What Are Bird Mills?

What are bird mills?
These are facilities that treat birds as merchandise rather than life. They hold the same value to them as a cutting board or laundry basket. They are as cost effective as possible, usually providing under stimulating environments and lack of early socialization.
There are some big signs to look for when deciding if your breeder or store is a bird mill or not.
1. breeder birds are viewed as egg factories. All they do is produce eggs for them to be artificially incubated.
2. Babies are confined to small brooders, usually stacking, except when feeding or when being viewed by buyers
3. Babies are kept in empty cages lacking enrichment
4. Babies are kept in nursery rooms away from human contact or with other birds
5. Babies are fed quickly and inconsistently to prioritize time-saving and cost-saving measures
6. Babies have little to no exploration and time with humans
7. Babies are sold very young, unweaned, to inexperienced owners (BIG ONE I SEE)
8. They do not make sure the buyer is knowledgeable, properly educated, and a prosper environment for the species they selected
9. Little or no instruction or education before purchase and after

Buyer beware. If you see any of these signs, it’s a place to NOT support. Even some “rescues” and “sanctuaries” have similar concerns, which are not legitimate rescues. Just replace “baby bird” with “rescue parrot.” Be careful out there. There are a lot of sketchy people and facilities that continue to give respecting parties (breeders, rescues, sanctuaries) a bad reputation.

We assume and highly believe Munchkin, my very special needs double yellow headed amazon, came from poor breeding practices before he was rescued. Because of all of his unique characteristics, it aligns with inbreeding. Why was he inbred? For the high double yellow head look with his full head being yellow down into his abdomen and also the high red on his shoulders.