Summer Update: What We've Been Up To

Guess who’s back? Back again? Shan’s back. Tell a friend!

So, I've been promising big things are on the horizon.

Let's discuss a few.

We are working hard on using all my corporate experience, and tech experience - and bringing our rescue into the 21st century.

WEBSITE AND ORGANIZATION

We now have a completely re-designed website, which is getting stronger by the day as we find small ways to improve it.

Our goal is to create a tried and true system, that is mostly automated so that no matter who is looking at the process from any angle - everything is transparent, concise, and detailed.

That means from the moment a surrender application comes in, it begins a series of processes that ensure that all things that need to happen for that bird, happen, are documented, and signed off on all the way through the adoption process as a full eco-system.

That means when a volunteer has a concern for a bird, like "Nails need trimming." or "Beak too long." or "saw blood in cage this morning", we have a set of systems and protocols that handle those, on a timed basis.

That means when a bird comes in for surrender, having seizures (like happened yesterday), that we have a set of emergency protocols in place that allow our veterinarian treat the animal quickly, to view and confer with us in realtime the chart, she can ask for updated videos in the chart immediately, and we can administer meds on a timed schedule while keeping a clear paper trail to follow the whole system.

That means when a person applies for adoption, the team is able to see all their information and interviews in their "Client Record", they can now schedule digitally where it goes to our calendars, it's tied to their record, and a set of tasks and processes are initiated.

And that means, that when that person comes, falls in love with a bird, we can tie the records together, and everything is in one place.

That...is an incredible feeling. So we're working on getting every bird who is here charted and then we'll work backwards to eventually get all our records in one place.

MOVING RESCUE INTERVIEWS AND RECORDS OUT OF FACEBOOK

While we're on that subject, historically, Facebook has been the only way to interview our prospective adopters.

This disqualifies anyone not on Facebook from being able to adopt. We applied for a nonprofit discount with LiveChat, and beginning in October, we'll be moving our adoption process completely off Facebook, and our adoptive families will be able to do their interviews right on our website without having to download anything, or install any apps on their phones or devices.

We'll be using Google Drive for our forms and home video storage for adoptive families because it's secure, and affordable. Those videos and forms will integrate seamlessly with our new management system we've been building.

SPEAKING OF FACEBOOK

And, while we're talking about getting things off Facebook - let's address that Facebook algorithms arbitrarily toy with nonprofit organizations and pages pretty regularly nowadays.

For the last year, you may have noticed you're not getting updates on our content like you're used to. Where our videos would go viral regularly with Ruby and Coby and Tripp, Hunter and Gwen - we had diminished distribution in the algorithms, and it pushed us down your page because one of our volunteers mentioned we should...make a big boom for our auction (use your imagination, because I'm not going say those words out loud here), and because I made a wise crack, and we got in trouble for me basically be a Jezebel. LOL. Me. Can you imagine? ME. HAHAHAH

Leatylrs Friends GIFfrom Leatylrs GIFs

So, moving forward, we'll be posting our content on our website in a blog, and then sharing that post to each of the social networks.

We'll be using FB, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube and maaaaaybe Twitter, although whatever going on at Twitter is making my eyes squint and my nose wrinkle, so I'm not super excited about using it.

HOW TO GET UPDATES NO MATTER WHAT

So, from there, what we'll do is a monthly recap from our website, in the form of a newsletter, with links and images and the whole bit to make sure everyone has a full snapshot of what went on for the month. You can sign up for our newsletter by subscribing on our home page, about halfway down the page.

VET CLINICS AND AUCTIONS

Because FB is so wonky nowadays, doing auctions here is just a fools errand. We'll post about them here, but we'll be using software to do them on the website.

And if you want to attend vet clinics, we'll let you know about them here, but we'll also send out a newsletter, and that newsletter is how you'll be invited to schedule for your birds to be seen by Dr. McDonald when he comes.

MSU

MSU's Dr. Kottwitz will be teaching some classes and running some labs here at the rescue this fall and winter. SUPER excited about that. Love, love, LOVE having the students come in and light up and learn with the birds. That makes my whole soul happy.

