that's just heartbreaking.... just heartbreaking....

This is the reason why people should not buy babies and adopt instead. As long as people continue to patronize petstores and breeders, there will be birds that suffer like these did. And, no, breeding your well-taken care of pets is not a solution because for each baby bird that gets placed in a good home, there is a bird left waiting in a rescue.

And yes, overcrowding is a factor, but it's also malnourishment and overbreeding that made them look like that.

You are exactly right Bea, I want to puke everytime I hear someone say they bought a baby at the store or from a breeder,I am not saying all breeders are like this one,but if only breeders could open their eyes and see the numbers of unwanted birds in rescues,and stop breeding, I did a count yesterday which I wish I didn't do,But anyway I have 85 Cockatiels here right now,How sad is that !! total bird count here is 256 ,That is really a heartbreaker this many unwanted birds.
I know there are some breeders on here,and I mean no offense towards you,But until these breeders stop being selfish and stop thinking about the mighty dollar this is going to continue to be a problem.

i'm not sure how many people out there really know HOW many birds are in rescues - you have about 260, TGF has about 400, and i'm sure the list goes on and on.

from my experience - when i got valo, i didn't know how many birds out there were in need of a home. i bought valo from a petstore as a baby. once i did my research, i realized how big the numbers actually are. bella was the last bird that i bought (and we bought her for a lot of reasons - initially i almost resisted), all my future birds will be adopted.
however, most people who look for a bird, probably don't even know how many babies are looking for a home in rescues. reasons to be discussed....

that's just based on my experiences and from talking to people around me