Kaytee Preferred Birds

[lemonypickett]

What is that Kaytee Preferred Birds? Is that a "bird mill" for petstore birds? I think I may have read something about that ages ago when researching Kaytee food products. I wouldn't even buy a Kaytee treat stick if it was a dime. Something about their marketing just always gave me the impression that they were in it for the $$, not really caring about the health of animals.

I love Roudybush (although they don't have a huge selection of products) and Lafeber.

[linda040899]

What is that Kaytee Preferred Birds?
http://www.companionparrot.com/Kaytee%20Preferred%20Birds.htm

This link will explain a bit more about Kaytee Preferred Birds. Pretty much what happens is that Kaytee contracts to buy baby parrots from selected breeders. The babies are purchased unweaned and taken to one of their two facilities, I believe, for about 2 weeks. The babies are hand fed and medicated with antibiotics to insure they are healthy. After that, they are sold again to pet store chains such as Petsmart.

I have a problem with selling unweaned babies so that's where my objections start!

[lemonypickett]

Thanks Linda! I will read up on that.

I have even seen some people selling eggs on line. Poor babies :(

I went and spoke to the woman who was in charge of keeping those birds that I rescued Marley from. When I told her what ultimately happened to him, she said "Oh, that is too bad. Something told me not to buy those birds at the time I got them. She said it was the first day Petsmart was selling birds again after a few months of quarentine."

Unbelievable.

I just found this horrible video on Petsmart pet suppliers. ***WARNING*** very disturbing ..... I think I am going to order ALL my pet supplies from online shops that DO NOT sell animals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZDBnuvx2BE

[linda040899]

I have even seen some people selling eggs on line. Poor babiesI've done this a couple of times but NOT online! I've done it with local breeders that I know well and the requirement for me is that the baby had to be in the hatching stage and I had to have a foster hen available to accept the hatching egg. Most of the ones I took came from parents that did not feed their babies and the breeder did not have time to hand feed hatchlings. Lucky babies.... :)

[lemonypickett]

I figured that happens with breeders that know what they are doing. I was referring to some ads I saw on Hoobly for eggs that this man was selling to people off the street.

My cockatiel breeder friend showed me how she handfeeds her babies (on a 2 week old) and although it didn't look super hard, I know that with my busy schedule, I could not take on that commitment. She was using Kaytee brand too... I will have to warn her.

[linda040899]

My cockatiel breeder friend showed me how she handfeeds her babies (on a 2 week old) and although it didn't look super hard
With Tiels, looks are definitely deceiving!!!!!!!!!!! They are much harder to feed many other baby parrots and it shocks me that price is so cheap for hand fed/tame ones! Baby Tiels are prone to crop problems and the heartbreak can be overwhelming. That's why I don't breed them anymore.

[lemonypickett]

Baby tiels have huge looking bottoms when they are babies. Almost as bulbous as their crops when full!

[maya_exquisite]

OMG. I almost threw up watching that video!! I am so glad we don't have a PetSmart here, although now it makes me wonder about the stores we DO have. I would hope none of our stores get their animals from a place like this since they're not chain stores, but I guess you never know. SO SAD!!!

And regarding handfeeding baby cockatiels... man, I had one and I couldn't believe the "hissing" sound that the baby would make when hungry. It would wake me up early in the morning. Haha. As cute as she was, I definitely prefer lovebirds over all other birds.