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fruitynutbird
Fledgeling
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 226
Location: Sydney, Australia |
| Any constructive comments for my (future) parrot centre? |
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I'd love to hear everyone's comments/ideas/suggestions for my (future) parrot centre, which I would be building in the next two years.
As you will all know by now, I have decided that parrots would become a major part of the rest of my life. I've been thinking of setting up a new place for myself with the specific purpose of living well with a small number of companion parrots. (Listen up, John and Carrie, I said a SMALL number of companion parrots, heheheh!!) Then, I began to think, if I'm going to all that trouble to live with my (future) companion parrots, why not let the general public come and have a glimpse of this way of life?
I am therefore thinking of building a parrot centre. I want to be quite adamant that this place will not become a shop. I have neither the time, effort nor inclination to service customers and run a business! I am thinking more along the lines of a not-for-profit education centre where people can come (by appointments only!!) to experience how I will be enriching my life by sharing it with my (future) companion parrots.
I'm thinking of having separate, themed rooms for each species of parrot, eg, a South American jungle theme for a pair of Blue & Gold macaws, and an Australian bush theme for a pair of Gang Gang cockatoos, etc.
I will build a HUGE outdoor aviary (eg, 6m long x 4m wide x 2.5m high) which will be their play and foraging area. In the morning, I will take the birds from their indoor rooms to their outdoor aviary, where they can exercise, socialize, forage for food and get some sunlight for their Vitamin D. Around noon, they go back to their own indoor rooms for their afternoon naps. I will also be playing them relaxation music, with various recorded sounds from nature like bird calls, thunderstorms and running streams while they go to sleep. After they've woken up, I will do some clicker training or model-rival training with them. After these training sessions, they can go back outside to the aviary where they can play and forage for dinner again before coming back indoors for the night.
Other facilities I would need would be a quarantine and hospital room located as far away as possible from all the other bird areas. I would also need a male and female changerooms at the entrance where members of the general public would have to shower themselves all over with chlorhexidine (I insist!!) and change into operating theatre-style clothes and slippers which I will provide and wash and sanitize after each visit, before I will let anyone enter my birds' areas.
I am also thinking of having a meeting room where I might host parrot behavior classes in the distant future, or even an occasional performing parrot show, if my parrots and I become any good at clicker training, heheh! Before then, this room could be used by the public as a library or information centre. I'm even thinking that maybe one day, I can do the occasional parrot behavioral consultation in there, heheh?!?
One worry that I have thought about is that people may hear about my parrot centre and then dump their unwanted pet parrots at my doorstep. I have thought about heading towards the direction of a parrot sanctuary but I'm not sure about it. I know of only one parrot rescue center in the whole of Australia that caters for exotic parrots, and that is in Brisbane, in the state of Queensland. I live in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales. There is, of course, the native wildlife rescue which would care for any native bird species, but I do not know of any facility in Sydney which rescues exotic pet parrots.
Any comments, ideas or suggestions for my plans would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Andrew |
Tuesday October 17, 2006 2:21 am |
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Jrmno1
Flying tumbler
Joined: 28 Aug 2005
Posts: 2310
Location: Ohio, USA |
This is a very ambioush(sp) plan. If I remember right you do not as of yet own a bird. But I respect your intellulacte (sp) and your knowleage on the subject of birds
It is a real big job caring for birds as you already know. If it were me, and this is just a thought. But I would start out with just a couple of birds and see where things lead you. You may be surprised out how your life will change when you start caring for these guys day in and day out.
John |
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Tuesday October 17, 2006 7:12 pm |
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cheekie_birdy
Experienced flier
Joined: 08 Jul 2006
Posts: 1719
Location: Canada |
Thats a great idea!!!
I would start out with a few birds to see where it leads you too..I know you know A LOT about parrots, but all the info in the world could not truly perpare you for parrot ownership..
Will it serve as a rescue as well? Like taking in second hand birds?
This is exactly what I want to do when I start up my parrot rescue  , like have a big barn-thing thats heated and air conditioned, with flights and cages and a kitchenette and stuff. And buy a old portable from a school to board birds in. And some aviaries would be nice too. But it would take a lot of money.. 
Well I hope everything goes well and you get your parrot centre. |
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Tuesday October 17, 2006 8:03 pm |
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Jrmno1
Flying tumbler
Joined: 28 Aug 2005
Posts: 2310
Location: Ohio, USA |
Both of you, don't not forget quartine, This is extremly dangrous to take in unwanted birds. You have to allow space for each and every new bird to live all by it's self for at lest 30 days. Or you might lose your whole flock. Not an area for all of the quartine birds, but you must have isulate area for each new bird you bring in, no short cuts on this. The more birds you bring in the more chance you have of loseing the flock.
John |
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Tuesday October 17, 2006 9:14 pm |
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fruitynutbird
Fledgeling
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 226
Location: Sydney, Australia |
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Thanks for your replies, John and cheekie_birdy!
This is the L-O-N-G term plan. I agree about starting out with just one or two birds and see how I go from there, but I just wanted to make sure that I haven't overlooked or forgotten about any structural/design flaws, so that my building will be all set up for the future. I wouldn't open the place to the public until I'm ready, heheh! (It will, of course, be open to Fluffies!)
I will only have space for one quarantine room, so that means I will be limited to bringing in one bird (or one pair/colony of birds which have been living together) at a time. This is how I would want to do it, anyway, so as not to cause too much disturbance for the existing birds.
