Our Story
Welcome to BFA (Beaks & Feathers Aviaries! )
We created this site, Beaks & Feathers Aviaries, to help you, the bird owner, to give your bird/pet the best care and life possible, from the hands-on experience and the extensive research we have done into mainly Conures & Caiques!
It is important to keep gathering and learning about the birds we keep. A good aviculturist is never ′′ done ′′ but always strives to gather further information and broaden their knowledge.
While we do breed birds, the primary function of the page/site and what we do is to educate fellow bird caregivers here and in the groups we have on Facebook. Bird behaviour and their instinctive needs are completely foreign to most people, and it can lead to a lot of miscommunication & misunderstanding. Most people grow up with a kitten, puppy, or both and have at least a general idea of how to care for them properly. Dogs and cats have been domesticated for hundreds of years; it is easier for us to “read” them, while parrots have been domesticated, and their instinct is to act first and think later. As prey animals, parrots react very differently to situations than dogs and cats, which are instinctive predators. Education is key to providing parrots with safe, happy, and loving homes that readily cater for more than just their basic needs. We also believe that educating the new & existing bird owners about their needs and understanding them makes for a much happier parrot & owner bond, and in turn, there will be way fewer parrots up for rehoming or adoption, hopefully.
While Avian Veterinarians are an especially important part of our birds’ health, some put all birds under the same big umbrella because that is what they have been taught. However, different birds have unique needs. For example, Conures and caiques are instinctively cavity sleepers and not perch sleepers like a lot of other parrots. Their diets are all different as well.
A BIT ABOUT US
I was a Fencing Contractor who ran a successful Business in Western Sydney for over 20 years until my life was changed in a Motor Vehicle Accident in November 2011. Due to permanent shoulder damage, I was no longer able to keep my fencing business running, so I had to close it and retire.
What to do?? After working long hours for many years, I was bored and needed something to fill the Void of my Business, which was no longer there.
My wife and I saw an advertisement for a bird sale at Clarendon and decided to go and have a look at the birds. We paid our $2, and we were fascinated with the Birds and the number of people interested in the birds. We both love birds but never really thought of it becoming a Business until my Accident and forced retirement.
Before the Bird Sale, we thought we might get some Cockatiels and Budgies and see what we could breed. We were also fascinated with these” New Parrots “called Conures, which we had seen at the Bird Sale. They were new to us anyway. This was where I saw my first Sun Conure.
We did some research on the Internet about Conures and were more interested in them. On Gumtree, we saw one advertised and decided to buy it. He was our first purchase. We were told he was a Male, and the man who sold us our first Conure said that you tell the sex of the bird by the colour of its Head. He was not a He but a She. The first lesson was that you can’t tell male from female without DNA sexing. My wife named her JJ, and JJ would step on her hand, which was her first FID. Then we saw another ad for 6 Conures, Flight cages and breeding boxes for sale and decided Why not? We will see if we can breed Conures instead of Budgies and Cockatiels.
We picked up our 6 Conures, Flight Cages, and breeding boxes and brought them home. Set them up outside the backdoor on the Pergola and was stunned when the next morning, we discovered an egg laid in two of the nest boxes. We went and got books & searched the Internet Sites on Conures, and quickly tried to learn as much as we could about breeding. We started with JJ Yellow side GCC. The six conures comprised 1 Cinnamon hen, 1 Yellow side male, and 4 Pineapples. We went on to learn about the assorted colours and what makes the colours (GENETICS), and then my wife discovered Pearlies and got her first one. I discovered Sun Conures and fell in love with them. I have my FID, Louise, who loves plenty of my time and attention. Louise was given to us in September 2013. I was told she was a male named Lou and was 12 years old. Lou was hand raised, and when he came to live with my wife and me, he didn’t like my wife and would try and bite her, and he didn’t like his cage touched or cleaned. He had been covered up with towels (which he had chewed holes in) and had a very dark, crowded cage with a chewed-up Happy Hut and lots of toys, but he didn’t like you to touch anything. He wasn’t used to being given fruit and veggies or sprouts and flowers to eat. We got a DNA sexing test done on Lou just to be sure, and he was a Louise, not a Lou.
We have both been patient with her, and now she is a beautiful outgoing FID who is spoilt. In the 12 months we have had Louise, she has come a long way .she loves to be a part of everything and loves my wife now but still picks me first and spends a lot of time with me snuggled in my shirt.
We have added to our Flock and (Mostly Conures Amazons, Caiques & some Asiatic ).
We have learnt a lot about how to do a blood DNA test to determine the sex of a Conure, how to nest sex a Green Cheek Conure, and how to put on Leg Rings. Basic First Aid for Parrots. How to Sprout Seed. I also made two brooders for the Hand-raised babies, or one can be a hospital cage, but I have since upgraded our brooders to 6 Lorrie 10 brooders and 2 Inca 100 Incubators. That is some of the most reputable and relatable equipment on the market that we imported from D.M.P. Engineering. Ltd in Israel