are aviaries dieing? etc... lots of thoughts

[swanwillow]

I was having a discussion with a local petstore owner today. He knows me as a crazy bird lady, and mentioned something to me that kinda strikes me as true.. At least in MY area..

Aviaries are going ka-put. People are doing a lot of downsizing, and a generation is missing from owning aviaries (my generation-20 something year olds) Hes my age also, and manages a petstore near me. He can no longer find local run of the mill staples such as zebra finches and budgies. Other birds, he didn't mention much of. I noticed he didn't have his normal numbers of teils-there was one (quite a cutie too!)

But I HAVE noticed that a great many breeders are downsizing/going out of business recently. Has this been an ongoing thing, are there normal ups and downs?

And, is there about to be a generation of people that don't breed? I know of one other my age in my area thats a breeder, but... thats it! Everyone else is 30+ Is that the normal age to start breeding, and 20 year olds normally don't?

And why in the world are people not breeding run of the mill finches like they used to?

[nmrspindoc]

Maybe people think finches are not "cool" enough...all the big parrots get the attention...or that's the breeder's perception?

I don't know about aviaries going under (no empirical evidence)...but just what where I've been and what I've seen, it's mostly older people who are breeding, like retirement age.

[Birdsmile]

We have been breeding for about 15 years, we did not own a house in our early 20s and its hard to breed in an appartment. so i would say most people breed later in life because of this. I have also noticed we dont have any more or less breeders than before. People are not breeding "normals" as much as mutations anymore it is hard to find "pure" birds anymore because people pay more for mutations.
Jack

[swanwillow]

I think what I ment was people ARE retiring... and not so many people are picking up the slack.

but this is what I'm looking for. In Minnesota, we have a handful of decent sized aviaries... can't have parrots outside in winter, so they stay fairly small.

But, many of them have decided to downsize and work with one or two species. (quakers!! the world is being over run with quakers!)

[ROYJOY]

dont let my finches here you say "run of the mill".

[jgee]

This is an interesting topic. I raised birds twenty some years ago and now just started again. So, I can compare the situation from the two time periods.

When I raised the birds before, there were a good number of bird fanciers, who had large complexes of outdoor aviaries where they would raise a wide variety of parrots. Most of these were in warm climates, like California and Florida. But, I use to get beautiful birds from an old-timer in Chicago.

These people did it—like the English aristocrats did for decades on their big estates—purely for the hobby and love of it. In a sense they were "collectors." Their knowledge of the birds, which was immense, but sometimes idiosyncratic, came mostly from their own experience and observation.

Over time, they got old and no one took their place. Others began to sell off stock and concentrate on birds that would sell well. When birds like the Indian Ringnecks first started showing up in different colors, they were expensive and breeders could make money. I remember one California breeder selling off his breeder pairs of wonderful Australian parrots of all kinds, like Crimson wings, Red Capped Parrots, and King Parakeets so he could concentrate on Indian Ringnecks and a couple of other species.

Now, many of the birds that use to be relatively easy to find are virtually not raised anymore. This is particularly the case for the traditional aviary birds. Most breeders raise pet-type parrots, where they can sell hand raised babies.

Even with the advantage of the Internet where you can locate breeders all over the Country, it is harder to find many of these birds now than it was twenty or thirty years ago.

[swanwillow]

Thank you jgee, and everyone else that has chipped in so far.

and I KNOW finches aren't run-of-the-mill, but you KNOW what I mean. Which types do you breed?

[Bonesy]

It's sort of the reverse here, lots of finch and budgie/teil breeders and a mere fistfull of parrot breeders

[luvmy3kids]

I'd say it's geographical too. You can get anything here in Cali.

[BigBird]

Im 40 and I breed birds and sell them. I only have 4 aviaries, but what I make basically feeds the birds for several months. Its a hobby for me, but cant keep all of them and cant ask them to keep the baby making to a minimum!

I have only had my house for 7 years so wouldnt have been able to start any earlier.

I think the internet would be the cause of your petshops lack of supply. When I was younger the only birds that people had basically as pets were budgies and canaries. I remember being amazed about 5 years ago about how many different varieties of birds were being kept as pets these days compared to when I was a youngster. I think the reason is that you can now go online and basically order any type of bird that takes your fancy. You dont have to rely on a petshop being the only supplier. I think also a lot of people go to breeders instead of stores as you can buy the birds a lot cheaper. ie i can buy a canary from a breeder for $15 or buy a canary from a petstore for $30-$89. There are also so many bird sales around and they are really popular in Australia. You can hardly move in the venues and gotta get there early.

Ive only been breeding for about 3 years now and last season I did not have to advertise once and I already have a waiting list of about 6 people waiting for birds next season. These people could easily go to a petshop and get what they are waiting for, however they all say the same, that they have bought off me before they know the bird is getting plenty of attention and training with me before they take it home and a lot friendlier than a store bird because the petshop staff basically dont have the time to put into the training like a breeder does. Probably doesnt have the motivation either as most of the workers are young kids looking to fund their weekends on the town!

Anyway having said that, I think you can blame the internet. A breeder can now advertise their birds and sell directly to a customer and get the price they want for the bird. Previously you would be lucky to get a few dollars for a finch and the store owner would be selling it for 3 times that amount. So cut out the middle man and get full dollar yourself!