Parrots unlimited breeder

[Hawk12237]

i was wondering if anyone had heard of, or used this breeder Parrots Unlimited in California?

His name brandon? San Diego.....He 's had that place just a few years. Advertises on birdbreeders.com . But he does change names a lot, which concerns me.
Melzano's closed down after obtaining a reputation as a " parrot mill" ... Got himself a bad reputation.
He had a forum at one time ( think it was on FB) and was attacked viciously from public for running parrot mill. It was taken down.

 

[Hawk12237]

I wouldn't keep making more threads as then people get frustrated they have to go to multiple threads to read all the info

parrotsunlimited.net whois lookup - who.is

Looks like the domain was registered January 2019 and they're using a service to block their name and location from search.

It doesn't scream scam to me at first glance, but the fact that he keeps changing his name concerns me. If you're building a brand, continually changing your identity is not the way to go about it. It's like he wants people to forget who he was before? Turning over a new leaf all the time is a red flag to me.

He definitely used to be Melzono's.

View attachment 303609

The baby photo of the bird looks like it was just stretched out, so that also doesn't totally sent off a red flag. I also did a Google search for that image and didn't come back with a result so it's not likely stolen from the internet.

You could ask for a new photo that includes a piece of paper with the date written on it next to the bird to help ease your mind. He should be happy to accommodate if he's shipping nationwide often.

Hellooooo,
Read my post below everyone. The guy is knowledgeable, but many sites and his former forum gave him a pretty bad reputation as a parrot mill, ran it like a puppy mill. Reputation got so bad he had to close Melzano's. I followed him back in 2013-2014, and I got the same feeling from him as many public members that have seen his set up.

 

[Mizzely]

Ah that is sort of what I feared. So basically yes, you'll get a bird, but the quality will be questionable.

Do you know if he abundance or force weans?

 

[Mizzely]

Hellooooo,
Read my post below everyone. The guy is knowledgeable, but many sites and his former forum have him a pretty bad reputation as a parrot mill, ran it like a puppy mill. Reputation got so bad he had to close Melzano's.

Well I couldn't read your post before I made mine as it wasn't posted yet I've never heard of either so all of my info is based only on what I could find online and gut reaction.

 

[Hawk12237]

Ah that is sort of what I feared. So basically yes, you'll get a bird, but the quality will be questionable.

Do you know if he abundance or force weans?

Exactly!!!! That I couldn't tell you how he weans, judging by past post on his Facebook page I used to follow, the public bashed him vigorously about care and quality of the birds. Your guess is as good as mine. I do know from many sites in past several years they cautioned using this guy.

 

[Hawk12237]

Well I couldn't read your post before I made mine as it wasn't posted yet I've never heard of either so all of my info is based only on what I could find online and gut reaction.

Lol...sorry had to edit post, darn bird trying to distract me here.

 

[Tinabell]

Oh wow. I wish I had known all of this before. I will have to just hope he is being kind to his birds now and maybe just breeding a few in a humane and responsible way ? He says he abundance weans them. Who really knows though? He can say anything. I had just read positive reviews on bird breeders so I thought he was good.

 

[tka]

Ask him for more details about his weaning process - what does it actually look like in practice?

I would also ask for photos of the parents. Does he actually have the parents himself? If he offers a lot of species, I would be concerned that he buys and incubates eggs or buys very young chicks and then handraises the chicks. This kind of rearing means that the breeder doesn't know a great deal about the chicks s/he is raising, for example what their parents are like, what they're likely to be like as adults, the conditions that their parents are kept in and so on.

 

[Kodigirl210]

I can look at the pic and know what it isn’t. The body shape, coloring, wings and legs are all disproportionate. If it a RB2 it’s seriously deformed and the angle of the shot may change a little but it won’t change that much. It also won’t change the fact there is almost no red pin feathers. The knees look wrong and it looks like their feet are still pink at that age, not black. I’m also curious about the toes. They seem odd.

Here’s a pic of one at 18 days and 22days. They don’t have long necks or skinny bodies. The 22day old pic the chick weighs 254g. And they also don’t stand tall. I imagine with the correct shape and weight it would be hard to support the weight of fully standing up.

I would ask for a pic with a newspaper or something showing the date. I would also for a pictures of everything. His feet, his body and his beak. As well a short video showing walking around. You’ve paid a deposit for this bird and if he is legit he won’t any problems producing those.

And that’s the other thing that really bothered me. My breeders and all the other legit breeders who are on FB they have daily videos of everyone and everything at home posted. I saw nothing like that on the Fb page.

 

[Tinabell]

He told me yesterday the parents are just for breeding so wild in the sense they are not very tame . He said they were not of course wild caught, but bred. It sounded like they were his birds. I’ll ask him for a video as well as photos. I do t think he has too many as he has no more babies right now. He said my baby is with another RB2 that’s about two weeks older and that’s good so they learn from each other. He said that he also has some Amazon babies in the same room too.

 

[Mizzely]

He says he has 40 species (down from 80 when he was under the other name). If he has all the parents, that's 80 birds minimum. I'd be interested in seeing how he keeps 40 breeding pairs and all their offspring

 

[Tinabell]

that’s true. I’ll ask about that . I’ll ask how many birds does breed? It’s too late now since I already paid $1,250 1/2 down to cancel. No refund is ever given .

