I wish I could help ........... I feel so bad for thos birds........ and if brother and sister they should nt be advertised as breeding pair........good luck will keep good thoughts goingyour way

When you know a bird has been in a pet store a long time it really breaks our heart. I'm afraid this guy will just replace them with more.
[i felt the same for a Swift parakeet, another aviary bird, left for a year or more in a small cage at the pet store which was way better sounding than what you're saying - i haven't looked for him in a while as it is way too painful - it still hurts knowing what they're missing - at least these people were feeding the Swift well.]

Bourkes are a lot like Budgies but are usually kept as an aviary bird & need a lot of interaction to be tamed. The Bourke's was the Parrot that got me back into my passions of birds. Because they have larger eyes [they remind me a bit of a sparrow hawk] they see a lot better than Budgies. They get up early & go to bed later & are very active at dusk. They have a sweet whistle call.

Are these regular Bourkes? Photos never seem to do them justice. Bourkes Parakeet - Birds
- this is her own bird - the woman who wrote the artcle - as she wrote to me about Jerry when i asked her about their tameness & housing one in a cage.
- or Rosy Bourkes?
The Bourke’s Parakeet
A lot of people wouldn't know what they were looking at. The regular type are a very understated bird but i think they're very beautiful.

I hope all goes well - but maybe the local humane society should be alerted - he will buy more.

Breeding a brother & sister is not good unless you are a breeder & know their parentage - which may already be brother & sister!

Bourkes are wonderful sweet birds. Unlike many of the Aussie grass parakeets (like rosellas) they are wonderful companion birds. And no, a brother and sister should not be bred. You can breed a daughter back to the father or son back to mother (this is done to reinforce certain traits) but brother to sister matings can really cause problems. When used in intelligent hands by a master breeder, this type of breeding can be useful but it is not for the average joe.

I think it's disgusting to force an animal to have to satisfy their natural instincts with their siblings. It's one thing with the father to the daughter depending on the number of DNA sequences and genomes and chromisones...all of that I guess it's okay to breed back to the parents. But beyond that Buster brings up a good point, it's bad.

Just to clarify, when you work with in-breeding like father to daughter, you only do it once and you make sure not to do it again with the resulting chicks because this WILL result in trouble very quickly. We do the same thing with orchids to reinforce certain traits but never more than once or twice. Line breeding is much safer genetically but slower. Again, inbreeding should only be done by very experienced breeders with an exceptional knowledge of the birds involved.

IME they are quiet little things, sweet and humble. The problem is to find them a good home. I'll kick in money with Arty if you can find them a home.

You just cant go in pet stores, I try not to. Even where I used to live is a touristy town in Bucks County alot of fun but they had a pathetic horse drawn carriage and I refused to go in town. Same here in Phila I wont go to that end of town or Central Park in NY. They have been known to beat the horses when they cant walk anymore and some have even died from the beatings when they were on their last legs. Horses who are older and being "retired" to a second "career" to pull idiots who wont walk. Meanwhile we try and shut that down. It's a hard thing.

Animal abuse is never ending and if it comes between a dollar and an animal the animal always loses.

Thanks for having a compassionate soul and doing something, Josh. Perhaps you can call the ASPCA they always responded to people who called on me when I had my store. When people thought I had a dead chinchilla in the window because they were nocturnal etc lol.

Petco has a cheap cage about 37.00 if you can take it over there and make him change them out. It's 32 wide and they like wide not tall. If you clean, you might bring home something bad for your birds, so better you don't.

PM me if you want I'll pay for the cage. And stay out of pet stores LOL.

speaking of cages I have a spare one that can house two bourkes if you want them transported to a new home that you can just have. It's too small for Jean and I have a travel carrier for him now.