About
Little Joe’s Companion Birds is an aviary that breeds parrots, hand feeds and hand raises babies, and does Rescues, Rehabs and Rehomings of adult birds. Boarding services are offered in a safe environment but a large part of what I do is education and trying to raise awareness about proper bird care and housing. The main reason for this website in fact!
I am newly located just outside of Duncan BC, Canada. Halfway between Victoria BC and Nanaimo BC on beautiful Vancouver Island.
By appointment only. I do all this out of my home, no store front.
I keep and breed budgies, lovebirds, parrotlets, cockatiels, conures, and sun conures. Quakers and ringnecks sometimes but not as often. I DO NOT breed the larger birds, African Greys, Amazons, Cockatoos or Macaws. There are too many of these wonderful birds already in rescues and sanctuaries that need new homes, and are very hard to place properly because of their high challenge level. These birds are not recommended for those without a large amount of parrot experience and are able to dedicate a large part of their lives to their care. These high-effort and high-reward birds are more than a foray into simple pet ownership, they are a lifestyle choice.
Most of my birds are sold on a wait list basis, partly to ensure they are rehomed as soon as possible after weaning when bonding to a new person is best done, and partly to be fair to everyone looking for a new companion bird. Let me know if you would like to be added to a waitlist and I can let you know as soon as there are some babies available to pick from.
Sorry, I do not ship the birds. It is too hard on both them and my nerves, and has gotten quite expensive and difficult as well.
What is written after this will be very much under construction for a very long time, and will be edited often. There are some very complex ideas that I want to express, and I am not really good at that……
I have been keeping birds most of my life, and made the switch from part time to full time aviary operator over a decade ago, and since then have spent 10 - 14 hours of each and every day working with the birds. Quite a lot of them too!
This experience, and a massive amount of research, has instilled in me a practical and common sense view to bird care, knowing what works to keep my birds as happy and healthy as possible. Why go through all this extra work? Because birds that are not happy and healthy do not breed well, do not show well, do not behave well, and do not give me happy and healthy babies that will grow into happy and healthy, and friendly, adult birds!
I have also made it part of my mission to educate people as much as possible about proper bird care. Not the A.I. slop or misguided advice often found on social media, nor the marketing driven advice given by pet stores or cage and feed companies. I am not sponsored by anyone, am not trying to sell my own line of products. I do not hoard information hoping to sell a book, I just want as many people to be aware of the special needs of these wonderful birds and what they can do to keep them as happy and healthy as possible.
I do everything I can, use everything I have learned over the years, to provide the best environment for all my birds here. I breed birds, not for profit because, well, there isn’t any at the end of the year, but because I love these creatures and believe that everyone should have an opportunity to have a well raised, well adjusted happy healthy feathered companion!
Want to see the new Aviary and learn about its features and construction?