USDA

We are working pretty hard on getting all our ducks in the proverbial row to be compliant and to go above and beyond for them when they officially take over the supervision of avians in February 2024, when all things become mandatory. We hope to be a shining beacon of what that looks like when it's done properly and with intention, and we hope to be able to translate that so we can mentor and help other up and coming rescues as they learn to maneuver the ropes.

VOLUNTEERS

We now have a Volunteer application page that allows for anyone to come volunteer for the rescue. Most of the main every day chores happen between 10-2, but we also have other tasks and things that people can help with outside of normal feeding/watering/cleaning during the rest of the day as well.

CRAFT SHOW/VENDOR EVENT

We're planning a big craft show/vendor event for October 14. Today, we'll be creating an event for our Fall For Rescue Event.

That event, was my brainchild to get all the area rescues together - dog, cat, reptile, farm, wildlife, Humane Societies, avian - all of us - so that we can a) get to know each other, b) use each other as resources to do more and better for the community, and c) so we can be the superpower I know we all are together to be and do more for animals.

That was the dream when I bought this property.

So, October 14, all rescues are invited to come and set up a booth here, to make money for their rescues. For profit vendors are also welcome, with the only stipulation that they have to pledge some of their profits to an attending rescue.

If you guys know of food trucks and craft vendors who would rock that - send them to our website under the events tab to sign up as a vendor.

I'll ask you guys to share that like CRAZY to get that event out.

CAGE SALES/BARN CLEAN UP

And finally, the last weekend in September, we're going to have a volunteer weekend to clean out the barn to inventory and clean our cages, figure out what we want to sell and what we want to keep, and to help us get them all inventoried on the website for sale.

Cages will be listed for sale on the website, so we can use it as a revenue opportunity for the rescue, and get our proverbial budgies in a row so that we stay nice and organized, and can actually host events in our barn. A lot of times cages come in just caked in crap, and we know there is an awesome cage under there, so we say "we'll clean that and it'll be awesome." an put it in the barn to be processed "later". (LOL)

When there's only a few of us doing all the work around here, and we're also trying to make money to operate - "later" never gets here.

So - that's going to be a giant project, but if we get enough people, we can totally rock it over the weekend and get er' done.

We'd like to host the Fall For Rescue event largely in the barn, and right now, you're doing good to walk in there.

LOGAN AND THE USAF

My Logan is leaving for basic training for the greatest Air Force on the planet on October 10. Now that I've already been through that once with Alex (who is now home permanently as of December), I know that my poor mama's heart is going to be anxious and broken with my youngest leaving the nest to something so full of emotion, pride and glory, and I'm going to need to keep busy. You know who cries? BABIES. Not me. NOT ME. (but really, just keep me busy.)

So, we'll be doing the Fall for Rescue show on October 14, and immediately following that, we'll be doing a transport out Virginia, Pennsylvania and it looks like maybe Jersey on the east coast the following week.

We'll need volunteers to help staff the rescue while we're gone, and then when Logan graduates basic at the end of November, we'll need volunteers to staff the rescue while we're in San Antonio Texas.

And (obviously LOL) if y'all need bird help between here and there - now's the time to tell us, so we can get you on the schedule and itinerary.

TUESDAY NIGHT LIVE

Isn't going to be Tuesday Night Live anymore. Wednesday Night Bird Weirdos? Manic Monday Mamacitas?

What night do you guys prefer? We will probably aim for 7pm's for them, and we will probably do them from my house. We will also likely go live on multiple platforms at once every week.

I'm thinking we'll begin every couple of weeks for now, just to get back in the saddle while we're managing this crazy workload we've got going on.

For now, let's plan next week to doing one during the day. I know that won't be as well attended as the night shows - but we're doing a speaking engagement in the community next Wednesday, and this is going to be a crazy busy weekend, so we'll have to balance with our whacked out schedules.

I'm thinking Monday or Tuesday during the day to kick it off.

birdiebye

We have registered Birdiebye Laser and Graphics Co. LLC and a DBA as birdiebye. That's the new for profit company that we hope to become giant bird funding bajillionaires with. That's the laser business we've been talking about.

As a sneak peak, our first real project that we hope to launch the company with is a campaign called the "Be a Good Human" campaign.

