Need some help- trying to get some birds out of a bad situation.

[FabFeatheredFour]

Alright, crazy bird lady called me again today to see if I would take her last pairs off her hands. This was the call I have been waiting for- these poor birds are jamed in parakeet cages that are halfway rusted through. I guess she took care of them at one point but she has fallen ill and the birds have been pushed onto her porches and into her bathrooms. I have already bought five lovebirds and several teils and budgies off of her. She has the following pairs left:

1 normal pair of peachface

1 pair of orange peachface

1 pair of masked lovebirds (one is blue, the other green)

1 pair of pied green fischers

The normals she will sell me for the same price I bought the others for, which was $40 a pair. When I asked what she wanted for the other three pairs, I was told "she'll have to think about it". I have seen these birds up close, and the titles are correct for them.

What in a normal market are those three pairs, proven pairs worth? I need to know where she is probably going to come at so I can come up with a counter offer.

I've had to buy seven new cages and a ton of new stuff, plus the birds- although my friend was kind enough to pay me back for the budgies and tiels that she took from me. I must have put about a thousand into this already but I can't let them just sit there in those dark dirty and rusty cages.

Any help would be great... luckily my vet is working with me and is treating this birds free of charge except for meds. Which is good because this last one I bought off of her is ridiculously beat up- I will take a picture before I take her to the vet today to show you all.

Thanks

[linda040899]

$40.00 for a pair of normal green Peachies is a very good price, depending on if you are getting just 2 birds or a breeding pair. Any way you slice it, that's $20.00/bird.

The most expensive of the pairs is the Pied Fischer's. Not sure what they are worth where you are but prices will vary from location to location. Florida, where I am, tends to be cheaper, as our overhead costs are lower because of our milder climate. Try offering her a flat amount for all the birds, say $50.00/pair or $200.00 for everything and see what she says. That will make the green Peachies a bit more expensive but it will offset the cost of a pair that she may consider more valuable, at least in her eyes.

Just my own thoughts....

[FabFeatheredFour]

Here are some pictures of this poor baby- she is supposed to be a lutino orange face according to crazy bird lady.

http://inlinethumb40.webshots.com/41447/2429485090054473373S425x425Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb42.webshots.com/38121/2336558230054473373S425x425Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb07.webshots.com/39558/2561269210054473373S425x425Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb46.webshots.com/39021/2669120020054473373S425x425Q85.jpg

[FabFeatheredFour]

They are all proven pairs- she just called me, $40 for the peachface, $60 for the orangefaces $100 for the fischers, $100 for the masked, and aparently she is going to "throw in" an odd lutino hen.

I'll try to get her lower, but I am afraid if I try too low she will just balk and close the door in my face, she is very.. touchy. Do you think $300 is too much?

[beckyg]

Here are some pictures of this poor baby- she is supposed to be a lutino orange face according to crazy bird lady.

http://inlinethumb40.webshots.com/41447/2429485090054473373S425x425Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb42.webshots.com/38121/2336558230054473373S425x425Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb07.webshots.com/39558/2561269210054473373S425x425Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb46.webshots.com/39021/2669120020054473373S425x425Q85.jpg

How sad. I am glad that she is in good hands now. I can't believe people treat animals this way. I mean even if I didn't like an animal I wouldn't be able to treat them like that. I would feel absolutely horrid. She is still gorgeous even with missing feathers.

[linda040899]

I think she's a bit high on the Masks, as they are nothing unusual. However, you may have to bite the bullet and give her what she wants. Just remember one thing. You will be getting what you pay for and I'm always leary of anything that seems to be a bargain, regardless of circumstances.

What I don't like is the photo of the "odd" bird she's adding to the mixture. Make very sure you quarantine everyone and test everyone for PBFD. I don't like the look of the feathering on that odd bird.

[FabFeatheredFour]

The one in the picture is one that I have already bought- that was the last one I got from her, not the odd one in the group, I havent even seen that one yet... oie so many birds :(

Oh trust me, they are all in quarentine!! They are in my old rescue kennel building, not even attached to my house. Four of the five that I have gotten from her have already seen the vet.

