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Opinions on BirdTricks?

metalstitcher

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Um the hair in our ears is for wax and has nothing to do with our hearing....my goodness. And yes birds can go deaf. Gracie almost lost her hearing from that crazy ear infection she had that took us ages to get rid of.
 

javi

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I was crying so hard in that video. I work at an animal hospital and see people lose their pets quite often, but whenever I see a cis man cry because they are broken hearted, I lose it.
 

AutumnRain

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I was subscribed to Birdtricks on YouTube for years, and also on Instagram, but decided to unsubscribe to them on both platforms today. There are multiple reasons for that. One of them, is that I recently found out from another post on here that the cold pressed pellets they sell, are very similar to, if not exactly TOPS pellets with a much higher price tag, different packaging, and a different name. If that's true, I'm very disappointed and upset with them over that. I hate seeing anyone get ripped off, and I obviously don't like to be on the receiving end either. Thankfully, I did my research before purchasing those pellets from their site. They are far more expensive through Birdtricks. Intentional or not, Birdtricks seems to advertise the pellets in such a way that makes you think they are their own brand of cold pressed pellets. Maybe they are, but I didn't think anything like that was available elsewhere. Since I wanted Emery to get all of those nutrients, was willing to purchase them. I had no idea TOPS had that type of pellets. I understand that they have to make a living, but charging people double for pellets just doesn't sit well with me.

I've spoken with Jamie before when I had questions about Emery. She seemed very nice and interested in helping me. She answered my questions for free, which was, and still is greatly appreciated. :) While I do still use some of the training techniques I've seen from them, I definitely don't agree with or follow everything they advise. I'm going to look into different parrot trainers that are more knowledgeable, like Barbara Heinrich, as Monica suggested. There are just too many things about Birdtricks, and their business practices and advice that I don't care for. I do believe they care about parrots though, and helping others to have better relationships with their parrots. That said, the pellet overcharging was just the final nail in the coffin for me.

In their podcast, they mentioned that they don't believe birds should be offered around the clock access to food. The way it came across was like their way was the only way. There are definitely some birds who tend to overeat, such as some Amazons, but most parrots are good at self regulation when it comes to food. I personally don't agree with their viewpoint on that. Emery does very well with having 24/7 access to food. She eats when she's hungry and stops when satiated. Besides, if I end up working late, at least I know she has plenty of food available. It's a personal decision, and I'm not bashing anyone who does things differently. I just didn't care for their "I'm right, you're wrong" approach.

Instead, I will be purchasing Emery's new pellets from Kazoo Bird Toys, who is a trusted vendor and member on here known as @Love My Zons. I'm much happier to take my business elsewhere and support our trusted AA vendors who operate with integrity. They understand how we want the best for our birds, but won't rip you off in the process. :)
 
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Love My Zons

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I was subscribed to Birdtricks on YouTube for years, and also on Instagram, but decided to unsubscribe to them on both platforms today. There are multiple reasons for that. One of them, is that I recently found out from another post on here that the cold pressed pellets they sell, are very similar to, if not exactly TOPS pellets with a much higher price tag, different packaging, and a different name. If that's true, I'm very disappointed and upset with them over that. I hate seeing anyone get ripped off, and I obviously don't like to be on the receiving end either. Thankfully, I did my research before purchasing those pellets from their site. They are far more expensive through Birdtricks. Intentional or not, Birdtricks seems to advertise the pellets in such a way that makes you think they are their own brand of cold pressed pellets. Maybe they are, but I didn't think anything like that was available elsewhere. Since I wanted Emery to get all of those nutrients, was willing to purchase them. I had no idea TOPS had that type of pellets. I understand that they have to make a living, but charging people double for pellets just doesn't sit well with me.

I've spoken with Jamie before when I had questions about Emery. She seemed very nice and interested in helping me. She answered my questions for free, which was, and still is greatly appreciated. :) While I do still use some of the training techniques I've seen from them, I definitely don't agree with or follow everything they advise. I'm going to look into different parrot trainers that are more knowledgeable, like Barbara Heinrich, as Monica suggested. There are just too many things about Birdtricks, and their business practices and advice that I don't care for. I do believe they care about parrots though, and helping others to have better relationships with their parrots. That said, the pellet overcharging was just the final nail in the coffin for me.