It will involve tumblers and 30 and 40 oz water bottles engraved with the "be a good human." logo along with the birdiebye logo, (intentionally lowercase), and it will have monthly challenges to inspire and motivate us all to be better humans. Better for our birds. Better to other bird people. Better to rescue. Better to our families. Better to our community. Better to ourselves.

And the rest of the tumblers and designs will be bird centric or snarky, hilarious stuff that will make you giggle like a hyena.

This weekend we are finishing up a giant wedding we've been working on for the past 3 months (which is what's paying our property taxes on the facility, WOOT) and then next week, I'm working on the website to try to get that soft launched.

ADVERTISING

Up to this point, I have never paid for advertising for any of our social media channels (other than a free 100 dollar thing Facebook did a few years ago where they gave us 100 in free advertising), for the rescue. All the followers we have here, Instagram (which are under 5k) and TikTok (over 100k) are all completely organic. All our videos going viral - all organic.

Now that I'm not longer considered a "Lady of the Night" by Facebook (thanks FB. Seriously. Been a while since I've been considered sultry, LOL) our algorithms should go back to normal, I think - and we will likely start getting the word out about the rescue and Birdiebye together using our natural "Not Your Mama's Rescue" personality, and then couple that with some strategic paid advertising to compound the push.

We'll work on some serious marketing campaigns and see if...cough...I've still got it. (Marketing chops using my corporate knowledge, that is.)

So that's it. That's the plan.

I'm baaaaa-aaaack.

-Shannon

BEWARE OF SCAMS ALERT!

UPDATE: August 30, 2023 - we have just learned that scammers have created a website named www.birdsandbeakshaven.com to try to scam people or birds. They are using birdsandbeaks@gmail.com - that’s a scam and not us. They are using something called PhoenixFreighting.com which is a fake freight company.

We do NOT ship birds.

This lady is now out $480.00 from sending money to scammers.

If you are not required to meet IN PERSON, to both meet the animal and adopt the animal, and you can’t physically go to a location (with someone! Never go alone!) it’s not real. They can be persuasive, Even if you are able to talk to them on the phone - unless you can go there, in person - it’s not real.



*****
We just received yet another call that a person is trying to “Adopt a Bird” out to another human being using our rescue’s name. She was asked to get a card to send to the person, and then the person would ship her the bird. This time a cockatiel.

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a hundred times. Hear us again:

DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY OVER THE INTERNET FOR ANIMALS YOU DO NOT ALREADY HAVE IN YOUR HANDS FOR ANY REASON.

No one is shipping animals to anyone, especially in this heat. If you have not met that animal, in person, and put your hands on them, you are about to be scammed.

We won’t ship, and we don’t know anyone else shipping animals that is reputable.

Not dogs, not birds, not cats, not anything.

99 out of 100 times - that’s a scam.

And not worth your time. Please don’t send money over the internet to adopt animals, no matter how big the sob story is or how desperate they sound.

It’s just not real.

We’re in Battle Creek, Michigan. We have an adoption radius of 350 miles - and we usually stick pretty close to it. For us to break that radius rule, every single thing in your application has to be pretty much spot on perfect for what we’re looking for, and you’ll have to agree to drive to Battle Creek, Michigan both to adopt, and you’ll be signing a legally binding agreement that you’ll come here to surrender if for any reason it doesn’t work out.

If you want to adopt a bird and you’re far outside of our adoption radius, search “Parrot Rescue” along with your state on Google, and then look at the reviews for said rescue. If there’s only a few reviews - be wary. If the reviews are horrible for the most part - be wary.

Be prepared to drive a distance to meet in person with the birds you’re interested in, and be prepared to pay a fair and reasonable adoption fee. Sometimes cages/etc. are included, and sometimes they’ll charge you for them.

If the rescue isn’t concerned if you have the necessary resources for cages, food, etc - BE WARY. If the rescue isn’t asking about those things for a bird before it goes home - they don’t care about that bird. It’s a giant red flag.

Be wary, be inquisitive, be alert, and don’t lose your money to a scam!

XOXO - We love you guys, and we consider you our Birds and Beaks Nation Family - even if you can’t adopt from us - and we want to protect you. Don’t fall victim to scams!

Should I Get My Child a Parrot?

