Large Flock of Zebra finches Available

[gunard62]

Hello. I have CFW, CFW/BLK Cheecked, BLK face/BLK Eumo split Zebra finches that need to be re-homed. I am $110.00 for all including shipping, $65.00 for all if you pick up. There are 4 CFW males, 3 CFW/BLK Cheeked males, 2 EUMO/CFW ,BLK Cheeked split females and 4 BLK Cheeked/ CFW females. I live in Milford Indiana, 46542. My birds are healthy and well cared for.

mixed aviary.JPG (76.67 KiB) Viewed 1855 times

[lovezebs]

gunard62

Beautiful birds, and I see a fairly rare yellow beak in there as well...
Are you getting out of Zebra's, or just making room for more?

[gunard62]

Thank you. and yes, making room. I breed Gouldians and Canaries as well and space is getting tight. I'm feeling a bit like a horder.

[lovezebs]

gunard62

From one hoarder to another, space is always an issue, lol.

I've even considered taking over my small guest room ( seeing as my bird room is bursting at the seams ). Reasoning behind it.... hey, I don't expect any overnight guests in the near future .

Just out of curiousity, how would you ship all of them?

[gunard62]

I ship USPS. I live in a farming community. People ship and receive all kinds of birds. Chicks, chickens, pheasants, ducks, whatever. It's not hard and in my 6 plus years I've never received a dead bird or shipped a bird that died in route. I know some very reputable breeders who ship USPS. Some on here have said that shipping USPS is illegal...they should check their facts. It is not...and is done by hundreds, probably thousands of people a year without issue.
Don't mean to be preachy but I have had some people really attack me and others about shipping. I'm just saying to those of you that are against shipping USPS: Sorry if you've had a bad experience but that doesn't make it all bad and most of us really care about our birds.

[lovezebs]

gunard62

Personally, I have no opinion on it. I have never shipped a bird in or out.

What I meant, was how is it physically done? I mean, boxes, crates? How do you arrange the birds? Food, water? Do

they go from door to door, as in pick up from your place, delivered to the buyers door? I honestly have no idea, which is why I have always been so reluctant to ship birds in.

If you ship from the States to Canada, how do you deal with paper work, border issues, quarantine, etc? I've always been curious about how it's done.

[gunard62]

My response wasn't personal...and wasn't necessarily directed at you. Is this a private message?
The birds are dropped off at a local post office in a USPS approved bird box. You can find these online. they are generally $10.00 to $12.00 a box. They are roomy and ventilated. They are then sent to the receivers post office or can be delivered to the home as well. Shipping costs vary depending on zip code. Most sellers charge a flat fee of around $40.00 to $60.00.
Most people cover the bottom of box with seed. I have sent and have received boxes with drip waterers as well. I usually put a small, fairly deep, plastic container with fresh water in it...and you can include a piece of fresh fruit, such as an apple. Birds can feed and get moisture from this for several days.
i know one breeder who ships to Puerto Rico which takes a week. She said she has never lost a bird.
As far as shipping out of the USA, that is a whole other animal...I don't do that and can imagine that it's quite the process.

[lovezebs]

gunard62

No, lol, this is not a private message.
I was just responding to your comment, as to the fact that I have no opinion on the subject, seeing as I know nothing about it

Thanks for the explanation of the process, I really appreciate it. I just heared that you did ship, and thought I'd pick on you for an explanation. I figure you don't learn if you don't ask, right?

I hope you find a good home for your pretty babies.

Good luck.

[Sojourner]

I ship USPS. I live in a farming community. People ship and receive all kinds of birds. Chicks, chickens, pheasants, ducks, whatever. It's not hard and in my 6 plus years I've never received a dead bird or shipped a bird that died in route. I know some very reputable breeders who ship USPS. Some on here have said that shipping USPS is illegal...they should check their facts. It is not...and is done by hundreds, probably thousands of people a year without issue.
Don't mean to be preachy but I have had some people really attack me and others about shipping. I'm just saying to those of you that are against shipping USPS: Sorry if you've had a bad experience but that doesn't make it all bad and most of us really care about our birds.

Sorry, but the fact is that shipping finches and canaries is NOT allowed by the USPS. They nearly always do it anyway but only adult birds on their list (mostly farm animals) and chicks/ducklings are allowed by USPS regulations.

Here's the page:

http://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2 ... o1_002.htm

pigeons, pheasants, partridges, and quail as well as ducks, geese, and swans are mailable in domestic mail.

If its not on the list that type of adult bird it is not allowed to be shipped.

Yes, yes, I know we do it anyway, and there are even specific USPS approved boxes for parrots that have a mesh wire insert. But TECHNICALLY nothing but those farm animals are allowed.

This is also the reason for why the USPS approved shipping boxes are so ginormous, way bigger than is needed to ship a few finches or canaries. Given the types of birds they specifically allow to be shipped, they cannot reasonably approve a shipping container that is too small for those birds actually allowed by their own regulations.