In their podcast, they mentioned that they don't believe birds should be offered around the clock access to food. The way it came across was like their way was the only way. There are definitely some birds who tend to overeat, such as some Amazons, but most parrots are good at self regulation when it comes to food. I personally don't agree with their viewpoint on that. Emery does very well with having 24/7 access to food. She eats when she's hungry and stops when satiated. Besides, if I end up working late, at least I know she has plenty of food available. It's a personal decision, and I'm not bashing anyone who does things differently. I just didn't care for their "I'm right, you're wrong" approach.

Instead, I will be purchasing Emery's new pellets from Kazoo Bird Toys, who is a trusted vendor and member on here known as @Love My Zons. I'm much happier to take my business elsewhere and support our trusted AA vendors who operate with integrity. They understand how we want the best for our birds, but won't rip you off in the process. :)
Thank you for the kind words :swoon: please message me if you can so I know what you need. I have Tops on order. Just to ensure I get in what you are looking for pellet size wise.

Thank you!! :cheekkiss:
 

AutumnRain

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You're welcome, @Love My Zons! You and @Mizzely are going to be getting some big orders from me very soon. :joyful: I'm trying to get ready for a double flight cage for Emery before it gets here, along with restocking her food. Now that I started working outside of the house I want to make sure she won't get bored. That girl is going to be so spoiled by all of the wonderful toys and supplies you both have. :)
 

Mizzely

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You're welcome, @Love My Zons! You and @Mizzely are going to be getting some big orders from me very soon. :joyful: I'm trying to get ready for a double flight cage for Emery before it gets here, along with restocking her food. Now that I started working outside of the house I want to make sure she won't get bored. That girl is going to be so spoiled by all of the wonderful toys and supplies you both have. :)

:heart:
 

Monica

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One of them, is that I recently found out from another post on here that the cold pressed pellets they sell, are very similar to, if not exactly TOPS pellets with a much higher price tag, different packaging, and a different name....They are far more expensive through Birdtricks. Intentional or not, Birdtricks seems to advertise the pellets in such a way that makes you think they are their own brand of cold pressed pellets....I understand that they have to make a living, but charging people double for pellets just doesn't sit well with me.
It's a sales tactic. I have even found proof of it. They aren't bad people, but I have never cared for their sales tactics.

And now you know how they train, too! ;) That literally sums up everything about their training!

They say touch training instead of target training... power pause instead of systematic desensitization. One phrase is a relabel of a scientific term that has been accepted by all other trainers. You will not see well respected trainers with vast knowledge on the science of behavior saying the phrases that BT uses. In this way, they can say that they'll teach you the tricks that the experts don't want you to know about! You can't find those terms because they [experts] aren't using them! It's all BT!


In their podcast, they mentioned that they don't believe birds should be offered around the clock access to food.
They used to recommend starving birds.... not completely depriving them of food, but enough to the point that the birds were *TOO* eager to work which resulted in issues of it's own... Yeah, not recommended... Done properly, it can be a great way to train birds! But not the method that they (or PW) recommends...
 

MauiWendy

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I was crying so hard in that video. I work at an animal hospital and see people lose their pets quite often, but whenever I see a cis man cry because they are broken hearted, I lose it.
OH, I can watch men cry. I loose it every time.
 

MauiWendy

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It's a sales tactic. I have even found proof of it. They aren't bad people, but I have never cared for their sales tactics.

And now you know how they train, too! ;) That literally sums up everything about their training!

They say touch training instead of target training... power pause instead of systematic desensitization. One phrase is a relabel of a scientific term that has been accepted by all other trainers. You will not see well respected trainers with vast knowledge on the science of behavior saying the phrases that BT uses. In this way, they can say that they'll teach you the tricks that the experts don't want you to know about! You can't find those terms because they [experts] aren't using them! It's all BT!




They used to recommend starving birds.... not completely depriving them of food, but enough to the point that the birds were *TOO* eager to work which resulted in issues of it's own... Yeah, not recommended... Done properly, it can be a great way to train birds! But not the method that they (or PW) recommends...
Birds do not eat around the clock anyway. And on a personal note, maybe my bird wouldnt be so dang picky if I were to keep to a schedule, so he does get food all day. But when I was home more, my birds were on a schedule and did not get access to food 24/7.
 

Monica

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I pretty much free feed my birds - for the day. They aren't picky at all!
 