It looks like she has been plucked more then anything, just big gaps of feathers that are all chewed and she has some cuts on her skin as well as the missing toes.

What other signs should I be looking for if its PBFD? Her nose and eyes are clear and her beak is undamaged and not flakey.

And yes before someone asks I wear gloves and change clothes/scrub up before coming into contact with my birds ;)

[butterfly1061]

:clap Kudos to you for offering her money for her neglected birds. :clap I'm sure after a vet visit & quarrantine all will soon be in top shape with your love & care. I don't know much about PBFD, but I know Linda does. Just wanted to give you a "pat on the back" :)

[linda040899]

I'm basing my suggestion to test for PBFD based soley on feather condition. Her feathers may just be plucked but not testing isn't a chance you can take, especially since you don't know anything about this lady. The condition of her birds does not speak well for their health. Psittacosis is another test that would probably be well worth doing.

[FabFeatheredFour]

Well I wasn't able to get her lower, she was pretty firm and said that if she placed an add in the paper she could get rid of the masked for $150 for the pair and the fischer's for $200. I'm tempted to let her do it, because it's not like I have a need for these birds, I just want them out of the situation they are in. But then again I worry someone will buy them thinking they are healthy and they turn out not to be and someone gets into trouble because they didn't quarentine. Or that she wont actually list them. She hasn't tried to sell them since she got sick, she just sorta ignored them, the only reason I found out about them is because of the Nanday she abandoned on my front steps. (I tracked him to her and discovered all the other birds and offered her cash for them)

I went and looked at them today, the masked pair is on eggs and the fischers have 5 3 week (?) old hatchlings. She said she would sell me the cages and the nesting boxes for an additional $20 each, which would bring my total to $350 roughly. for 8 birds and the 5 3 week old hatchlings. She didnt even know the fischers had babies ::rolls eyes:: she was very suprised when she looked in the nesting box, but said they would come with the parents, and thats when she offered the cages.

They all look fully feathered, no one beat up like the lutinos, and are bright eyed and active in their little nasty cages. Apparently she had two odd lutino hens, the one I have and the one she still has, and she had them in a colony situation with the masked and the normal peachface pairs and they got the crap beaten out of them over the last couple of weeks by the mated pairs (of course) which is supposedly why both lutino hens look like **** incarnate. We'll see if that's really the case when I get the blood work back on the girl I bought earlier this week. I took her to the vet today and we did blood work and a gram strain which came out "normal for the stress shes been under" according to my avian vet. Waiting on the blood work. She also cleaned her toes and amputated some of the dead flesh that was still attached to her toes where the other birds ate her up.

I'm going to see if I can move some money and afford these guys, if not I'm just going to have to suck it up and say hey, I was able to get the others out but I can only buy so many :(

Am I able to move the nesting pairs from the small cages they are in into larger breeder flights with new nesting boxes, or should I leave them alone? I bought 12 32'' X 18'' X 18'' cages in preperation for these birds, but I do not have nesting boxes, because I really am not looking to breed I just want to get them healthy again. The flights are so much bigger then the little cages they are in which are the cheap plastic starter budgie cages that I wouldnt even put a solitary finch in.

And all of these are wild birds, none are the slightest bit hand tame.

Well that's the update.. wish me luck

[tokameaki]

where is all these happening?....what state?....maybe i can help

[FabFeatheredFour]

North Carolina, western end of the state

[thebubbleking]

Omg bless your heart!
We need more people like the fid mamas and papas here!

[FabFeatheredFour]

Well I friend of mine is going in half with me and will take one of the pairs, just haven't decided which yet. The normal peach faces aren't normal like I thought BTW she already sold those to her daughter. (::groan:: I hope she is a better caretaker) the ones in the group she is selling me is a very pretty pair, the female is a seagreen and the male is a pied, mostly yellow with some green splashes on his back. They are a very attractive couple, and will look much better once away from there! I think I will probably take the masks and the peachface and my friend will take the fischers and their babies.