I will look more into parrot rescue down the track. I'd like to start with a bird (or a pair of birds) without any previous baggage while I'm just starting out in the world of birdkeeping. I'm not even sure how big the problem of parrots needing to be rescued in Australia is?!? Like I said in my original post, I only know of one parrot rescue centre in the whole of Australia. Does this mean that there are not many parrots in this country which need rescuing? That seems a bit strange?!?
cheekie_birdy, here's a link which might be helpful for you in the future if/when you get serious about starting your own parrot rescue:
http://www.thegabrielfoundatio.....Start.aspx
The list of 30 questions in Step 4 of Part II gives a lot of food for thought!
Cheers!
Andrew |
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Tuesday October 17, 2006 11:28 pm |
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fruitynutbird
Fledgeling
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 226
Location: Sydney, Australia |
John, I'd also love to hear more about the plans you have for setting up your parrot sanctuary, when you're ready! |
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Tuesday October 17, 2006 11:53 pm |
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Jrmno1
Flying tumbler
Joined: 28 Aug 2005
Posts: 2310
Location: Ohio, USA |
As far as my plans,
To save one bird and only one bird, if I can do that then I can move on to another.
But as I save this one and then another, our simple three bed room house is getting full. So I am going to cash in my stock from the company I work for in the middle of Aug. Buy about 10 to 20 archs of land, then come spring I will start building a house
http://www.logcabins-ohio.com/.....dview.html
with an Avairy off the back door Kichen. This is where I will house the family flock. Then we move out there. Build another Aviary Building for the other birds that will be coming by then. The Rescue group I work for has already fill up one Avairy building and is building a second one which will be ready for birds in the spring. Then the next year I will be ready to execpt birds. These are birds that are unadoptable, retired breeder birds, mentally abuesd birds that can no longer function as campaion birds... Wish me luck...
John |
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Wednesday October 18, 2006 12:26 am |
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fruitynutbird
Fledgeling
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 226
Location: Sydney, Australia |
I'm very touched that there are people like you and Carrie who are able and willing to make so many sacrifices, so that these abused birds out there, who are no longer able to interact positively with humans, can still live their lives in safety and with proper care! I hope you gain much richness and meaning as you walk along this path. It will no doubt be a very difficult road at times, but I hope that I and others on Fluffies can be here to hold you when you need us. I'm looking forwards to lots of pics as you find your acreage and as your house and aviaries become reality!
Thanks for sharing!
Andrew |
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Wednesday October 18, 2006 1:06 am |
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Julie White
Flier
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
Posts: 421
Location: Staines, England |
Hi Andrew, your ideas sound really great and it sounds like your parrots will be in paradise. You've already thought about quarantine, but the thing that occurred to me was the question of security. Here in the England there are a great many thefts of parrots from breeders and private houses and if people are coming into your home to see the birds they may also be checking out how to break in and steal them. Over here there seem to be organised gangs who know exactly what they are going for and legitimate private breeders here only usually give mobile telephone numbers when they advertise. Maybe you've already thought about installing a really good security system, if not perhaps you might think about looking into it. |
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Wednesday October 18, 2006 11:32 am |
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fruitynutbird
Fledgeling
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 226
Location: Sydney, Australia |
Very good point, Julie! Maybe I'll just stay away from the expensive species so that I don't get targetted. Otherwise, aviculturists here in Australia like using guard dogs. Apparently, you give a signal to the guard dogs to let them know when you are inviting people in, so the guard dogs will leave them alone, but if these people try to enter without you giving that signal, the guard dogs will
ATTACK!!!
(Hmm...haven't I read that parrots are much smarter than dogs? Wonder if I can clicker-train a whole squadron of guard parrots?!? JUST KIDDING, LOL!!!) |
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Wednesday October 18, 2006 1:24 pm |
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Cathy
Kamikaze pilot
Joined: 02 Apr 2005
Posts: 6673
Location: Omaha, NE USA |
It sounds like you've really given this a great deal of thought & are putting a lot of planning into it & exploring all the options!
It sounds like an absolutely wonderful idea & I sure hope it all comes to life for you some day FNB ! |
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Wednesday October 18, 2006 1:54 pm |
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chispleeze
Flier
Joined: 14 Jul 2005
Posts: 475
Location: Upstate NY |
So Andrew, when do you think you might be getting your first bird? You really don't have to wait until you have a whole center set up to get your first one. And have you decided yet on what kind you want your first one to be? |
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Thursday October 19, 2006 4:32 am |
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Jrmno1
Flying tumbler
Joined: 28 Aug 2005
Posts: 2310
Location: Ohio, USA |
quote:
Originally posted by chispleeze
So Andrew, when do you think you might be getting your first bird? You really don't have to wait until you have a whole center set up to get your first one. And have you decided yet on what kind you want your first one to be?
Yes Andrew,, When will you find all the joys of cleaning the poop.... Cages....feeding 3 or 4 times a day.... Screaming at 5:30 am.... Pettels floating in the water dish.... Vet vists and thier bills... bloody leaking out of all the bite marks... Yes Andrew.... When..... Oh what joy you are missing... |
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Thursday October 19, 2006 11:36 am |
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fruitynutbird
Fledgeling
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 226
Location: Sydney, Australia |
 Birds
POOP!?!?!
 You've got to be kidding, right?! 
No?!? You're
SERIOUS?!?
You're telling me that birds ACTUALLY poop?!?
Well, who'd have thought?!?
Thank goodness you've all given me the heads up on this...hmm, this is a really unexpected development...I'm not sure how to take it, actually...it's set the plan back a lot, that's for sure...looks like I might have to call the whole thing off now!
NOT!!!
Andrew |
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Thursday October 19, 2006 3:04 pm |
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