To have a healthy flock of birds that will in turn have healthy babies, many different aspects need to be taken into consideration and practiced.

Here we will cover some of the basic things we do here to ensure our birds health, from purchasing our birds from quality breeders and quarantining them properly, to good hygiene and breeding records.

Protecting Our Flock From Unnecessary Health Risks

For the wellbeing of our birds, and your future baby, we practice the closed aviary concept. Included in this concept is the belief that visitors should not be taken into in the areas where the birds are kept and bred. This includes the nursery where the babies are hand fed and weaned, the budgie rooms where our adult flights and breeding cages are located, and quarantine areas.

We have invested a great deal of time and money in our set up, and are happy to share detailed pictures of everything so you can see how exactly how we run things, and how the babies are raised on the Nursery and Budgie Room pages.

While we would love for everyone to be able to see all of the birds in person, we share the view of many others that they should not be exposed to visitors when we do not know what they could potentially be introducing. We really appreciate your understanding why we have this policy when you pick your little one up.

Purchasing From Respected Breeders And Maintaining Good Quarantine Practices

To have as little risk as possible and  prevent disease being introduced when we do bring in new members, we are very careful about where the birds come from, and when they are introduced to our existing flock. All of our birds have come from high quality breeders who practice the same concepts as we do. Even if this means driving a number of states away to find what we are looking for, it is more than worth it to get healthy and well bred birds.

Even after getting birds from an excellent source however, it is still essential to practice very strict quarantine to protect the health of our current flock. Any new birds are quarantined for a minimum of 45 days. During this time they are put on immunity boosting supplements, and are acclimated to Our Flocks Diet. 

The same process goes of any birds that are taken out of our home, for example to a show. They must then go through the quarantine process again to make completely sure they did not pick up anything while away from the aviary.

Our Breeding Records And Pairing Plans

This detailed information helps us pair the best birds together, ensures the birds are mature before breeding them, and avoids inbreeding.

This is also one reason why we keep our males and females in separate flights, as it prevents any unplanned mating. With one pair to a cage breeding, there is no chance of inbreeding or the many problems that can occur with colony breeding.

We use a program called "Birds Evolution Pro" to keep very detailed breeding records. With one click of this program we can see each bird, egg and chick we have currently and have had in the past.

Included in this information is each budgies personal information such as their hatch date, personal band number, their entire family tree.

Keeping Things Clean And Fresh

With a whole flock of birds to care for consistency is the only way to keep things running smoothly each day with the best care possible.

At least once daily or as needed, all of the seed/pellet and water fountains are cleaned and refilled. Each nest box (See here for more on our nest boxes and how we use them) with chicks is cleaned and replaced with a new liner. It is also during these cleaning times that we check the young chicks, and close band them at the appropriate age. 

If you think one budgie can make a mess, imagine the daily vacuuming we do with 50+. We do small cleanings of the cages and flights where needed daily, with a big thorough cleaning weekly of every cage and flight.

Enviroclens (Avisafe) Bird Safe Disinfectant Concentrate

$7.99

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World leader cleaner/bird disinfectant. Kills fungi, yeasts, viruses as well as bacteria. A powerful and versatile bird disinfectant.  Can be used safely for a broad range of cleaning requirements.

How We Use This Product At Our Aviary: We use this to clean all of our birds cages, toys, perches, food dishes, water bottles and hand feeding utensils daily.

Food safety is very important to the health of the birds too. A variety of veggies, sprouted whole grains and seed, egg food and other fresh live foods are an essential part of our flocks diet, but these things also need to be monitored very closely when offered because they spoil quickly.

To ensure any fresh food is not left long enough to begin growing any harmful bacteria we have a breakfast, lunch and dinner feeding routine for our flock. You can see Our Budgies Diet for more information on our feeding program.