I'm glad I have some help coming because BOY my head was spinning trying to keep track of all the birds this woman has coming out of the wood work and trying to make sense of her lies.

Edit: the orangefaces are lutino and very light- they are the parents of the two lutino orangeface hens that were beaten up. Does anyone have any pictures of lutino orangefaces with very light face markings? it's barely a shade darker then the yellow on their body.

[michael]

Well I wasn't able to get her lower, she was pretty firm and said that if she placed an add in the paper she could get rid of the masked for $150 for the pair and the fischer's for $200.
I'm going to see if I can move some money and afford these guys, if not I'm just going to have to suck it up and say hey, I was able to get the others out but I can only buy so many :(
Am I able to move the nesting pairs from the small cages they are in into larger breeder flights with new nesting boxes, or should I leave them alone? I bought 12 32'' X 18'' X 18'' cages in preperation for these birds, but I do not have nesting boxes, because I really am not looking to breed I just want to get them healthy again. The flights are so much bigger then the little cages they are in which are the cheap plastic starter budgie cages that I wouldnt even put a solitary finch in. . wish me luck

Not only do I wish you luck but you certainly have my prayers too! You know, its possible she may be unable to sell these birds even if they are a good deal. Yet I know it would be nice to relegate her as early as possible from the position of "crazy bird lady" because thats exactly what she is. Anyone who would keep their birds in such condition as to jeopardize their health and wellbeing neither deserves to profit from or keep them period. I really hope you can manage to ultimately get them into your care whichever way you can.

My own thoughts on placing the breeding pairs into new cages would be as long as they have no eggs or babies it should be ok and then worry about the nest boxes later. But hopefully someone here can give an answer that includes much more experience than myself. I know I wouldn't want them in crappy cages any longer than I would have to keep them there :( .........Again, you and these poor birds all have my prayers.

[zlatushka]

I'm glad you're going to be able to get most of those birds away from her. So sad.

My two cents (for what it's worth) is to err on the side of caution with the pair with babies. Try and leave everything like it is, or you might just end up handfeeding, or with dead chicks. If anything, maybe at least try to wait until the chicks are a bit bigger and not so dependent on mom and dad. Linda or Kim or Eric or any of our other more experienced breeders might have some better insight.

Maybe I'm cynical, but I still get the feeling that this woman knows she can kinda gouge this money out of you because you're not going to leave any birds in that kind of situation if you can help it.

Still, kudos to you... and lucky for those birds.

[tokameaki]

i hope u can help those birds....i wish i could help adopting them but too far....but i am happy i got two new jobs so that will give me money to adopt some unwanted parrots of craigslist....and to have a bigger apartment to house my pets and me...good luck

[Kathryn]

Kudos to you and your friend. These birds will be in much better conditions under your watchful care.
I have several breeding pairs of Peachface and have never had Fischers, so I'm going to assume the Fishcers and Masks will be similiar in nesting behavior.

I would caution on changing nest boxes at this stage of the move. If you can, attach the old nest box to the new cage in relatively the same position (height) as the old cage and place feed and water cups in about the same proximity to the nestbox opening. I would add additional feed cups too because feeding babies requires a lot of food.

The younger the chicks the less receptive mom will be to even minor changes.
Even though her new home is a big improvement, she doesn't know you or her new suroundings yet and will be very edgy.

You can wipe off the outside of the nestbox very carefully with a wet cloth but no bleach at this time. If you have carefresh, put a small amount inside the nestbox near the opening. Mom will adjust it where she wants it.

The younger the chicks, the less receptive mom will be to even minor changes...so take your time. In a couple of weeks, you can make a few more changes.

I'll see if I have any photos of my OF Lutino baby and try to post them. The orangeface on my baby is more pronounced than the photo of your little one with the shredded feathers.

[lemonypickett]

Well , the Fab Feathered Four is now much more! God love you for taking on that task.

Maybe you can call the local SPCA on the woman. Then those babies may be up for adoption .... ??

Best of luck to you with these guys.

[FabFeatheredFour]

Wellll they are here. It ended up working like this: My friend took the 3 week old fischer babies to handfeed. I ended up with mom and dad, and also the masks and the peachfaces.. Jeanie took the orange faces too. That brings my grand total to 9. 2 pairs of peachface, a pair of masks and a pair of fischers, plus the lonley oddball lutino orangeface. Unfortunatly we had to euthenize the other lutino that she "threw in" today. It was much to weak and was very badly picked on and my vet didnt think it would be fair to submit it to the kind of treatments it would take to get her healthy again. When you picked her up her head just kinda lulled back and she would open her beak without making any sound :( I carried her in a towel at the vets office and stroked her head before we let her go. It was very sad, I wish I had gotten her sooner :(

They have had a stressfull day getting caught and transfered and taken to the vet and seperated from babies (in one case) so I did not stress them out more by shoving a camera in their faces, but I will take some pics tomorrow when I go out to feed them. Right now they are in my kennel isolated.

I just discovered the heat is not working out there. It's about 55 degrees in there- what's too cold for these guys? I dont want to bring them in the house until the vet work comes back negative for anything that can hurt my other birds. I'll probably go get a heatlamp for them tomorrow just was concerned about tonight. They are away from any drafts, its a nice insulate building just aparently my heat quit on me

[linda040899]

I'm glad you finally got all the lovebirds away from this lady and I'm sorry to hear that you had to euthanize her "extra." :very_sad: It's so sad that anyone would let any animal get into that kind of condition.

Concerning the temperature question, where have these birds been kept before, inside or outside? What kind of temperature range are they used to? 55F is OK and they should be OK as long as there are no drafts. Does you kennel have low lighting that you can leave on tonight? Considering what they've gone through today, being able to see would be most comforting for them.

Do you have any kind of portable heater that you can use in your kennel? I use oil filled radiant heaters and they keep my aviary toasty warm! No teflon coatings involved and the heat produced is nice and even.

[FabFeatheredFour]

These guys were kept inside, and it was pretty warm in there, I'd say low to mid 60s in her house.

I have this : http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=259112-79995-FH110-UM&lpage=none but I dont know if it's teflon coated or not so I didnt turn it on.. I have a low watt heat lamp but it didnt seem like it was doing much

[linda040899]

Holmes does not use any non-stick material in their heaters so this one is safe. I checked that one out myself before I got my oil filled radiant heaters.

[FabFeatheredFour]

Excellent! I'll go plug it in right now

[FabFeatheredFour]

took some pictures when I went out to turn on the heater ;) These are all the ones that I have here

http://inlinethumb24.webshots.com/15319/2088873240054473373S425x425Q85.jpg
Female Fischers

http://inlinethumb07.webshots.com/37766/2115364370054473373S425x425Q85.jpg
Female Masked

http://inlinethumb58.webshots.com/39609/2399063990054473373S425x425Q85.jpg
Male (?) Normal Green- "Kiwi"

http://inlinethumb18.webshots.com/37457/2159048580054473373S425x425Q85.jpg
Kiwi and Mango

http://inlinethumb04.webshots.com/39939/2890868520054473373S425x425Q85.jpg
Male Fischers

http://inlinethumb16.webshots.com/15183/2031088870054473373S425x425Q85.jpg
Male Masked

http://inlinethumb56.webshots.com/41079/2567794670054473373S425x425Q85.jpg
Female seagreen slate american cinnamon- "mango"

http://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/39516/2223411230054473373S425x425Q85.jpg
Poor little beaten up female lutino orange face

http://inlinethumb52.webshots.com/40243/2827325950054473373S425x425Q85.jpg
Pied Lutino male and seagreen female

http://inlinethumb28.webshots.com/36763/2295709370054473373S425x425Q85.jpg
back of pied lutino male

[linda040899]

Nice photos and thank you for sharing them with us!

The Fischer's are Dilute Greens and the male's coloring is much better than the female. The Masks are very nice, too!

The Pied Lutino is looks like it might be a Double Dark Factor Pied Blue. If it were a Pied Lutino, it would be a yellow bird with a jagged facial mask line rather than have yellow and darker feathering. The term for this one is heavy pied, e.i. more light feathering than dark.

[FabFeatheredFour]

Nice photos and thank you for sharing them with us!

The Fischer's are Dilute Greens and the male's coloring is much better than the female. The Masks are very nice, too!

The Pied Lutino is looks like it might be a Double Dark Factor Pied Blue. If it were a Pied Lutino, it would be a yellow bird with a jagged facial mask line rather than have yellow and darker feathering. The term for this one is heavy pied, e.i. more light feathering than dark.

Oh, OK thanks so much!!! Good to know :)

The female fischer is a bit beat up too. He has a small patch of feathers on his cheek missing. Poor biddies. The male however is very pretty, he reminds me of my sun conure

[Z28Taxman]

The Pied Lutino is looks like it might be a Double Dark Factor Pied Blue. If it were a Pied Lutino, it would be a yellow bird with a jagged facial mask line rather than have yellow and darker feathering. The term for this one is heavy pied, e.i. more light feathering than dark.


It looks almost like my Dittobird! :happy:

[FabFeatheredFour]

OK- I'm a little worried about mamma masked. I was told by the "breeder" that she was about to lay any day now, and my vet confirmed this although she was looking at so many birds at once and trying to do it fast without stressing them too much so I don't know how "thorough" the exam was.

The reason I am worried is beacuse of the look of her. When I come in I typically see the two of them huddled on the floor in the corner. The male will look up and perk up immediatly and sometimes leave his mate, but typically he is laying right beside her. He always stands when I come in. They both peep and do that cackle that I loove but probably means get the heck away from me. if I am persistant and get very close or open a feeding door, they will both fly.

I have a nesting box, and I *think* this morning when I came in to check on them and feed them and turn the lights on that mamma was in the box. unfortunatly its a bit of a small box, I think for a budgie or maybe even a finch. it was the only box I could find at 8pm rushing back from the vets with birds in the car and hitting 3 different petstores. She can fit through the hole, and it would probably hold both birds ok but it's certainly not a roomy fit.

Sushi (what we named her) looks so sad, and so stressed that it breaks my heart. Is she trying to nest on the floor? Is this normal nesting behavior for lovies about to lay? I didn't notice an obvious "torpedo butt" but she is definitely heavier then any of the other birds.

I have some new pics let me show you:
http://inlinethumb08.webshots.com/40647/2293873920054473373S425x425Q85.jpg
http://inlinethumb07.webshots.com/37766/2115364370054473373S425x425Q85.jpg
on the bottom of the cage (next to them is some soft nesting supplies and their nesting box is filled with carefresh and econest)

Am I just being paranoid?

[tokameaki]

its so sad how some people buy expensive birds to breed and they end up not treating them like pets....a few months ago a lady in craigslist was asking help because her lovebird was getting into the mood of laying eggs and she was asking to borrow a male masked lovebird....i explain to her that her lovebird must bond to a male so they can breed she cant just ask for a male masked lovebird...she told me she had two other pairs that are laying eggs and that they have violet factor bla bla....now she is selling each baby like 170 because it has the violet factor and they are regular peach face....and she is selling each bonded pair for like 350...and she is selling the masked lovebird for like 200....and u should see the pics of those lovebirds....their cage its dirty....no toys...like only 1 perch...she said in her last post that she doesnt want to breed anymore....i offer her my help incase she needed to rehome them....but she wants money...anyway i gave her this webpage so she can ask question....but i guess she just didnt care...

[tokameaki]

the lovebirds looks so cute...u did a good job helping those lovebirds from the lady....u must be busy...i wish i had the money to keep adopting but i cant anymore...but i have 3 jobs now lol....but i need to have everything ready for the ones i have already....planning to buy biger cages...lots of toys, and food...etc....hopefully everything goes good for me...i am so happy....keep sending updated of the lovebirds!!!! they are cute!!!!