So - there’s a ton of reasons why you shouldn’t get your child a bird, but none that won’t be able to be worked around if he or she is the right kid for a bird. This article is to help you decide if your kid should have one. The first thing you need to know is this rescuer has never seen a bird that’s great with kids. We’ve only met kids who are great with birds.

Birds have a long lifespan

They live an INCREDIBLE amount of time.  The oldest documented cockatiel I ever placed was 37, and he lived another 2 years.  African Greys live on average of 50, Macaws and Cockatoos under the perfect conditions could be expected to live to 80.  Conures and some of the smaller species are 20-40.

Birds cannot just stay in the cage

They are smart. Like - can use tools, can do basic math, can speak in context - type smart.  So putting them in a cage and leaving them there is the cruelest things we as humans can do to them.  In the wild, they fly 10-30 miles a day.  In captivity, humans tend to feed them cheap, inappropriate foods based on science from the 70’s and 80’s, and leave them on a perch with nothing to do or see for decades.  Not every bird suffers this fate, but a lot sadly do.

Birds can be quite a burden for the whole family

They are loud, obnoxious, bite, and are the equivalent of adopting a toddler child for the foreseeable future. They require specialty food, time out of the cage for 4+ hours/day, will require knowledgeable trainers that can research and learn and understand the intricacies of positive reinforcement and trust training that is unlike the type of training people usually expect with dogs (although these principals are certainly better for dogs as well in our opinion!). Most of the time they cannot live in apartments, and all family members have to be ok with the amount of noise and mess that birds make. We don’t tell you this to scare you - we want to prepare you for what to expect so that your heart and mind are open to doing it well. You may have to make changes to the cleaners you use in your home, you will not be able to use air fresheners, and you may need to upgrade your pots and pans to eliminate teflon from your collection, as teflon is extremely toxic and fatal to birds.

Kids cannot make decisions for the rest of their lives

Kids are not in a great position to make decisions for the rest of their lives. In the past week, I’ve had two women come to us, one - a 33 year old woman who got her quaker as a 14 year old as a present for christmas.  She just had to choose between her baby, that’s she’s had for the past decade and a half, and taking her literal dream job at a world famous PR firm in London.  Kids can’t be making life long decisions at 14. And her parents aren’t willing to love and nurture him.  So - we’re going to place him into a home.

The other had her cockatiel for over a decade. Now in her 20’s, she broke, can’t afford vet care, can’t afford pellet or good food, and her apartment doesn’t like the noise he makes.  She sobbed. I mean just sobbed surrendering that bird.  But - again, they can’t be making life decisions at 11.  And - the parents didn’t take the step you are right now to learn and research and look into what the big picture of owning a bird looks like.

Birds are not family animals.

It should be noted that birds are generally not family animals, but do bond monogomously for life with another sentient being. Once the bond has been chosen, we can expect them to tolerate the other members of the flock (humans, animals, etc.) with training, but will usually not be affectionate or loving to others.

As an example, getting a bird for the child will not usually result in the bird wanting to hang out with multiple people in the family as a family pet. It CAN happen, but it doesn’t usually happen after sexual maturity, and we want to make sure your entire family understands and is prepared for the possibility they may not ever have a relationship with the bird.

It requires constant interaction and training

It’s a lot of work, and they require you to earn their trust with every interaction. I always tell people that birds are for the higher IQ people who love animals, but also love the challenge of being able to understand and study behavior and its complexities. You’ll need to be able to approach issues from different angles to have your bird do the things you need them to do on their terms, in a way they can understand that does not break trust. Punishment never works with birds, so the only way is through figuring out what motivates them, and working through the problem until they understand and are able to comply.

Is it worth it?

For the right people (kids OR adults) the love of a bird is unlike any other love you’ll ever know. It’s intelligent, and sentient, and it will teach you about yourself in ways I’m not sure you can learn in any other way, with any other soul. It’s one of the greatest gifts of my existence to be loved by my feathered family.

But, it’s also challenging, loud, messy, has a steep learning curve, expensive, and frustrating at best, and can be severely heartbreaking and painful for human and bird alike, at worst.

Can it be done? Of course. But only you know if your kid can handle it.

Your child has patterns that you’ve been watching since they were born. You will know if your kid can handle it. And you’ll need to be real honest with yourself and your child if they cannot.

