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documentation. Don’t just take the seller’s word for it. Birds who have been surgically sexed typically have a tattoo under their wing webs; males on the right, females on the left. Chromosomal or DNA sexing results also are recorded on a certificate that correlates to the identification number of the bird’s leg band, if she has one, or microchip number. (You can find more information on identification in Chapter 5.)

      Again, buyer beware: If there’s no ID to match with the sexing result, you can’t be sure you have the same bird, can you?

      

Labs offering DNA tests are not necessarily overseen by any regulatory authorities and quality-control measures may or may not be in place. Brian occasionally sees DNA-sexed “male” birds who are egg-bound or have ovarian or uterine disease.

Checking Up on a Bird’s Good Health

      In the wild, a big part of a bird’s survival depends on not presenting a tempting target to predators, who actively seek out the sick, old, and weak. Even in birds who are in little danger from predators — generally safe souls such as our own pet birds — the genetic imperative to hide illness still holds. Some signs of sickness often are visible, however, and you need to look for these tip-offs as you form an overall impression of good health.

      

A bird can be a big investment, and one of the better ways to protect that investment is to have your new pet thoroughly examined by a veterinarian who is experienced and qualified in the field of avian medicine before your warranty period expires. (You can find more on warranties in the “Protecting Your Rights” section, later in this chapter.)

      

Any pet bird you consider buying should display the following characteristics:

       He behaves normally — perching without problems, moving with coordination, and using his full body without favoring one side or the other. The bird should bear weight evenly, all four toes present on each foot and in proper position — two toes forward, two backward, in the case of parrots.

       He’s alert and responsive.

       He breathes easily. He should display no sign of laboring to move air and no tail bobbing, which is another indicator of breathing problems.

       His eyes, ears, and nostrils (nares) are clean and free of debris and discharge.

       His plumage appears healthy. The bird’s feathers should have normal color and structure, showing no signs of stress bars (horizontal lines indicating problems with feather development) or excessive wear. Look for evidence of damage from feather picking, improper housing, or other trauma.

       He consistently produces droppings that are normal in appearance. All three components — urine (liquid), feces (solids), and urates (white semi-solids) — should be normal in appearance and quantity. Check for pasting of waste around the fanny. (For the complete scoop on poop, see Chapter 8.)

       He has a well-muscled body of appropriate weight, with no signs of obesity. His skin should be smooth and translucent, without excessive amounts of fat showing underneath. You should see no excessive flakiness, scabs, areas of damaged skin, or crustiness.

      

A bird who’s showing even some of these general signs of illness may be gravely ill and may die even with veterinary intervention. Spare yourself the expense and heartache that bringing home such a bird will entail. Suggest to the seller that the bird needs help, but think twice before taking on the project of nursing the bird yourself.

Making Mature Decisions about Age

      Many species of pet birds live for decades with proper care, even to the point of outliving their original owners, which means that birds for sale or adoption are available in a wide spectrum of ages. Most people are probably best off with a fully weaned baby bird, and you may be among them. But we recommend that you consider all the possibilities.

      Weighing the pros and cons of baby birds

      The appeal of babies is obvious: They’re adorable, they should have no bad habits that you’ll have to deal with, and they’re ready to bond with you and grow into a perfect lifelong companion. Still, problems can surface even with baby birds.

      The problem with unweaned birds

      Baby birds come in two varieties: weaned and unweaned. Weaned is a term for a bird who can eat on her own, instead of relying on parent birds or human surrogates to feed her. (When humans assume the duties of parent birds, they’re hand-feeding.) Fully weaned baby parrots are able to maintain their weight on their own for at least two weeks after the last hand-feeding. Regardless, these functionally weaned kids still have a lot of life lessons to get under their feathered belts, and they’re far from a “finished product.”

      

We do not recommend buying an unweaned bird. Some folks believe that bringing an unweaned bird into their hearts and homes is the best way to end up with a strongly bonded pet. Others push the economic aspect of such a purchase: Because the buyer takes over the round-the-clock work of hand-feeding, the cost of an unweaned bird is usually less. To put it bluntly: A dead or dying baby bird can’t bond with you, making her something less than a bargain. Too many things can go wrong when novices attempt to hand-raise a bird.

      Take the typical blue-and-gold macaw baby, who crawls out of the egg weighing less than an ounce. That baby gains more than 30 times her body weight in the first eight weeks if properly fed and cared for. And “properly fed and cared for” usually means feeding every two hours, especially during the first couple of weeks of life. Experienced hand raisers can feed on autopilot. They fall out of bed, warm the formula, feed the babies, and go back to bed without ever really waking up.

      When a novice tries hand-feeding while half-asleep, however, the lack of experience can really hurt. Formula can be overheated, burning the baby bird’s food-storage organ, called the crop. Formula can be fed too fast, flooding down the windpipe and into the bird’s lungs. The brooder where she’s kept can be too cold or too hot for the true needs of the baby — weakening her and setting the stage for other problems to develop.

      

A baby can die, very easily, from your mistakes, leaving you at 2 a.m. feeling like a bird murderer, all alone with no one to call for help. Don’t put yourself through the pain, and please try not to put any baby bird through the torture. Brian all too often performs postmortem examinations on baby birds from these settings to pinpoint the reason they died. We strongly suggest leaving the baby raising to folks who know what they’re doing.

      If, after having birds for a while, you decide you want to go the breeder route, you certainly need to learn how to hand-feed babies. Turn to Chapter 13 to discover more about the joys and challenges of being a bird breeder and the thrills and chills of hand-raising bird babies of your own. Although Brian admits that the excitement, satisfaction, and fulfillment of successfully raising baby birds is immense, he also warns that the endeavor of bird breeding is not an easy one and is certainly not for everyone.

      Socialization

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