Lovie selling advice?

[DixieKitten]

Soooo I am thinking about selling all the babies, AND mom and dad, except for one that I will keep. I'd rather not breed again and I don't want to separate the pair.

So what exactly do you guys do to find good owners? Do you do home checks? Have them fill anything out? Just talk?

What kind of prices would a young weaned baby (hand socialized) vs. a proven pair go for...is that area dependent?

Also, if anyone wanted 2, would siblings do well together, should I advise to do separate cages?

Anything else I need to know?

[Eliza]

As far as finding good homes I'd recommend the following:

-Buyer provides vet reference. Preferrably a written statement from his/her vet that indicates that s/he has avian experience AND feels that the buyer will provide the proper home. At the very least, you should be able to call the vet and verify that the buyer is indeed a client there.

-Home checks are a good idea but not all folks are open to them. You can NEVER be too careful about letting strangers into your home, IMHO. With that said, it's not entirely out of line. I would recommend that buyers w/o a mortgaged home (or home owned outright) provide either a copy of a lease stating that they may have a parrot OR a written statement from the landloard indicating as much.

-Is the buyer involved in local bird clubs, bird rescue, 4-H, wildlife rehab, etc.? If so, perhaps they would have references among those folks.

-Pricing is iffy... In my area a hand-raised/socialized peachie (regular or one of the more common mutations) would likely go for $100. A hand-raised masked or Fischer's for about $125. Pet store prices run from $50-$100 for any of those 3 species (parent raised). The two bird stores that occasionally have hand-raised peachies sell them for $99. As for pairs? NO idea. I'd imagine that a proven pair would sell for more than an unproven pair... A lot depends on what is popular in your area. If Fischer's are hard to come by, for example, they might be pricier.

HTH,

-e-

[DixieKitten]

OK, good advice. Thinking.... I live in a VERY college town and it makes me nervous. Would it be worthwhile to advertise in a larger area? How far would a "birdy" person be willing to travel to get a well cared for, friendly little Fischer's?

Sigh, I wish I could just keep all the little guys, but I really only have time for one. This is hard!!

[Janie]

It would be hard for me, too, and the very reason I only have males and would not breed. Even if I had a male/female couple, I would keep the eggs from becoming fertile. It would be so tempting to have just one clutch but then, what to do with the babies? At my age I know a whole lot of people but none (other than some members on this forum) that would meet my standards in caring for one of my birds. The only two places I can think of here (Atlanta) would be my vets office who might know of a good placement situation or one bird specialty store that I would consider letting place babies. They are picky about the birds they sell and have even turned down a potential buyer.

Good luck! I hope you find wonderful homes for them. :)

[Chiappone]

I don't know about everyone but when I decided to get my birds, I ended up driving almost an hour and a half to pick them up. I really liked the colors of two she had for sale, the breeder seemed to know what she was talking about, and well partially there just aren't alot of breeders here in Western NY that I could find, and I wanted to know the sex of my birds when I got them, which the pet stores here don't do (IF you can even find lovebirds in the stores around here ever...)
I've done adoptions/sales with other species and always had vet references, a landlord check if they were renting to be sure they were allowed that particular type of pet, and some sort of agreement that the animal is to be returned to either the shelter I was working at, or to me if it was an animal I was selling or adopting out personally, even if it was years down the road so I could make sure it was going to be well taken care of and not dumped on a friend who didn't want it or just let loose or something else.
As far as pricing, around here in the pet stores they're usually about $60-$90 but they hardly ever have lovebirds, and when they do they are usually black masked lovies, with the occasional normal green. But you have no knowledge of their parents, their sex, and they're not tame at all....