Be sure of the answer before you put a bird through it. They bond monogomously for life. And to take that bond away because we’re bored, are involved in sports, or relationships that are pretty predictable for teenagers, to move to the dorm for college, can’t afford life at a young age, or move on to have children of their own and they can no longer dedicate the time and energy into properly caring for them is equivalent to a divorce for humans, or the equivalent of dropping a child off at a foster care for kids. They are very intelligent, and they do grieve and experience heartbreak.

Can they survive it? Sure. Is it hard and terrible? Yes. It is. Our job here at the rescue is to take the pain out of that for them. But for us to be sure we don’t just put them back into another home that will leave them again, we’re going to ask you AND your child some hard questions, and you’ll have to convince us that it’s the best situation for them.

Are there children that can handle that? Yes, yes there are. And those are the kids who will be lifelong avian lovers who work to perfect husbandry and the sciences surrounding avian welfare. When we’re REALLY lucky, they go on to become avian veterinarians.

And there are some kids who are impatient and just want the novelty until it wears off.

We’re asking you to know the difference, and to make a judgement call on your Childs maturity before you put a bird in that situation.

In most cases, the parents end up taking care of the birds, and if that’s going to be the case, raise your birds WITH your children, but don’t get the bird FOR your children. Give that bird the benefit of the bond with the person who can love them forever. Learn everything you can. Find a place willing to match you personality to personality and then let the bird choose you. Teach your children to research, learn, and to respect and revere parrots and their incredible cognitive abilities. Feed, enrich, house and provide with the very best. And then enjoy the parrot and all they will do to enrich your life as part of your family. It’s the best, and right thing to do.

XOXO,

Shannon

Picky Parrot Training

Join Gwen, the Grey, Paulie the Quaker and Sunny the Male Eclectus as they learn the ropes for wearing a collar to protect themselves, their feathers and to try to grow past their plucking and feather mutilation issues.

First two videos are with Casper, an Umbrella Cockatoo who self mutilated and was almost displaced because of it. We ordered a rush order collar from Picky Parrot Products II for Casper, and he immediately acclimated to the collar.

Video One: Casper gets collar on for first time: https://www.facebook.com/birdsandbeaks/videos/vl.394624744724308/2310546365939100/?type=1

Video Two: Update of Casper wearing the collar - doing great: https://www.facebook.com/birdsandbeaks/videos/2309649135984828/

New Training Series: 3 Birds, 3 Collars

Day One Training - Sunny, Gwen and Paulie get their collars on, day one:

https://www.facebook.com/birdsandbeaks/videos/434652393975493/

Day One - Getting the collar on. https://www.facebook.com/birdsandbeaks/videos/1004246563116314/

Day Two -3 Birds, 3 stages of acceptance for these collars.
https://www.facebook.com/birdsandbeaks/videos/801334906907698/

Day Three - Trimming the collars so they can climb better. https://www.facebook.com/birdsandbeaks/videos/601169930381782/

Day Four - A little peace and tranquility after trimming collars. https://www.facebook.com/birdsandbeaks/videos/411320536389308/

Day Six - Feeling like Gwen might need another trim, but everyone doing pretty good, starting to see some regrowth. https://www.facebook.com/birdsandbeaks/videos/2251952108195262/

Day Six - Trimming Gwen again. Confidence is a big deal. https://www.facebook.com/birdsandbeaks/videos/1244733042361923/

Day Six Feather Growth already on Paulie: https://www.facebook.com/birdsandbeaks/videos/2045587308900575/

Get Your Collar Here:

To Order Picky Parrot Products II Collars for your bird, visit Juli over on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/circleoflifeaviancollar/ Send her a private message there at Facebook to get your custom order started, and if you have any questions - she’ll be there for you every step of the way.

And visit their website at: http://pickyparrotproductsii.com

Important Video Links

Scream Training with Rio, the Bare Eyed Cockatoo

The Screaming Parrot

Screaming. It’s every parrot person’s worst nightmare. I don’t know a single person who is “good” with a screaming parrot. It wrecks your peace, can make it miserable to be around your bird, and if you have a husband or spouse like mine, the demands to “get rid of it” will start pouring in. Parrot screaming is one of the largest contributors (one of the big 4) for why parrots are rehomed or surrendered into rescues. The species most apt to develop this behavior are Cockatoos (Mollucan and Umbrella), Macaws, Amazons and a few of the Conure species.