 

[Tinabell]

I just spoke to him. He said between the two farms he has 40 species. he says right now he has only 3 babies and tomorrow he gets 8 more babies in. I’m not sure of the species .
I asked for a photo of my RB2 and a video with a little sign with it’s name next to it “ Bisou” . It means kiss in French. He was very helpful and nice and said he would do a video and photo today or tomorrow with the sign in the video or picture .
I asked if he had any CAG’s he said the price has shot up very high on them to around $4,000 and he has none. He said he won’t have any babies anymore fo a while.

 

[ELS]

Yep, if his name is Brandon I knew people that got birds from him. He does indeed know his stuff, he just does it on a large scale. The birds were cared for and had adequate enclosures when he was Melzano's, but it's of course different than someone with a few pairs that they raise from and have more time to socialize. For what it's worth they were quite happy with the quality of their birds, but the couple that got a few conures from him did need to work with them a bit on handling. He's definitely a cut above a lot of the aviaries in California that just let them breed in flight pens outdoors or colony breed because of the mild climate and then go in with nets when they want to sell. If you're thinking "scam" in the sense of the bird not existing then no, I don't think that's likely at all.

I hope that's helpful.

 

[Hawk12237]

He told me yesterday the parents are just for breeding so wild in the sense they are not very tame . He said they were not of course wild caught, but bred. It sounded like they were his birds. I’ll ask him for a video as well as photos. I do t think he has too many as he has no more babies right now. He said my baby is with another RB2 that’s about two weeks older and that’s good so they learn from each other. He said that he also has some Amazon babies in the same room too.

People in the past had said that most of parents of the chicks are wild and not very friendly. Many of the cages the parents are in are basically in an outdoor avery. No toys that could be seen and is rather reluctant to have people visit his facility. Unless you have paid for your bird and are picking it up.
This used to be on his separate FB forum which was closed down because people really bashed him.

 

[aooratrix]

Not allowing people to his facility could be so his parent birds aren't disturbed or for bio security. I don't allow people I don't know to my home. You never know who might hear about your expensive birds and attempt theft.

As for FB, there are a lot of keyboard warriors there (and here) who will knock any breeder just for raising birds. They're not all bad, folks. Having said that, I've only heard of Brandon and have no info about him. Did you get references?

 

[iamwhoiam]

He does seem legit. Interesting, though, that most of the photos on his website are stock photos. It's good that he is willing to send you photos and videos. That is important. Some breeders are not comfortable having people visit their facilities because they want to protect the health of their birds. Who knows what people carry in on their shoes and clothing? San Diego is not in a Newcastle quarantined area which is a good thing. He does state this on his website: "Parrots Unlimited raises babies in a home for your home, meaning all babies will already be accustom to a household environment (TV, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, men, women, children, dogs, etc). "

 

[Kodigirl210]

I’ll be very interested in the pic. The second pic of the bird on the scale is 21 days old. Which Bisou should be right now. Hopefully there is a dramatic difference from his first pic.

 

[Tinabell]

I’m curious as it looks like he ran Melzano’s with another man. It’s possible since Brandon is only 40 years old now the man was more in charge. Maybe Brandon is more humane and running things differently?
Everyone’s help has been so appreciated . Thank you all for helping and your advice and information. I just have to hope for the best now. He seemed like a very knowledgeable man and it sounded like he cared for his birds when I spoke on the phone with him. I did think it was strange the FB page had hardly any comments, but I thought since he was liked by so many it was ok. Bird Breeders had good reviews on him, but they were all older.
I didn’t know what I know now , so all I did was my best. I’ll be sure to send the photo and video when I get them. I’ll be stressing if he doesn’t send them and I have to remind him!
I'm going to go through my huge pile of bird toys and foraging toys and organize them now to get my mind off this. I’ll keep dreaming and planning and hope for the best for my little girl or guy.
I also order a ton of different type of things to make my own safe bird toys. I’ll wait to see what materials Bisou likes best, in the mean time I’ll organize them and wait to find out with all the toys I have now.

 

[Hawk12237]

Not allowing people to his facility could be so his parent birds aren't disturbed or for bio security. I don't allow people I don't know to my home. You never know who might hear about your expensive birds and attempt theft.

As for FB, there are a lot of keyboard warriors there (and here) who will knock any breeder just for raising birds. They're not all bad, folks. Having said that, I've only heard of Brandon and have no info about him. Did you get references?

You have a point Matt about security and not disturbing parents. I used to chat with Brandon on other sites and FB. Very intelligent with birds.
But back then he had far more birds.
FB ran him into ground though. So many people were against breeders. I never met him personally, but there was another guy, a partner or something that actually ran the facility.
Brandon broke away on his own. The partnership turned sour from last I knew and the reputation started. Haven't heard much from him since.
But Brandon had different views of running it and his views were good. Not so sure about his partner, at time people bashed him...but Brandon got dragged into it.
Glad he went on his own. Because I think he'll do good. I haven't talked to him in a few years.
Since Brandon took the riens and changed name, his reputation has gone up I see.