Vicky Chai Tea
Walking the driveway
Ok. I work at a pet store, and unfortunately even though we carry parrots and other birds not one of my co-workers has shown any amount of knowledge in the area of bird behavior, body language, and appropriate training methods. I myself am not entirely well read on those subjects but I can certainly say I can predict bird behavior better than them.
As a result, we have many un-tame birds that stay in the store and rot in their cages while no one takes them out. It's sadly true, and bothers me greatly. They aren't bad people or anything, they just really lack a certain important knowledge about birds and how to handle them. I really want to find a way to help educate them, or allow them to educate themselves, on bird behavior and training so these poor animals will get bought and places in homes. No one wants a bitey, cage aggressive bird. They want nice hand tame sweeties. My boss is loosing money because he's not selling them fast enough.
Here are some things I've seen a lot from them:
Refusing to give the bird personal space
Forcing themselves on a bird (petting, touching, grabbing, especially touching the beak and face for some reason , etc.)
If a bird refuses to come out it's normal for them to chase it around the cage while it screams and flails until they catch it and take it out.
Dropping a bird to the floor when it bites them as punishment
Recommending covering birds up when they scream "too much" to customers
For some reason grabbing a birds beak when it obviously does not want them to and avoiding bites this way, until they actually get chomped then usually dropping the bird.
Even when a bird is panting and mouth wide open (obviously panicked) they sit there and pet the bird forcefully, and when it inevitably tries to fly away and falls they run after it then pick it up and do the same thing.
As a result of this kind of thing, I got bit by a young Scarlet we have. A worker brought the bird out and since this bird is still young it's usually lets people pet it all over. But the birds growing up and despite warnings (vocalizations, pulling away) a co-worker kept petting him. So they set the bird on top of it's cage and a different co-worker grabs his beak and shakes his head in a way that I guess she thought was playful, even though he was bristled and his eyes were pinning. Welp, I was leaning on a shelf thing next to the cage and my hand was the closest thing to him when my co-worker let go and he bit it. I calmly pulled my hand away though he latched on pretty well, then he let go. But then he bit my forearm and I pulled that away also, without reacting much (didn't want to frustrate him further). So the first co-worker grabs him and puts him back in the cage. Her explanation for the bite was "He's hungry and wants me to feed him, so he got frustrated." (we're still weaning him off of formula) And I didn't know how to politely tell her she was wrong.
So I need some ideas on how to get them to be able to work with birds, not against them! My game plan so far is to buy a few bird behaviors books (Specifically I had in mind "The Parrot Problem Solver"... any other suggestions?) and talk to my co workers like "Hey I got this awesome book on birds you guys should check it out!" then lend them my copies. And point out to my boss that he's loosing money when the birds are here for so long. People will buy well behaved parrots. But by refusing to socialize them or going about it in the wrong way he's causing them to become fearful, nervous, aggressive, and unhappy.
As a result, we have many un-tame birds that stay in the store and rot in their cages while no one takes them out. It's sadly true, and bothers me greatly. They aren't bad people or anything, they just really lack a certain important knowledge about birds and how to handle them. I really want to find a way to help educate them, or allow them to educate themselves, on bird behavior and training so these poor animals will get bought and places in homes. No one wants a bitey, cage aggressive bird. They want nice hand tame sweeties. My boss is loosing money because he's not selling them fast enough.
Here are some things I've seen a lot from them:
Refusing to give the bird personal space
Forcing themselves on a bird (petting, touching, grabbing, especially touching the beak and face for some reason , etc.)
If a bird refuses to come out it's normal for them to chase it around the cage while it screams and flails until they catch it and take it out.
Dropping a bird to the floor when it bites them as punishment
Recommending covering birds up when they scream "too much" to customers
For some reason grabbing a birds beak when it obviously does not want them to and avoiding bites this way, until they actually get chomped then usually dropping the bird.
Even when a bird is panting and mouth wide open (obviously panicked) they sit there and pet the bird forcefully, and when it inevitably tries to fly away and falls they run after it then pick it up and do the same thing.
As a result of this kind of thing, I got bit by a young Scarlet we have. A worker brought the bird out and since this bird is still young it's usually lets people pet it all over. But the birds growing up and despite warnings (vocalizations, pulling away) a co-worker kept petting him. So they set the bird on top of it's cage and a different co-worker grabs his beak and shakes his head in a way that I guess she thought was playful, even though he was bristled and his eyes were pinning. Welp, I was leaning on a shelf thing next to the cage and my hand was the closest thing to him when my co-worker let go and he bit it. I calmly pulled my hand away though he latched on pretty well, then he let go. But then he bit my forearm and I pulled that away also, without reacting much (didn't want to frustrate him further). So the first co-worker grabs him and puts him back in the cage. Her explanation for the bite was "He's hungry and wants me to feed him, so he got frustrated." (we're still weaning him off of formula) And I didn't know how to politely tell her she was wrong.
So I need some ideas on how to get them to be able to work with birds, not against them! My game plan so far is to buy a few bird behaviors books (Specifically I had in mind "The Parrot Problem Solver"... any other suggestions?) and talk to my co workers like "Hey I got this awesome book on birds you guys should check it out!" then lend them my copies. And point out to my boss that he's loosing money when the birds are here for so long. People will buy well behaved parrots. But by refusing to socialize them or going about it in the wrong way he's causing them to become fearful, nervous, aggressive, and unhappy.