Zara

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I don´t withold food from my smaller birds. Little birds need access to food around the clock.
 

Gribouille

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My birds have food 24/7 but this Summer they had only pellets in the morning, then seeds and chop in the afternoon -seeds being snacks, and chop being a flies magnet in the warm weather.
 

M&M Ninja

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Parrot Wizard - I really want to like him. But his tone (in his writing) often bothers me for some reason - maybe it seems a little aggressive? His birds seem happy and he does have some great info. I loved the bird hearing article. If you haven't read it, go read the whole thing.
I just wanted to update what I wrote previously. I've spent more time on his site and just watched a video for the first time. While there might be warmth missing in his writing, it is certainly present in his videos. I think I've become too used to observing people gush about their birds (and that has come to equal love). He is more objective. Nothing wrong with that. It's kind of refreshing.
 
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Gribouille

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I just wanted to update what I wrote previously. I've spent more time on his site and just watched a video for the first time. While there might be warmth missing in his writing, it is certainly present in his videos. I think I've become too used to observing people gush about their birds (and that has come to equal love). He is more objective. Nothing wrong with that. It's kind of refreshing.
also some people are just writing much more formally than they are. My dad's mails & letters always make me feel like he is writing to some minister instead of his own daughter... but he never talks like that!
 

Fia Baby

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Um the hair in our ears is for wax and has nothing to do with our hearing....my goodness. And yes birds can go deaf. Gracie almost lost her hearing from that crazy ear infection she had that took us ages to get rid of.
We have "hair cells" within the cochlea, which is the spiral shaped organ of our inner ear. These hair cells become damaged with age and with acoustic trauma, and will not grow back. That ringing in your ears after you go to a rock concert is the sound of hair cells dying. These cells are not the same thing as the short hairs that grow in the outer portion of our ears that work to keep our ear canals clean.
 

Kenzie

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I enjoy watching BT's videos but would never invest in their product. There are just as good product for less. Additionally, their training they sell is free knowledge elsewhere. I really enjoy watching all Freeflying (though, if I wanted to purchase Free-Flying training, though, I would certainly do Liberty Wings) and I like their training methods that they DO make videos of for free view. It's just one more thing to add onto my pile of parrot training information for me to further make my own techniques and opinions from.

But yes, I do watch and invest my time into them to an extent. Their videos are well made and enjoyable. She includes her child correctly, has two "fosters" right now that shes made adoptable that were seen as hard cases (but it's obvious there was miscommunication and Jaimeleigh has certainly done right by those two fosters). Her birds are VERY taken care of and I can imagine the shows they do with them is enriching!

I do agree they market everything aggressively and I know of the thoughts of their training content being stolen/copied/etc but these days their channel is a lot more friendly towards casual viewers and not so much "BUY MY STUFF!!!!" which was something that would have certainly swayed me away from their channel.

I would say watch them if you just want something parrot-related to watch. It does not hurt to enjoy their videos and they DO have useful information and pleasant moments.
 

WindGlider

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I came across Birdtricks when a video popped up on youtube, it was a video filmed in some sort of class and the young lady was ¨teaching¨ a member of the class how to interact better with her macaw.
I did not like the video. It was very strange. And throughout, there was the pause screen with memos constantly saying how the member was ¨obviously¨ scared of/intimidated by the young lady (sorry, I do not know her name).

Maybe she´s good with birds, but on that video she was awful with people. No social skills whatsoever. And so, I´ve never watched another video on that channel.
(I think the video I refer to has since been deleted, hardly surprising as the comment section was slamming the channel for the way they spoke of this woman who had turned to them for help, not to be ridiculed or belittled.)
I recently saw that one too and agree, it was uncomfortable to watch. I won't be watching any more.
 

WindGlider

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Can someone explain the withholding of food training? I find it hard to believe two highly visible trainers BirdTricks and Parrot Wizard would openly recommend it unless it has some merit, while at the same time it sounds like it can be cruel, but I don't know the details, so not sure how I feel.
 

Mizzely

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Can someone explain the withholding of food training? I find it hard to believe two highly visible trainers BirdTricks and Parrot Wizard would openly recommend it unless it has some merit, while at the same time it sounds like it can be cruel, but I don't know the details, so not sure how I feel.
It's easier to train an animal if they are hungry. That's the basis. High profile doesn't mean best or right.
 
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