Opinions on BirdTricks?

Farfah · 2/13/21

finchly said:
It seems like we’ve had an influx of newer members promoting BT. Have you noticed that?

As a new member, I feel like BT has really encouraged a lot of people to become bird owners for the first time. I think it's great that more people are becoming interested in birds but it can open the doors to people who may not know what they're doing - especially with larger parrots. There's something about the YouTube algorithm that promotes their videos randomly. I used to NEVER watch bird videos and BT would still be recommended.

Personally, I think some of their videos are great (there's one on DIY budgie seed mix) and some of them are basically infomercials for their products. I don't like that they starve their birds for training. It's irresponsible for them to promote that technique given how many pet birds are already malnourished. Something about the husband annoys me. I feel like he talks down to people sometimes... or maybe it's his facial expressions. I would never buy their stuff - too expensive esp. in Canadian dollars.

AussieBird · 2/13/21

finchly said:
It seems like we’ve had an influx of newer members promoting BT. Have you noticed that?

Yes! I watch the odd video here and there. I am finding more and more things I don't like about them.

Kiwi & Co. · 2/13/21

Farfah said:
There's something about the YouTube algorithm that promotes their videos randomly. I used to NEVER watch bird videos and BT would still be recommended.

A lot of the times youtubers will study how the algorithm works to get the best chance at getting a video recommend. Other times the algorithm is just random and suddenly causes videos to go from barely any views to thousands of views in a few days after the video has been up for a couple years :shrug:

Zara · 2/14/21

Kiwi's Mom said:
suddenly causes videos to go from barely any views to thousands of views in a few days after the video has been up for a couple years

Yea, I have a lot of interest in a video that has gone up quickly in views.
My average is 15-40 views per video (just short clips of my birds at home etc), but one of Sydney has had 12,000 views and is on a sharp rise, no idea why.

I have a 10 seconds video of a tiger at the Zoo, and it was uploaded since Jan ´19, all of a sudden when the pandemic hit, I got 1500 views on it, I think largely because of some tiger king documentary (I never watched it), since mid april I got like 100 views until early December, then it started going up sharp again and still is on a steady rise.

A video clip of Jacob, got the usual 20 odd views since aug ´19, then from mid Dec to mid Jan, got 600 views.

I don´t understand any of it. I have also seen videos recommended, and I watch them and read the comments and see ¨Youtube suggested this to me )etc etc )¨ and I notice there´s a lot of people saying this at the same time, regardless of when the video was uploaded.

Kiwi & Co. · 2/14/21

Zara said:
Yea, I have a lot of interest in a video that has gone up quickly in views.
My average is 15-40 views per video (just short clips of my birds at home etc), but one of Sydney has had 12,000 views and is on a sharp rise.

Yeah, Ali showed me once that while his videos of his birds and other animals only had 15 ~ 30 views, a video of Sugar gliders eating had hundreds of views just 2 days after uploading :wideyed:

Zara · 2/14/21

Kiwi's Mom said:
Yeah, Ali showed me once that while his videos of his birds and other animals only had 15 ~ 30 views, a video of Sugar gliders eating had hundreds of views just 2 days after uploading

I posted a video of Sydney showing his rump feathers, and on day 2 it got 120 views, and the next day shot up to 1450, then nothing lol. Just weird. I really don´t understand it :lol:

Aves · 2/14/21

Zara said:
I posted a video of Sydney showing his rump feathers, and on day 2 it got 120 views, and the next day shot up to 1450, then nothing lol. Just weird. I really don´t understand it

Sometimes there is a phenomenon when YouTube gets drunk, and YouTube forgets how to count. :rofl:

This occurrence has happened many times... especially in smaller YouTube channels.

Kiwi & Co. · 2/14/21

Aves said:
Sometimes there is a phenomenon when YouTube gets drunk, and YouTube forgets how to count.
This occurrence has happened many times... especially in smaller YouTube channels.

Another reason for that is if the YouTuber has a patreon and the members get to see videos early, this results in comments that say “one day ago” while the video says “released 2 hours ago”

Aves · 2/14/21

Kiwi's Mom said:
Another reason for that is if the YouTuber has a patreon and the members get to see videos early, this results in comments that say “one day ago” while the video says “released 2 hours ago”

Yes and the members are often called "time-travelers"

Sparkles99 · 2/14/21

Yes, finchly, I've noticed this. A lot of people don't consider content, just pizzaz - just need to look at social media to see this. There's a difference between withholding regular meals & offering extra treats as motivation for sure.