Let’s start with the good news: Screaming doesn’t have to be forever. It is a learned behavior, and as such it can be trained out of your once adorable, monster of a bird. We’ll get into step-by-step directions momentarily, but first lets rule a few things out.

Rule out Scary Stuff

Is something scaring your bird? Does he or she focus on something with her eyes when she begins screaming? Rule out the scream being the bird’s communication method to tell you something is very scary, in their space that is probably going to eat and/or kill you too if you don’t get it out of there.

If there is something there that’s terrifying (you know, like a scarf, human, toy, etc.) remove the object to a safe distance and use small approximations to re-introduce that object or human.

Small approximation is fancy pants terminology for taking things very, very slow. For instance, if your bird is scared of new toys, start by bringing the toy just inside the room. If the bird relaxes or doesn’t display fearful body language, bring it a foot closer. If the bird doesn’t display fear, reward and bring it a foot closer, and so on and so forth until the toy is right next to the cage. When the bird seems at ease with the toy, try hanging it on the outside of the cage. And then finally, through small approximations, you should be able to hang the toy within the cage. If the bird at any point displays fear, simply go back one step and try again.

Is there something medically wrong with your bird?

Do you notice any lethargy with your bird? Is she acting differently than normal? Are there any blood feathers broken or bothering her? Do her feet look ok? All of these things are cause for your bird to be alarmed enough to let you know about it, and the only way they can do that is by screaming their pretty little heads off.

If you are certain there’s nothing medically pressing, move on to the next phase. But, if your bird is in medical distress, get her to your nearest avian vet, stat.

Is the screaming only happening when you leave the room?

If this is the case, this isn’t screaming, per se. This is flock call. Birds are flock animals, and therefore, separating from the flock is dangerous, scary and in their world, a big load of crap. The flock goes everywhere together and does everything together.

If this is the case, simply answer back. “I’m right here!” with the call, and that should give the parrot ease of mind that you’re going to be ok, and so are they. For flock calls, in my experience, the more you ignore, the more persistent and obnoxious it gets. This is the one instance that it’s ok to answer with a reassuring phrase, and I’d recommend using the same phrase every time.

With my flock at the Birds and Beaks rescue, I simply respond with a whistle. The same whistle every time. And, as a result, they started using it as flockcall instead of the obnoxious, ear-shattering shriek that they all used when they arrived.

For Actual Long Term, Non-Stop, “Oh that bird’s gotta go” Screaming:

First here’s what NOT to do. If you’re doing any of these things – stop now:

• Telling the bird to shut up

• Covering the cage

• Letting other people tell the bird to shut up

• Throwing things at the cage

• Striking the cage

• Showing any sign at all that the bird is making God-Awful racket

• Running to the cage to reassure your bird everything is ok\

If you’re doing anything in this above list, you’re teaching your bird that screaming evokes a reaction. Which is precisely what they would like from you. A reaction.

Instead, try this:

• Provide plenty for the bird to do. A busy parrot is a quiet parrot.

• When she’s quiet and playing on her own doing her own thing, reward her with her favorite treat.

• When she has 30 seconds or more of silence, click your clicker, give her a treat. Work up to longer increments of time.

• Do not look at her, talk to her or acknowledge her existence when she’s screaming. Don’t turn up the TV to drown it out. When this behavior begins, go into training mode, look for the CORRECT behavior and reward that.

For the bird that screams all day long while you’re gone:

For this scenario, you want to stand just outside of your bird’s line of site to you. They need to not see you, and you’ll want to be very quiet.

-Bird screams - do nothing.

-When you have 5 seconds of quiet, click, pop in and reward.

-Work up to 10 seconds,

The training principals of getting a screamer transitioned over to a non-screamer can take a few weeks. If you are persistent, consistent and able to carry through reliably on your end, your bird WILL stop screaming.

The hardest part is keeping that last hair of a nerve of sanity from snapping between the beginning of the training and the end.

If you need help, or have questions, you are always welcome to email us for help at Birds and Beaks. Visit www.birdandbeaks.com/contact and send us a message with as much detail about the problem you are experiencing and we’re happy to do what we can to assist.