Successes & Disappointments
BY LAURELLA DESBOROUGH
Copyright Laurella Desbrough (eclectusbreeder.com).
All rights reserved by the author.
To prosper in bird breeding,
successes and disappointments
must be reviewed and carefully
analyzed. Bird breeders should
ask themselves these questions:
What kind of production did your
pairs give you? What kind of
medical problems did you
encounter? Was your marketing
strategy successful? Did you
sell all that you produced? How
can you best prepare for the
year ahead? What are your goals?
First, review the production
records of each pair. Were there
specific problems, such as
infertility, disease or pair
incompatibility? Sometimes what
appears to be a medical- or
disease-related problem is
actually a management problem.
Insecure perches, inappropriate
diet, housing pairs of quiet or
nervous species next to noisy
and dramatic species can result
in infertile eggs, broken eggs
or damaged chicks. To improve
the production of each pair, all
contributing factors must be
thoughtfully considered. Keeping
records on each pair enables
breeders to have greater
oversight on the situation, and
gives us the opportunity to
improve future outcomes.
Market Strategies
Second, has production
outstripped sales? If so, review
marketing practices. Have you
kept a record of where your
sales originated? When new
clients call, do you routinely
ask where they have heard of you
and record their answers?
Keeping records of buyers' calls
helps you know which advertising
is working and which is not.
(Keep in mind, advertising that
works well in one region of the
country may not work in
another.) How can you reach new
clients? Referrals work great;
you can find ways to increase
referrals by making it desirable
for present clients to refer new
clients. Web sites also work
well for advertising, if you
update them routinely. How do
you successfully deal with your
competition? When you offer what
your clients need, they will
more likely want to do business.
Providing sufficient and correct
information on each bird sold is
helpful. Likewise, providing
continuing advice and support
also increases buyer's
confidence.
Get Involved
Review which conferences and
seminars you attended the year
and make plans for future
conferences. Three major
conferences being held in the
U.S. this year are: The Midwest
Avian Research Expo (MARE)
taking place in Michigan this
July (www.mare-expo.org/); The
American Federation of
Aviculture (AFA)Convention (www.afa.birds.org)
taking place in Los Angeles
during August; and the
Convention of the International
Aviculturists Society (www.funnyfarmexotics.com/IAS/)
occurring in Florida during late
fall. Attending one or more of
these events can only add to
your knowledge of aviculture and
increase your professionalism.
Speaking of professionalism,
have you renewed your
subscriptions to the major avian
magazines? There are a lot to
select from: Bird Talk,
the AFA Watchbird,
OnWings, and The World of
Birds. Specialty
organizations keep you
up-to-date on our favorite avian
species. It helps you to be a
member of at least one specialty
organization. More importantly,
every breeder should belong to
at least one national
organization: the American
Federation of Aviculture, the
Avicultural Society of America (www.fortunecity.com/millenium/paddington/899/asaclub.html),
or the International
Aviculturists Society. The
national organizations keep you
abreast of the breaking news on
legislation and developments
within the Conference on the
International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES) that
ultimately affect exotic bird
breeders.
Share your knowledge with
others. You have probably shared
advice or discussed ideas about
birds with others interested in
birds. Why not sit down and
write an article about some
aspect of the birds you keep or
the husbandry practices within
your aviary. Bird magazines are
interested in information about
birds. You have it. Share it.
Call your local bird club and
offer to give one talk this
year. You will need to prepare
slides, organize your topics for
the talk and do some test runs
to make sure you are projecting
your voice and covering the
details of your topic. Call a
teacher and offer to give a
brief talk and show birds to a
local school class. You can even
do a little research and provide
some important information on
deforestation and species loss
at the same time.
Many people feel shy about
talking before a crowd. If you
are shy or nervous about
speaking in public, join a local
Toastmasters group to help
prepare you for this social
adventure. Presenting a speech
at a grade school class is an
easy way to start. Give it a
try. Bring along your bird(s) to
break the ice.
Do you raise unusual or
relatively rare birds? If so,
participate in a cooperative
breeding program with one or
more pairs of these birds. You
will be making a contribution to
this species' future. Keeping
records of genetics and pairing
unrelated birds will become more
important as many of our
wild-caught breeding birds die
off due to old age. Finding a
mate for a single bird will be a
lot easier for people who are
participating in cooperative
breeding programs. To find out
more about these programs,
contact the American Federation
of Aviculture (AFA) or the
specialty organization for the
species, such as the Amazona
Society or the American Lory
Society. By working with others
you will increase your own
enjoyment and success.
Finally, what about the birds in
the wild? Many species are
threatened with habitat loss and
extinction. Why not decide this
year to help generate a future
for these birds by donating
funds and pledging support for
the organizations that are
working to save the species.
Activities of these
organizations include working to
preserve habitat and collecting
data on avian species, involving
local people in saving their
wildlife and setting up breeding
programs on site and in
captivity to preserve the
species. Check out the
organizations, each one is doing
important work that deserves our
support: American Bird
Conservancy (www.abcbirds.org);
RARE Center for Tropical
Conservation
(www.rarecenter.org); Wildlife
Preservation Trust International
(www.wpti.org); and World
Wildlife Fund (www.wwf.org).
