Conure Breeders not testing their breeders??

[trendyparrot]

Hi there,

I don't know if I'm putting this in the right spot but I need some serious help here. I haven't been on here in forever either. I'm enjoying reading the posts again!

Ok, here's the deal. I am trying to help someone in Berks County PA find Green Cheek mutations but EVERYONE I have read about or contacted have told me that their breeding stock are NOT tested for Polyoma, Psittacosis and Beak & Feather let alone doing a cbc, etc.

Where can I find a breeder of mutation green cheeks that test at the very least their breeders within about an hour of Reading PA.

[kali]

why don't you do the tests, or ask them if they will....

[trendyparrot]

I guess it comes down to the fact that breeders should be disease testing their birds prior to breeding. If you are not testing your birds while they are quarantined, how do you know you are not exposing your own flock to disease and the possibility of losing all of your breeding stock?

So is it because the birds are under a certain amount of money that it's not important to test for diseases even for breeding stock and risk losing a whole slew of breeders let alone pets?

If you think about the consequences of not testing birds coming into a breeding facility that has already been up and running it's frightening. Say you are a small breeder and you only have 5 pair of birds but those birds have been breeding and you have say 20 babies. You bring in ONE untested bird, you've put the bird through quarantine but you haven't tested that bird. You are "pretty sure" that the bird is healthy but you find out that that bird is a carrier for whatever disease.

Say you didn't find out that this bird was a carrier until 3 of the people you've sold your babies to comes to you and says that the birds have xyz disease.

Now you have to go and call the rest of the people who bought babies from you just in case they have been infected. Now several of those people already have the bird in the home and those birds have infected the previous pets.

But wait, not only are you paying for the birds you have already sold, now your stock is sick and possibly dying.

WHY WOULDN'T YOU HAVE YOUR BREEDERS TESTED??????

[trendyparrot]

Originally Posted by kali

why don't you do the tests, or ask them if they will....

Of course the person that is going to buy the baby bird will have that bird tested for disease while the bird is in quarantine but the person should feel that they are at least coming from a breeder that cares enough about the birds they breed and the birds they sell to test their breeding stock.