Best place to find budgie breeders?

[clicketty]

Hello budgie family! I am having so much trouble trying to find a suitable friend for my budgie Rin after his brother passed away. I refuse to buy another bird from a large chain pet store such as Petco or PetSmart as they are not well cared for, sick, and from breeder mills. Also, they are as far away from tame as a bird can be.

I'm a minor so I cannot divulge my exact location, but I think that saying Southern California is safe, right? Does anyone have a site they can recommend where I can find reputable breeders in my area? Preferably hand fed or socialized, but I can work with untamed

 

[clicketty]

Oops! Just realized this probably could have gone in the Breeders Boulevard category. Still finding my way around the avenue

 

[madison nicole]

Woody NOT just A Bird


Not sure how I feel about this one but...
Varieties of BIRDS for rehoming

 

[painesgrey]

There's a pretty large breeder in Napa (The Feathered Farm) that has some budgies listed for sale. Their website is a bit funky, but they have listings on BirdBreeders. I would definitely call them first, since most of the postings have been up for several months. Unfortunately, so many of these breeders focus more on species you don't see in the average pet store, so budgies in general tend to be overlooked.

Here are all the budgie listenings on BirdBreeder.

PetFinder also has a few results for budgies that need rehoming/adoption in Burlingame, CA and Los Angeles.

I would do a lot of homework on the individual breeders - look at reviews, talk to them at-length about their husbandry, facilities, and practices. Some may be willing to ship, but I would be reluctant to buy sight-unseen.

In the very least, it's a place to start.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Some people like Omar's Exotic Birds. I am not a fan but you can check them out and see what you think.
OMAR'S Exotic Birds :: Parrots and Bird Supplies, Orange County and Santa Monica, CA Not a large chain store but there are now 4 stores. Not sure if they breed the budgies or if they just get them from breeders and then sell them.

 

[karen256]

Look for breeders that offer handfed or coparented babies. Budgies do not need to be handfed to be tame and friendly if you get them young, but most any breeder that handfeeds some of their baby budgies is not a mill breeder.

You might look at the breeders' list on TalkBudgies.com to start with.

But I know how hard it can be to find a breeder you like. When I was looking for a breeder, I did come up with a short list of breeders that seemed to be good (but finally found a local breeder who was very nice). I was considering having a baby shipped and limited myself to only looking at breeders that raised a few smaller species (or just budgies), had pictures and ages for each baby, weaned them to a good diet, and socialized them (some handfed, some coparented).
Are you willing to have a bird shipped?

 

[clicketty]

Thank you everyone for the replies! @karen256 thank you for the TalkBudgies link, I'm interested in one of the breeders I would use bird shipping as a very last resort, if any. I just know that anything can go wrong with bird shipping and I feel as if the whole deal would be very stressful! On another note, I would really love meeting the babies and breeder in person to make sure everything is well.