Information a macaw buyer may want to know?

[Mizzely]

@Tyrion fixed it a bit for you. You need brackets [ not parenthesis ( The / also only goes at the end to signal the end of the code

[quote] Quoted text here [/quote]

 

[Jemas]

At a minimum, a yearly vet check is a good idea. More often if your bird has a known health issue or a physical issue that needs to be monitored. You should have a printed purchase agreement for your babies that the buyer must sign and agree to. My agreement is almost the same for conures as it is for macaws, but there are some differences. For all birds it says that they have 72 hours from the time the bird leaves my care, or the time it arrives at their location, to have the bird examined by an avian-certified vet. It states that the bird is guaranteed to be healthy when it leaves my care. If the vet determines that it has a health issue then at our discretion, we will either replace the bird or fully refund it. If for some reason the bird were to pass within 72 hours, a necropsy must be performed by an avian certified vet and the results sent to us. Tests may take longer than 72 hours to complete but as long as they are done within the 72-hour window it is acceptable. We are not responsible for things outside of our control.... like the environment of the new home or human negligence. The difference between the conure agreement and the larger parrot agreement is that for macaws, African Greys, and Eclectus parrots, I take them to the vet myself when they are weaned and before the buyer takes them home. I pay for a wellness exam and a microchip. When I hand the bird over they get a copy of the exam and the registration information for the microchip. The $150 for the exam and chip is a very small price to pay for the buyer's peace of mind in knowing that they are getting a healthy bird when they take one home.

As for a refund policy, that depends on the bird. I haven't had a conure come back to me, but I have had one macaw come back. My little red-fronted macaw, Penny, came back to me about 24 days after the buyers picked her up. The woman's boyfriend had really not been on board with owning a larger bird and after a few weeks, he was finally honest with her that it just wasn't something he wanted in his life. They asked me to take her back and I did. I offered them half of the purchase price back in return. She hadn't expected to get anything back and was happy with that. I expected to get an emotionally damaged bird back that I would need to put time into, but she came back the came happy girl she was when she left. It took 4 months to find her someone I felt comfortable with. I have to think of both the wellness of the bird and the time/money I have to put into a bird if one comes back to me. Luckily there was just Juju, Penny's brother from another clutch. He went home just a week or so later. Chichi, my harlequin baby hatched just a few days after Penny came back and was with us until February of this year. Red-fronted macaws wean early compared to other macaws so they typically leave my care at around 4 months of age. Chichi was with us for 6 months. Penny hatched in late April and went home in early August. She came back near the end of August and didn't leave again until right after Christmas. That's almost 8 months invested into one bird. Ultimately a healthy, well-adjusted bird is the most important thing to me, but I have to keep the expense of raising one in mind too. She is the only macaw that has come back to me, but I always tell my customers that if it doesn't work out please give me the first option if they decide to rehome one of my babies.

I see that I grossly overestimated the amount of vet visits lol. I've seen the health guarantee on every site I looked at, so we too will provide that. At your discretion means that you can choose not to refund the bird? Sam is pretty adamant about a no returns policy, but he's okay with the health guarantee. Honestly I wish that I was in control of this ordeal... I'm just the dude who fixed the website and manages the facebook. I'm sure he takes my input into consideration but ultimately I have to go with whatever he says, they are his birds after all. I'm gonna talk to him about this stuff and try to get him to come around. Thank you for your advice Brian, this is just a tad less overwhelming now.

@Jemas co-parenting means jointly raising the babies with the parents. That way they get both socialization with birds as well as people. Birds that don't get time to socialize with other birds can imprint too heavily on humans and it can create behavioral issues as they mature.

co-parenting parrots – Pamela Clark, CPBC

Posts about co-parenting parrots written by Pamela Clark, CPBC

blogpamelaclarkonline.com

Thank you for the link and info. We aren't doing this... I'm not sure why, I get the whole premise of why one would want to do this and it sounds like the clear option. The babies do get to socialize with other birds, but before Athena (the second baby) hatched, Aristotle had no interaction with the other birds, other than hearing them from the other room. Luckily, since Athena, he has taken to her and has not had any issues socializing with her.

My quote isnt working for some reason .....

Anyways I would like you said have several visits with new babies ..find out of there are other animals in house or small children ...What research has new owner done ... How big is the cage they want their bird to live in .. What types of food do the plan on feeding ..and do the have an avian vet they would like to use ...

As for a refund policy I would make it 3 months on sick or owner got in over their head and bird has to be returned to your facility before they dump it off at a rescue or sell it and a no breeding policy for the new owner ...

Weaned babies should be fed what you are feeding at time of selling ..I would even give out some of the pellets/seed mix your feeding to the new owner and even make up a feeding chart for them to follow ..

I would also put in a harness training manual for new babies so people dont think they can free fly their birds ..

Support after babies are sold is anytime the owners have questions for the life of the bird ..giving out this type of support can make you stand out from other breeders ...

Those are all very good questions for our interview.. and thank you for your advice on the feed and support parts. I'll run these by Sam. I plan on providing excellent service at the very least, even though I'm just the manager.

Our birds are free flight. I'm not quite sure what that means, all I know is that we can take them outside and they don't try to fly away.

Thanks again everyone for your replies.

 

[BrianB]

At your discretion means that you can choose not to refund the bird? Sam is pretty adamant about a no returns policy, but he's okay with the health guarantee.

It would depend on the circumstance. If the bird died once it left my care and the vet determined that the bird had a disease or genetic defect then I would replace or refund the bird. That's something I should have caught as a breeder so it's my responsibility to make good on it. If the bird dies and the vet determines it died from negligence on the part of the owner, then I wouldn't. There are always exceptions and the idea of goodwill towards your customers. I provided a replacement for a conure that had died as a result of a tragic accident. It wasn't a free replacement, but considering the circumstance, I gave them a steep discount on the new bird. Now let's say one of my macaws had gone to the new home and bitten an extension cord and been electrocuted. That's complete negligence on the part of the owner. Not only would I have not replaced the bird, or refunded their money, but they might also get an earful of profanity before I hung up on them. Life changes for people, and sometimes with very little warning. If one of my birds goes home and then something terrible happens to the family I would rather it come back to me than end up on Craigslist or something. Them getting any money back very much depends on the situation.

 

[Jemas]

It would depend on the circumstance. If the bird died once it left my care and the vet determined that the bird had a disease or genetic defect then I would replace or refund the bird. That's something I should have caught as a breeder so it's my responsibility to make good on it. If the bird dies and the vet determines it died from negligence on the part of the owner, then I wouldn't. There are always exceptions and the idea of goodwill towards your customers. I provided a replacement for a conure that had died as a result of a tragic accident. It wasn't a free replacement, but considering the circumstance, I gave them a steep discount on the new bird. Now let's say one of my macaws had gone to the new home and bitten an extension cord and been electrocuted. That's complete negligence on the part of the owner. Not only would I have not replaced the bird, or refunded their money, but they might also get an earful of profanity before I hung up on them. Life changes for people, and sometimes with very little warning. If one of my birds goes home and then something terrible happens to the family I would rather it come back to me than end up on Craigslist or something. Them getting any money back very much depends on the situation.

Thanks for your insight. I really wish I was the one running this operation...