Given the activities of organizations like PETA and their ilk, it is doubtful the regulations will ever be changed to allow shipping of pet birds specifically. There is a small but very very vocal minority of folks who either knowingly or unknowingly pass on all sorts of disinformation about masses of crushed, suffocated, starved, and otherwise murderized birds as a result of shipping errors. These people are VERY active and very vocal about getting ALL shipping of live animals banned.

My guess is that the USPS would happily change the regulations but don't want to deal with increased outcry from these fringe lunatics. Shipping live animals such as chicks is vital to many farming concerns, so in order not to endanger that I believe they (usually) accommodate the rest of us on the sly.

And BTW having looked into it (I was in fact hunting, in vain as it happens, an affordable shipping box myself just last night) I am not against shipping birds via USPS. But the fact is that when it comes to our pet birds, it is technically against regulations.

I've wondered myself why no one seems to use chick boxes to ship finches and the like. They're plenty big enough for small birds like that and only run $3 or $4 apiece, plus shipping on them is much much MUCH more reasonable.

Also they use something called GroGel when shipping chicks, which is basically a powder that turns into a gel when water is added that provides some nutrients but mostly ingestible water that won't actually spill all over - is there some reason folks don't use that to ship pet birds? It would overcome the problem of providing non-spilling water for shipped birds.

[Sojourner]

Dang, I foreshortened the text from the USPS regulations about what birds are allowed to be shipped and its too late to fix the original post, so here's the full list:

Adult chickens, turkeys, guinea fowl, doves, pigeons, pheasants, partridges, and quail as well as ducks, geese, and swans are mailable in domestic mail

No pet birds are listed, these are all domestic farm animals. Yes, even pigeons - that's where squab comes from. So racing enthusiasts get a pass on their coat tails, LOL!

[gunard62]

Well...very informative, but with all due respect your comments seem like legalistic rhetoric. Bottom line is that it must be a very gray area since postal workers have been " looking the other way" forever. I'm not really interested in peta because I certainly don't agree with all of their practices.
As I said, The breeders and hobbyists that I know care for the birds that they ship...whether it's "really" legal or not is a moot point. It happens and thank goodness...many could not afford the costs of airline shipping. Also the reality is that birds die and can die in a major airline airplane as easily as in a USPS truck. Just sayin.

[wildbird]

They might not use the Gowgel because the pet birds might not eat it. Have to try it before shipping to be sure they know what it is and will use it.

[Sojourner]

Well...very informative, but with all due respect your comments seem like legalistic rhetoric. Bottom line is that it must be a very gray area since postal workers have been " looking the other way" forever. I'm not really interested in peta because I certainly don't agree with all of their practices.
As I said, The breeders and hobbyists that I know care for the birds that they ship...whether it's "really" legal or not is a moot point. It happens and thank goodness...many could not afford the costs of airline shipping. Also the reality is that birds die and can die in a major airline airplane as easily as in a USPS truck. Just sayin.

Its not moot, and people HAVE had trouble getting their birds shipped. The fact remains that according to regulations they are not supposed to be shipping anything but the listed birds. You can call it "legalistic rhetoric" if you want, but them's the facts. Pet birds are NOT allowed according to regulations.

The fact that we usually get away with it doesn't change that, and people who know that have their facts straight.

I certainly don't agree with PETA either but the fact is that they and all their ilk have a disproportionate effect on things like this. You ignore them and their agitation to your future detriment.

I don't think you read my whole post, which is perhaps not surprising given how long it was, LOL! I am all FOR allowing pet birds to be shipped.

However the fact remains that according to postal regulations it is not allowed and some people HAVE been stopped from doing it. So agitating at a post office that turns such shipments away is perhaps not to anyone's benefit. It would be safer to just go to another PO.

BTW zebras are not nearly as dependent on having water available as any other finch of which I am aware. They can actually extract water from their fat - I was just reading a research article about this earlier today. So your zebras would likely tolerate shipping better than any other finch species. Hope you get them sold. They look like beautiful healthy birds.

[Sojourner]

They might not use the Gowgel because the pet birds might not eat it. Have to try it before shipping to be sure they know what it is and will use it.

Yes, exposing your birds to it prior to shipping would probably be best. I wonder if scattering seed over it would help. I know I've had an AWFUL time getting my budgies to eat anything other than seed - took most of a year to break their seed addiction.

However my finches have not been nearly so picky. It just seems like it would be worthwhile for people shipping birds particularly long distances.

The other thing I've seen suggested is to put an orange section in the box. Or apple, as another poster above suggested. My guys currently won't eat any fruits, not even the finches - but lots of breeders who would be likely to ship routinely feed their birds various fruits, so that's another way to get water into your birds while they're in the box.

[AvianMan]

Hi! Are these still available? I am interested!