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 miscommunications & understanding. Most people grow up with a kitten or a 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, and while parrots have been domesticated, their instinct is to act first and think later. As prey animals, parrots react very differently to situations than dogs and cats, which are instinctively predictors. Education is key to providing parrots with safe and 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 & owners 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 bird’s health, some put all birds under the same big umbrella as that is what they have been taught, but different birds have unique needs like Conures & Caiques are instinctively cavity sleepers and not perch sleepers like a lot of others parrots are, their diets are all different as well. 

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JUST A BIT ABOUT  US 

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I used to be 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. I was no longer able to keep my Fencing Business running due to Permanent Shoulder Damage and had to close my Business 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 no longer being there.

My wife and I saw advertised 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 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 and 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 went and picked up our 6 Conures, Flight Cages and breeding boxes and brought them home. Set them up outside the backdoor on the Pergola and were 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 Consisted of 1 Cinnamon hen and 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 and 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, 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 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 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 

 

We also enjoy making Nesting Boxes, Wooden Happy Huts and Wire Fruit Bowls. I love to do a bit of Aviary building but often have to get help because of my Shoulder, but I still enjoy doing what I can manage.

We have Sun Conures, Pied Sun Conures, and Golden Capped Conures. Jendaya Conures, Peach Fronted Conures, Rose Crown Conures, Black Capped Conures, Green Cheek Conures in the following mutations (cinnamons, pineapples, yellow sided, Normal the same in Turquoise and SF & DF Jades (Misty), pearly Conures and Crimson Bellied Conures 

caiques White Bellied & Black Headed, Alexandrine Parrots and Blue-fronted Amazons And Double Yellow Headed and.

Love watching the young chicks hatch, and my wife's hand raises some of them for customers who want Hand Raised Parrots. Others we leave to be raised by their parents in the aviaries.

I am really happy that my wife and I decided to go into Aviculture. We are both enjoying the satisfaction and challenges that breeding birds bring. We have had success and disappointments with our breeding pairs, but we are enjoying it immensely.

We have met some characters at Bird Sales and at the Parrot Society Meetings, and we are also on social media.

We enjoy meeting people who come and look around our Aviaries and love sharing what I have learnt so the people who buy Birds from us see how we look after them and when they take their new bird home from us, they know the Basics of How to look after them and enjoy them for years to come. It is harder with the Hand raised Birds as it is very Hard not to get attached to them, but as long as they go to loving homes, that makes it easier.

We decided to use social media to promote our Aviary. We called our aviary Beaks and Feathers Aviaries and didn’t realise there was a Disease Called Psittacine Beak and Feather (PBFD).

We have had some comments on our choice of names for our aviary. We nearly changed it but thought, what the hell? We will not be overlooked with this as our name, and it was unintentionally done. So that’s our story of how we started our venture into the Bird Breeding World.

Our Facebook Pages are:

Beaks & Feathers Aviaries

Beaks & Feathers Aviaries Exotic Parrots 

And our Facebook Groups are

Western Sydney Bird Group Australia Wide

Conures and Exotic Parrots 4 Beginners

We wanted to have a Friendly, Helpful Group where anyone can ask a Question and not get jumped on. A lot of the groups have very opinionated people in them that make lots of people uncomfortable to ask questions, especially if you are new to Birds and you ask a simple question, and it leads to a nasty argument. People are very pro or con, especially about Pellets Vs Seed, Material Happy Huts and other various topics that very quickly become very fiery topics. So by setting up our site, we can help others with information we have learned or put them in contact with others that will share their knowledge and then it’s up to the individual person what they do with their FID.