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Bird Cottage in Pet Suppliers & Care Directory

Birds, birds, birds, how they can bring such joy into our lives… My love for birds began as a young boy, and the passion I feel for these magnificent creatures just continues to grow with each new species I encounter. One day at school, when I was in the 3rd grade I found my first baby bird. It was a hummingbird that had fallen out of its nest. This was a big hit at school, everyone wanted to see and hold the little bird. It was at that very moment when my interest in birds began. I took the baby hummingbird home and raised it to an adult. This hummingbird became so tame it would lick syrup off our lips and sit on your finger or shoulder. He flew loose in the house and could come and go from his cage as he pleased, although he would not go outside or back to the wild. We enjoyed him as a part of the family for many years… That was only the beginning; from there I went on to raise wild blue jays, mocking birds, sparrows, buntings, orioles, doves, mallard ducks and Canadian geese. I then become successful breeding a few exotic species of birds such as finches, parakeets (budgies), cockatiels, small parrots and a few species of imported doves. As I got a little older I became interested in trying to hatch birds using an incubator so I saved my lemonade stand & paper route money, got out the old Sears & Roebucks catalog and… The rest was history. Soon after I was raising quail, chickens, pheasants, ducks, geese, peacocks and anything else I could try to hatch. In my next phase of bird exploration as a young teenager, I purchased a red tailed hawk from a local pet store. I came to find out they were not supposed to be selling a hawk as a pet. All Birds of Prey were a protected species at the time which led me to getting my falconers license. After that I went on to start training other species of hawks, falcons & owls such as kestrels (Sparrow hawks), Coopers hawks, Harris hawks, Merlin falcons, Prairie falcons, Peregrine falcons, and a few great horned owls. There were also the crows and ravens we trained as pets which were very clever birds and fun to own. Back in those days they were able to fly loose in the neighborhood. All the neighbors knew who the birds belonged to because we lived in a small community. I eventually had to put falconry bells on their legs to warn people the birds were around as they were cantankerous little trouble makers and are terrible thieves. They would take tools, keys, money, anything shiny they could pick up and carry off to stash in various hiding spots around the house… I was constantly returning the neighbors stolen goodies… During this period of my life I was so enamored with birds I considered becoming an Avian Veterinarian. I became interested in the internal physiology of birds. Due to my young age, the closest I would get to being a Veterinarian was taxidermy. A friend of mine was working for the Los Angeles Museum of Natural Science through his summer school vacations and asked me if I would like to join him. His parents had connections at the museum and could get me the job. You know what I said… Heck yes!!! I quickly became an apprentice taxidermist for the museum and had the opportunity to mount many species of exotic birds. Talk about a privilege! I had complete access to birds which had been collected from every part of the world dating back many decades. This included extinct birds; some so colorful it was hard to believe my eyes. Most of these birds I have yet to see again even in text books. Needless to say I was in heaven. While I was still in my young teens an older friend of the family asked me if I would be interested in racing pigeons as a hobby. I had several friends in the neighborhood that were breeding racing pigeons, rollers, tumblers and a few other exotics, so I was already pretty interested in them. My new potential racing partner had access to a very sought after line of racing pigeons brought into to the USA after World War II from Germany. At the time my partner was living in an apartment complex so there was no place for him to build a pigeon loft. We lived on about an acre of land, half of which was a fruit orchard not being used. My parents figured it would keep me occupied and out of trouble so they gave us the go ahead. We built a beautiful loft which had 6 separate breeding sections and the next bird venture took off... Our partnership and success with the racing pigeons went on for quite a few years after that, winning 1st, 2nd & 3rd places consistently within our pigeon club in most of the races we entered. I learned if youre going to race pigeons and be successful, you need healthy birds that are in premium condition with perfect feathers, incredible strength, stamina and endurance to win. This is only possible with the proper seeds, grains and nutrition in their diet, correct preventative medication and relentless training. I thought I knew a lot about birds prior to this but practicing falconry and racing pigeons are where I really learned about avian diseases, parasites, genetics, and breeding methods. Here is where I realized the overwhelming importance of vitamin supplements (nutrition), minerals and the medications necessary to maintain proper health in a captive birds diet. As the years passed, I went on to become a responsible young adult, started my family, and got away from the birds for a while. About 14 years ago however, my wife & I took a liking to finches. Before we knew it we had finches from all over the world, orange cheeks, society finches, zebra finches, Gouldian finches, parrot finches, Cuban melodeons, strawberry finches, fire finches, parsons (shaft tail) finches, star finches, cordon blues, blue caps, orange breasted waxbills, owl finches, manikins, green singers, buntings, and a few other species. Crazy!!! After a few years we decided to simplify things and got rid of all of the birds except for the Lady Gouldian Finches. This particular breed was one of the most beautiful species of finches, and although they were rumored to be very difficult to breed, we have had tremendous success with them. If you would like more information on the Lady Gouldian Finch, nutrition, health and breeding, please visit our sister website: http://www.friskyfinches.com. There you will find the answers to all your questions and the bird supplies necessary to be successful with the Lady Gouldian Finch. If its fun, games and puzzles you like check out http://www.gorgeousgouldians.com Its OK for your kids too... It took us a while to figure the Gouldians out but eventually we did and this forced us to start selling them as they were breeding like rabbits. Over the years our customers asked us to consider selling the products we used to successfully raise the Gouldians, so we started up the Frisky Finches website to accommodate our customers requests. Breeding the Lady Gouldian Finch is where I became introduced to the Vetafarm line of bird care products which turned out to be one of the main product manufactures I found myself going back to time after time. I was constantly switching manufactures and experimenting with other brands in the beginning but I always ended up coming back to the Vetafarm products because of the obvious results. They worked the best! Its our belief if you use quality proven bird supplies such as Vetafarm products, and apply our nutritional and health care advice on Frisky Finches, the 12 steps to success with all your birds, this basic regiment will work to improve breeding and health in any captive bird species. Our customers tell us they cannot believe how beautiful and colorful their birds are after using these products or how successful they are breeding all their birds, not just their Gouldians...

Website: http://www.thebirdcottage.com/