ready to go home. Parrots are more comfortable with people who are comfortable with them and a place to sit down and relax can be a great help in forming a bond between the caregiver and the parrot.

Store personnel are honest—if they don't know the answer to a question, they don't just make something up to try to impress the customers. Their information is based on common sense, logic, and trust-building methods of working with parrots. Birds in a quality store are always handled with respect, care, and gentleness. The individual needs of each parrot in the store are respected.

Products

Safety and quality is the good shop's greatest consideration in providing their customers with parrot products. I believe that people in charge of a quality bird shop are always searching for great new products to share with their customers. They carry new items that customers may not find anywhere else nearby. Of course, this is one of the ways a good shop wins and keeps customer loyalty.

The stores I love have walls or shelves full of safe, colorful, quality bird toys of all sizes and shapes. There is nothing I like better than to visit a bird shop that has an assortment of great toys I have never seen before. Good bird shops carry a great variety of foods for parrots - quality pellets, cooking mixes, treats, and seed mixes. They do not push one particular diet as a total diet for parrots.

Customer Loyalty

The world of parrots is becoming increasingly competitive and with so much competition, customer loyalty is critical to the quality bird shop. The quality bird store is highly recommended by people with knowledge about parrots and their proper care.

I have personally never understood why some bird shops are not interested in carrying magazines with parrot-product advertising. Obviously, since I edit and produce the Pet Bird Report, I am biased about this. However, the majority of bird shops that carry the Pet Bird Report consider it an important tool to help educate people about their parrots. They also consistently find that many of their loyal customers come in and ask them to order a specific product they are interested in from an advertisement.

I sincerely try to practice what I preach and I honestly would rather pay 10-20% more for a particular item to support a quality bird shop. If I were in the market for a bappy, I would pay a great deal more to buy a happy, abundantly weaned, well-socialized baby bird from a quality source. In the long run, the extra money is well worth the increased pet potential.

Vote with Your Money!

At this time, there is growing concern that the large pet chains are buying and selling vast numbers of production raised birds. I have seen no evidence that these parrots are now or will ever be receiving proper care according to the standards I believe are critical for their pet potential. Because of this, I personally will not spend one dime in any of these stores that carry live birds.

PLEASE, don't spend your money — for birds or bird supplies — in a store that provides substandard care for birds. If you are lucky enough to live near a quality bird shop where the personnel genuinely care about both their birds and their customers, be sure to support them with your business - even if you have to drive a distance.

Keeping good stores in business is the best thing we as consumers can do to guarantee a bird industry that respects the welfare of parrots!

 

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