Alliusis · 2/14/21

I haven't seen them recommend starving their birds, and Jamieleigh has specifically stated to not do that in some of her videos. I think they more recommend effective training timing, like if they just spent time foraging for treats, they may not be as motivated by treats at that time.

finchly · 2/14/21

Case in point. They also seem to refer to the BT people by their names, almost as if they know them.

Shezbug · 2/14/21

They’d be crazy to recommend starving birds.... weight management was the term I remember them using when I spoke with them.

AussieBird · 2/14/21

Shezbug said:
They’d be crazy to recommend starving birds.... weight management was the term I remember them using when I spoke with them.

I haven't actually seen anything about the starving except on AA...

finchly · 2/15/21

AussieBird said:
I haven't actually seen anything about the starving except on AA...

@Farfah gave a mini review up above that was unbiased — and did mention the s word (starving). Maybe you could tell us more, Farfah?

I don’t really have a dog in this race.

Monica · 2/15/21

Alliusis said:
I haven't seen them recommend starving their birds, and Jamieleigh has specifically stated to not do that in some of her videos. I think they more recommend effective training timing, like if they just spent time foraging for treats, they may not be as motivated by treats at that time.

They did get a lot of backlash years ago when they may have starved a budgie to death...

They should be using FOOD management, not WEIGHT management. Food management, you control how and when they get their food but you don't really lower their weight. If anything, you may have a bird gain weight and still able to perform the desired results. Weight management, you lower their weight, thus creating a hungry bird that "works" for food. Done improperly, adult birds can regress to baby begging behaviors, they may drink excess amounts of water, they may gorge themselves on food when food is finally given, etc. Not a healthy state of mind.

Parrot Wizard learned from BT.... in PW's book, he also recommends starving the birds.

It's from my understanding that BT *IS* trying to do better, but they have a ways to go. Their content now is a whole lot better than it was, say, 15 years ago! The sales approach back then??? Ugh! Awful! I can't understand how anyone fell for it! And their website, stealing videos and pictures from professional trainers and claiming it as their own... or copy and pasting information all over their site but then changing species name? Sleazy! I remember it!

AussieBird · 2/15/21

Monica said:
They did get a lot of backlash years ago when they may have starved a budgie to death...

They should be using FOOD management, not WEIGHT management. Food management, you control how and when they get their food but you don't really lower their weight. If anything, you may have a bird gain weight and still able to perform the desired results. Weight management, you lower their weight, thus creating a hungry bird that "works" for food. Done improperly, adult birds can regress to baby begging behaviors, they may drink excess amounts of water, they may gorge themselves on food when food is finally given, etc. Not a healthy state of mind.

Parrot Wizard learned from BT.... in PW's book, he also recommends starving the birds.

Monica, thank you for this replie, I also reread this thread and I feel like I understand this a bit better.
This has also rekindle my interest in bird (and other animal) behaviour and training.

Monica said:
It's from my understanding that BT *IS* trying to do better, but they have a ways to go. Their content now is a whole lot better than it was, say, 15 years ago! The sales approach back then??? Ugh! Awful! I can't understand how anyone fell for it! And their website, stealing videos and pictures from professional trainers and claiming it as their own... or copy and pasting information all over their site but then changing species name? Sleazy! I remember it!

I haven't watch a whole lot of their stuff, but I am glad they're changing as it would be wonderful if they started providing quality advice and such, with the large audience they have.

Still, I believe AA is the best place to go, because if someone can't help you they often know someone else who can :grouphug2:

finchly · 2/15/21

Monica said:
Their content now is a whole lot better than it was, say, 15 years ago! The sales approach back then??? Ugh! Awful! I can't understand how anyone fell for it! And their website, stealing videos and pictures from professional trainers and claiming it as their own... or copy and pasting information all over their site but then changing specie

That’s really awful. And the fact that they kept going... kept pushing... ugh. This makes me feel they’re untrustworthy, period.

I’m surprised the other sites didn’t get them for plagiarism.

About starving a budgie to death, I have no words.

Farfah · 2/15/21

finchly said:
@Farfah gave a mini review up above that was unbiased — and did mention the s word (starving). Maybe you could tell us more, Farfah?

I don’t really have a dog in this race.

I can't remember which video it was but they did mention not feeding your bird for a while before a training session. I mean, I've never seen their birds look hungry or unhealthy but you have to be careful what you tell people on YT when you're considered an authority. I didn't hear about them starving a budgie to death

Very sad if true.

Monica · 2/15/21

@Farfah Sid Price and Chris Bio both mention them starving their birds.

That info from years ago may still be able to be found online.

Opinions on BirdTricks?

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