Tips for Visiting a Bird Breeder Seller: How to Safely Handle Baby Birds and Choose One for Yourself

Visiting a bird breeder in his environment calls for special knowledge. The breeder may have signs up listing the different things for you to do to make your visit a safe visit. For yourself and for the birds.

In the beginning:

At the door of the aviary or bird house and incubator areas will usually be a pan of water. This is for you to dip the bottoms of your shoes in to clean off bacteria and other clingers on so they are not traisped through the sanitary areas.

Shoes could be removed and left in the doorway too.

At the cage:

There will be bottles of hand sanitizer. Use it liberally and let it dry taking the time to visually examine the bird/s in the cage. The breeder should let you know beforehand if it's alright to handle the birds. Still, use the sanitizer.

When you leave one area of birds to go to another area or new cage, re-use the sanitzer so there are no germs carried from one bird to the other.

Proper breeding will mostly ensure a healthy bird yet it's still important to be careful.

The breeder will let you know if it's okay for you to physically handle or touch the birds.

If it is an older bird, he may instruct you on being calm so the bird is less likely to nervously nip you or jump away from you possibly causing harm to himself.

The younger birds that are not flying yet can still be a little jumpy as can a potential owner who does not yet feel comfortable handling his new friend.

Give yourself time to relax and observe the birds personality. You can be sure he will be observing yours.

Keep your movements slow and steady. Allow the breeder to remove the bird from it's cage environment and study how he holds the bird. Much like holding human baby, it's important to keep the bird safe and cuddled so it feels safe and secure.

They normally do not like being held away from your body when very young but appreciate being kept warmly up against your chest with both hands cupping them securely towards you.

The breeder will help you with all of these tasks and it will become easier once you've done it a few times. Just remember to have as calm of a demeanor as possible. Birds are good at picking up on our feelings and like most pets they respond accordingly.

So just let the breeder take the lead and learn from him the best way to begin and eventually you'll find your own rythym and your new pet will learn to go with your flow.