Lately I've been hanging out in many of the various newsgroups available for bird owners. It
astounds me how many posts are from people asking questions after they bought unweaned chicks
from a pet store. Most of the fault lies with the stores for encouraging this sort of thing, but
blame also lies on the buyer. Why would anyone unexperienced with this sort of thing want to try
it out? Do they think there are no weaned chicks out there ready for purchase? Are they afraid
the bird won't bond with them unless they handfeed it? Are they just ignorant of the number of
things that can go wrong? It disgusts me how many chicks must be dying at the hands of
inexperienced feeders who didn't know they were doing anything wrong.
Unfortunately I think much of this is caused by the "purchase now ask questions later" attitude
of Americans. It is sad that so few people actually do research before buying something.
Most people don't even research before buying any animal, let alone an unweaned chick.
Why
purchase a car without finding out what it drives like, what options it carries or even before
you've learned how to drive? Just to give you an idea of how many things can go wrong, here's a
list made from Parrots: Handfeeding and Nursery Management:
aspiration, aspergillosis, bacterial infections, secondary infections, beak injuries, birth
defects (left side esophagus, curved toes, distorted head and neck, short keel, missing crop,
missing keel), bleeding (from injury, umbilibus, toes and feet), broken bones, burned crops,
clogged cloaca, clogged nares, conjuctivitus, constricted toes, constipation, crooked beak, crop
statis, improper feeding and brooding, cuts or lacerations of the skin, dark areas at the base of
the skull, dehydration, diarrhea, dry skin, fungal problems, lethargy, malnutrition, stunting,
nasal discharge, stretched crop, gasping, psittacosis, punctured crop or esophogus, skin color
changes, skin temperature changes, sour crop, splayed legs, subcutaneous emphysema, deformed
feathers, umbilical problems, viral disease, vomiting, blockage and yolk sac poisoning. Most
breeders can't even deal with all of these; how could a novice possibly recognize these
problems, let alone treat them?
Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with breeders selling unweaned chicks to people they know
for a fact are competent handfeeders, but pet stores selling to anyone that walks in the door and
slaps money on the counter?
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