Selling Unweaned Birds

[sdegiorgio]

I am a reasonably new member to this forum, but I have attended a number of bird sales over the last few years. One thing that I am noticing more and more is the number of ‘handraised’ birds (particularly parrots) up for sale that are supposed to be ‘fully weaned’. The last bird sale I attended, there were a number of young handraised birds for sale, and it was obvious that some of these birds were not fully weaned, even though the seller/s were trying to pass them as fully weaned.

Why are these sellers allowed to sell these birds at bird sales (or anywhere for that matter) when it is illegal? The NSW Animal Welfare Code of Practice No 4 - Keeping and Trading of Birds states:

‘7.3 Juvenile birds unable to feed themselves should not be traded except for the purpose of hand rearing. The sale of fledglings unable to feed themselves must be restricted to persons competent in the procedures of hand rearing and they must be adequately informed of the nutritional and husbandry requirement of the species and the hygiene and management standards necessary.’

It is not only illegal, but unethical. I have been caught out by this issue when I purchased my Eclectus Parrot some 18 months ago. According to the seller, my Ecky, who I purchased at three months of age, was supposed to be feeding herself. When I got her home and presented her with food, it was obvious that this bird was not feeding herself at all – she was only just learning and playing with food. It was just lucky that I had previous experience with hand rearing birds and I was able to pick up and rectify the problem quickly. Imagine if that bird had been sold to someone without that experience, someone who just wanted a pet bird. Young birds, who have been hand raised, and then relocated to a new family, will almost always have some minor regress, and this is understandable given the new environment and people that they have to get used to. My Ecky regressed considerably, to the point where I was concerned about her health and welfare, even though I had picked up the problem the same day that I brought her home. I guess the one good thing I can say about my experience is that this situation did present me with a great opportunity to bond with my bird, and in the end everything turned out right. Having said that, it only turned out like that because of my previous experience of hand reared birds.

If the new owners do not realise that their bird is not eating on their own, the outcome for that bird is not going to be good, with the bird developing major health problems through nutritional deficiencies, potentially resulting in death. Basically the bird is starved to death!! Weaning is stressful enough for the bird and the owner - the bird does not need the added stress of a new environment before they can eat on their own, and they should never be force weaned.

It is sad to think that the perpetrators of this issue, the sellers, are thinking about the money, and not the welfare of the birds. It is not only heartbreaking knowing that that bird’s future is not great, but also for the new owners of the bird. How bad do they feel when their bird gets sick, or worse it dies because they starved it, not through any fault of their own but that of the reckless seller.

I understand that it is not easy to spot an unweaned bird; however, we cannot allow this practice to continue at bird sales. If we want to continue to enjoy having bird sales, we have to put a stop to this illegal practice. We need to put the welfare of the birds first.

References:
NSW Animal Welfare Code of Practice No 4 - Keeping and Trading of Birds –
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/l ... 7--Trading

[finchbreeder]

Agree. Unweaned birds should NEVER be sold to anyone, accept in the circumstances where it if fully understood that that is what is being sold. And that the buyer is fully aware/informed on how to finish weaning the bird correctly.
LML

[sdegiorgio]

Agree. Unweaned birds should NEVER be sold to anyone, accept in the circumstances where it if fully understood that that is what is being sold. And that the buyer is fully aware/informed on how to finish weaning the bird correctly.
LML

Thanks finchbreeder. I agree with what you are saying. Although, I think unweaned birds should never be sold at bird sales. You cannot instruct someone how to finish weaning a bird in five minutes. There is so much involved with the food preparation (types of food, food consistency, temperature and number of feeds throughout the day), and the actual feeding techniques (crop needle, syringe or spoon) for the bird. For someone that has never hand reared a bird before, it can be quite difficult. And they need to have a lot of patience.