To introduce myself, my name is Jan.  I am a small breeder of  Pionus Parrots. I have created this web site to help promote my birds which is the Pionus species and to offer information on this fabulous breed of parrots and also an Online Bird Toy Parts Shopping.  There are few sites on the web that have good information on Pionus, but like good books, it never hurts to have more than one source.    I always welcome your comments or suggestions or even if you have a complaint, let me know by email. Sorry, I don't offer a phone number right now but we may at some point in time.  Here is Our Location.

If you are having a problem on trying to locate information on something particular on this site go on our  Home Page and look through the page links as many of our pages are not on our main navigation at the top.

This web site is designed mostly for people who are looking for a Pionus as a pet.  I offer some information on hand feeding as well.  I do not sell ''Unweaned Babies" so please do not ask to buy a baby bird so you can finish hand feeding it.  See at bottom of page the new caging that I'm adding onto the Pionus Aviary.
             ↓ Jan & Starla
I hand feed all of our baby birds that our breeders produce for us. I give them my utmost attention.  I do not usually have breeders for sale and if I do I will most likely post them here on this site.  I hand feed our babies after pulling them from the nest, I try to let the parents raise them for at least 2 or 3 weeks if possible. Some of our breeders do okay on raising and feeding the babies for the first two or three weeks and we have trouble with some breeders that don't want to take care of the babies at all and those are the parents that have to be watched carefully so we can get the babies in time. We also incubate the eggs if necessary.  I read  a lot about birds, listen to others and just from experience of raising birds is how I learn.  I am not a vet, so when emailing me don't expect professional veterinary advice because that I can not give.  I sometimes know a few things just from experience of having gone through it or reading about it.  The vet is the best place to take your bird, especially if you think it is sick, then take it in right away, don't let much time go by when it comes to a birds health, because then it may be too late. Don't forget - birds can hide their illnesses.
  
 ↓Jan & Puff - Coral Bill Pionus Parrot.                                                                        Felix →
                                             
I have been breeding parrots for 16 years, as a breeder of Pionus I find them fascinating parrots.  I am the sole person who takes on their every need.  I feed babies by myself so it makes it hard to get away when hand feeding.  I do not hire in help, that's reason why I don't want to get too many, it gets overwhelming and then I would need help.    We don't have that many pairs of birds for all these years gone by but we are still slowly growing. I started out breeding cockatiels for about five years and then my interests turned into breeding Pionus, so we traded  our 30 pairs of cockatiels for 1 Bronze Wing Pionus pair, I already had two pairs of Maximilian's and decided to dedicate ourselves to the Pionus Species.  Currently I've been breeding four out of the five most commonly kept in the pet trade, but now I will be saying next season I breed 6 species of Pionus.  The parrots we have are Maximilian, Blue Headed, Bronze  Winged, White Capped,  & recently acquired 2 pairs of Dusky Pionus and 1 pair of Coral Billed Pionus.  I have been having difficulty with the Bronze Wing pairs  breeding and now there is a set back as one of the males died not long ago and now I have a new male in quarantine, so now its like starting over for that soon to be bonded pair.  The Dusky Pionus was long awaited and now we finally have two pairs and will soon have a third pair.  The Amazons we have are Blue Front and Orange Wing.    People often think that I make good money breeding birds but I don't at all.  Before a breeder can make good money on breeding birds, you must have quite a large inventory of breeding stock and that I don't have, so if some of the birds I have don't breed in a particular season, then I really loose out, seeing that I am not a large breeder.  My feed bill succeeds over my sales of birds each year.   I guess I just do it for the fun of it and for the love of birds.  Although sometimes it seems to be such a handful with everything else that goes on in life.  I don't have paying type job so that is what makes it so convenient to be able to be here with them all the time.

Reg pictured above who is my husband retired from  telecommunications - you know - the phone company! He has many side interests that keep him busy and has fun! Reg loves the birds too as he helps support me in doing the things I do with them.       Our Son Barry - now 28 lives in his own newly built house! Barry is a great son and we are proud of him! Our Daughter Jennifer Marie is no longer among us and you can read about her on her dedicated page. In Memory of Jennifer

AVIARIES

           
This is of the Macaw aviary on the left as you come towards it.  The aviary measures 12' x 11' x 6' high and are walk in flights.  It houses 5 pairs of birds.  Not all are Macaws.

                 
This shows standing at the corner by the Macaw aviary looking at the small single aviary on the right with the Pionus aviary in the back of them.  This small aviary is 4' W x 8' L x 8' H and I originally built it for the Cockatiels, then I had too many so we built the aviary behind it for the 30 some pairs of Cockatiels that I had, in which I no longer have and is now called the Pionus aviary.

          
This is standing near the side of the Macaw aviary looking directly on at the single aviary and Pionus Aviary. After moving out the Cockatiels out of the small aviary, I then used it for 1 pair of Macaws.  Then when I moved them it is now used off and on for our pet B&G Macaw, Kuka for a summer time retreat!

         
This is inside in the Pionus Aviary.  It is 36 feet long and 6 feet wide or deep and 6 feet high.  We house only nine pairs in it.  Each pair has about 4' x 4' x 6'h of space.  Half of the flights are walk in while the other half at the far end that you see are mounted from the ceiling and wall allowing cleaning underneath without entering.  See new Caging photos below that was added to front of Pionus Aviary.

PIONUS AVIARY
New Addition photos are on the link below.
Here's a so called quick fix to a problem when I have
run out of room for birds that I don't have a place for.
Adding caging on to the front of the existing aviary.

1) This is one half of the front of the Pionus Aviary looked like before starting the new cage work on the front.   I am making and suspending a 12' long wire cage on the outside of the front section that you see here and there will be access for feeding the birds from inside the safety area.  This cage on the outside will have 3 cage sections each measuring 4' x 3' x 3'.  This will be a permanent area for birds for now as I needed an area to house more birds that I recently acquired so this will due for now until we get an actual concrete and structure made.  You can never have too much space for birds, you never know when you need an extra area to put a pair.

NEW CAGING

2) In this photo you see the cage up on the front now. It has the top, ends and 2 inner dividers.
  This will be able to house 3 pairs of birds. The front and bottom need to be added on next.



3) Here is a view looking straight on as you come towards the Pionus Aviary.
 Now I need to put the visual barriers on the  wire that divides between each pair.  Then I will
 have the front and bottom panel to put on.  Then make door openings from inside the safety
 area to be able to service them.  I will add perches before the front and bottom wire is put on.
 

4) This photo shows the two dividers that have the sheet metal
on as the visual barriers.  This is so the pairs can not see or fight with each other through the wire.
 

5) Here is the cage completed and with the shade cloth on top.
 

6)  Slightly different view.  Later before winter sets in, I will be adding a small
roof over the caging and probably something on the sides to winterize it. 
I have the Dusky Pair in the left hand side of the cage.

7) Here are the two in the cage, its not a great shot, will try to have a better one later.

The cage added on the front of the existing aviary was a quick and easy way to solve more cage room. This project was done on the left hand side of the Pionus Aviary as you face the front and shortly I will add just two cages on the right hand side of the aviary.  The work was done by myself and the only help I got was when I had to add the one 12' length on the front side that you see in the photo.  These type of cages can be time consuming to cut the wire and put it together.  We are going to add another permanent aviary with a slab, but we still had not started it. The new addition is still on hold.  Time and money seems to be the issue as it is for most!

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Starting soon I will be tearing a part on the same end of the Pionus Aviary, some walk in flights and suspending caging like I have it at the other end of the Pionus Aviary, this will also gain me 1 more cage than I have now, that will be 10 total in this building.  Plus it will make cleanup a bit easier without disturbing some pairs that tend to get up set when I enter the flight by walking in.

New Addition To Pionus Aviary
Click the link to view all the new photos of the Addition.