There has been a bit of talk about finding 'good' homes for your birds.

I am not looking to sell any of my birds but i might a few years down the track.

Could someone let me know how you go about finding 'good homes' for your birds as opposed to pet shops??

Advertise in your local paper. For us in Perth that means "The Quokka" under the birds section. Dont make them too cheap, and "weed out" the prospective buyers by phone and interview when they come to see the babies. Have a written care sheet for them to take home as they wont remember anything you tell them once they get home, and have them sign a written agreement that baby comes back to you if they change their mind about owning a budgie.

Cheers Karen

 

Petshops dont pay enough and put your well cared for babies in with all the rest of the flock so they can catch any disease going.

Edited January 24, 200718 yr by Bubbles

WEll that certainly sounds simple enough to set up.

Thankx bubbles.

I'll definately do that.

When I adopted my recent rescue dog there was quite an extensive adoption form along with terms and conditions. Now it depends on you on how extenstive you want to get but here were some questions they asked me but I wil change them and put them in terms for birds.

 

Questions for the Adoption Application:

 

Name/Address/phone/cell phone/e-mail

 

Do you presently own any animals now? If yes list them as Molly - cat, Pretty- budgie (example).

Avian Vets Name or Vet reference: (you will need to give your vet permission per privacy acts for us to call)

Do you have a cage set-up?

How large is your cage or aviary?

If applicable - is your aviary inside or outside?

Is this your first budige? If not how many budgies do you have now?

If you had budgies in the past what happened to them?

Do you understand the rules of quarantining your new bird? (give an explanation and why on your form)

If you go on vacation what will you do with your pet?

Will your bird be alone for long periods (over 8 hours) daily?

Why are you interesting in adoption a budgie?

How many adults and children live in the home?

 

(now these seem like alot but you can get a feel for your potential adoptee and see where they are on the scale of beginning to advanced pet ownership). You can add to the adoption form that this is only a questioniare all answers are kept private and it DOES not guarantee that you will be adopted a bird.

 

Now on the adoption contract:

 

You can require them to quarentine the bird.

You can require them to return the bird back to you at anytime during the lifetime of the bird.

You can require them that when the bird needs vet attention it will be treated by an avian vet.

 

There is allot you can require and if you PM me I will give you the link to an example of a contract.

 

You can have care information sheet attached to this

Explaning quarentine and why

Explaning what to feed your bird and give examples of what you do on a daily basis seed, pellets, different types of veggie/fruits etc...

Explain daily care: clean water, food, newspaper being changed etc...

 

In the end, you may find this too much but I guarantee that if you follow through with the above your budgies will find good homes and if they don't they will come back to you.

 

Also you can do a home visit and see their set-up and bring the bird with you that day and if they decide to adopt you can leave the bird with them. This gives you a feel on what the home life is like (most places do this) you can do a follow-up home visit or follow-ups through e-mail and phone.

 

This seems like a lot of work for 1 budgie people may say but when you guarantee your birds health to people they will appreciate you and you can even charge extra for your time and people will pay because they feel secure in getting a healthy bird from a wonderful home.

 

You can even set up a process of a trial period if the bird is returned within 14 days you give them back 25% of their money but not all of it. And this would be explained to them etc...

 

Just recently being through this process I found myself excited as a potential adoptee but even nervous thinking what if they didn't like me and my home. Doing the steps above give the person that this bird is just not cheap this is a living creature and you take them seriously and they are not throw away pets. There are too many budgies in rescues, being neglected, over breed and you can make the difference .

 

Good luck.

and on top of lovey's amazing process GO WITH YOUR GUT! if someone just doesn't feel right even though everything seems perfect, your probably right

excellent words August

and on top of lovey's amazing process GO WITH YOUR GUT! if someone just doesn't feel right even though everything seems perfect, your probably right

 

I turned down someone who was interested in my male chick and one of the girls, sounded like he wanted to breed them but wasn't being straight forward with me, I wont sell to someone wanting to breed sibling to sibling, even if that means I'll have them for a while longer. :ausb: atleast I know they are safe and not being bred at 6 mos.

I agree with all thats being said. I must stress again the written care sheet. As many new budgie owners start to listen to well meaning friends who advise them badly. I also get email addresses and do "follow ups" on my rehomed babies where possible.

One beautiful yellow pied baby died due to crop impaction when new budgie owner went against the care sheet and listened to a friend who advised GRIT. Grit was placed all over the bottom of the cage and next to its food container. That bird died in a few short weeks as babies will pick at anything and this baby filled up on grit.

Another of my rehomed babies died as the owners again went against the care sheet instructions and burnt scented candles or an oil burner next to the cage for air freshener.

Stress to your new owners the importance of following the care sheet. Also give them our website forum. And ask that they phone you anytime with any questions, so they don't allow a precious one to die through lack of knowledge and mistakes. :ausb: