Busy Beaks

The GOOD…
We have visited the African Grey Bird Shop about four times in the last year, and we have been pleased overall until our last visit. We have a Crimson Bellied Conure who was purchased there and we have been buying their homemade mix ever since. Recently we decided we would like to add another bird to our family.
Saturday we took our two children with us, 12 and 14 year olds since they love to visit the birds and this was our 14 year olds first time in the store. Saturday turned out to be more of a visit, and we didn’t make a purchase, but were pretty sure we would come back on Sunday to look again.
Sunday came, and we did in fact go back, ready to purchase a Love Bird, one in particular, the one who kept asking for our attention. We held him for quite a while to make sure he was the one. We were nearly at 100% certain, while our 14 year old son was busy holding a couple larger birds. He was extremely excited as always, and couldn’t get enough time with them.
The BAD…
Long story short, our 14 year old was moving around the store, excited, taking a look at many birds, was probably told to be careful once or twice. He was bit by a Cockatoo I believe, not bad, just a scratch on his finger. I was not worried, but he was offered a band aid by the lady helping us. This day was a little out of control in my opinion. We were trying to find our Love Bird, a few escaped the cage while trying to hold a few different ones. We had our 12 and 14 year old chasing a couple down, I was holding a Grey, a Conure and Love Birds, not all at the same time, but we were busy to say the least. A few minutes went by, and I saw my wife go into the office and close the door. I had no idea what was in there, nor why she went in there. I waited a few seconds and she came out. A few minutes later, she told me she wanted to go outside and talk about the bird purchase, so we did. As soon as we got outside, she told me that she was very mad at the owner of the store. I said «why». And she told me what the owner said to her behind the closed office door. She pulled my wife in the office and the first words out of her mouth were, «Does your son have Aspergers?» My wife replied, «No why?» The owner said, «So he just doesn’t listen then?» The rest of the conversation I don’t need to write, but my wife was so upset, it brought her to tears. I couldn’t believe my ears! I was instantly pissed as well and told my wife to wait at the car. I went back in and grabbed the kids who were completely confused as to why we weren’t buying the Love Bird. What do you tell them? We told them that the owner made a very rude comment to their mom and we couldn’t support a business woman who acted like that.
Agreed, we probably could have taken better control of our son and calmed him down a bit, but we were probably as excited to be picking out our new family member and did not realize he might have been out of line. We are smart people and do realize that there is a risk with children and pets who might be able to do some major damage to fingers n such, but that is no reason to take a mother in the office and completely insult her to her face. I am so mad for a few reasons. First, that is my wife and son she was insulting! Second, we actually like the bird shop and the birds inside of there. We were customers for life most likely. We enjoyed buying our conure the mixed food and toys etc… Third, I really want an African Grey! Now we feel that we can’t even step foot in that store ever again, and that will make it more difficult to find the foods and pets we want to purchase in the future, even at their inflated bird shop prices. We get a business has to make money, so it’s not really all about the price. It’s about the service as well… Think about that next time!
I demand an apology from the owner, I think Carmen? I’m not sure of her name, but there’s only one, so she knows who she is. I know she has every right to be concerned for the safety of her customers, but she has no right to talk to anyone like that, and to make assumptions as to what might be wrong with anyone’s child. First of all, our 14 year old probably has a higher IQ than anyone in her shop, and maybe that’s the «problem» with him, but there’s nothing we can do to cure his natural excitement for beautiful pets!
Thank you to the nice lady who helped us, I’m sure she was confused as well when we just got up and left… That was four hours of driving to and from home for nothing that weekend. Maybe we can drive to a different state to find another bird shop because what’s the difference?

IF KAREN ISN’T IN THE SHOP, DON’T LET THEM TOUCH YOUR BIRD!
I was extremely disappointed when I came in and Karen, the owner of the store was gone. The new people were awful. The first person who attempted to do the trim on my two Amazons didn’t know what she was doing at all. I said, «Don’t you know what how to trim birds?» because she had her hand around my bird’s neck. She said she’d never done this before. HONESTLY THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID TO ME. I told her that I didn’t want her to trim my birds. She called in the other lady who finished my birds and she did a poor job and caused one of them to bleed from its nail. When I asked if she was going to put the powder on it to stop the bleeding she was totally unconcerned and just wiped it with a towel. Anyone who knows anything about birds knows that they can bleed out through a nail if it doesn’t stop bleeding. My parrots were traumatized for days.

My first visit was wonderful. The staff is very knowledgeable on the many exotics they have. They simply love their birds which is a wonderful change of pace when compared to the many chain stores who simply have exotics to have them. Their selection of birds is quite large as well, with many of their cockatoos, macaws, greys, etc, enjoying their time out on perches (many of which will quite readily give you their opinion and jabber with you as my little one and I discovered). They also have a relatively wide variety of finches and small parrots. All of the birds appear to be very well taken care of as well. They offer a variety of other services as well from grooming, to sexing (which I ended up needing help with, and they were more then delighted to give me their insight).
I must remark on the cleanliness of the store. When a person walks into any avian facility, one expects to be bombarded with feathers, poop, dust, and that strange «smell» that simply lingers in the air. Definitely NOT the case here. The store was EXTREMELY clean, from the cages, to the actual store itself. I’ve been to jewelers shops that were messier then this shop. I seriously cannot stress how important that really is with first impressions. The front counter was a bit cluttered, but I will chalk that up to the fact that I was there at lunch time and the staff was eating (I laughed internally quite a bit when I noticed that everyone was eating Chick-​Fil-​A).
Price wise, this store is definitely competitively priced, if not cheaper then those big chains in regards to toys, cages, and basic necessities, with a collection of new, as well as used cages. I was very impressed by the selection of homemade foods they had in stock as well. Although a store bought seedy based diet is convenient, dietary wise, I would say it’s about as good as ranch dressing with some salad in it. The food is prepped fresh in store weekly, which is VERY good to know if you, like me, lean towards the healthy, but still convenient side.
Now for bird purchase! I actually called ahead in regards to budgies. The «friend» I had passed away, and after some steady and successful one on one taming with my girl, I decided it was time to get her a friend. After all, human companionship, no matter the bond, is still not quite the same as the bond animals have with each other. My biggest concern in picking up a new budgie, was the tameness of the ones had at African Grey aka Busy beaks. I spoke with a gentleman on the phone, who explained that all their birds get some one on one time, and are hand tame. Very good news, as I certainly did NOT want our girl to revert back into a disaster of an animal.
All of the budgies they had (total in the show case, there was maybe 6 or 7) were 5 months and younger, and were all fiesty as ever. Hopping around the cage playing «RUNAWAY», but immediately settling down once removed from «the mob». Although the current selection wasn’t huge like you see at big chain stores, it was definitely A LOT nicer. 30 adult birds crammed into a small cage vs 7 babies, with enough room to spread their wings. Let that sink in.
After selecting a companion for my girl, there was paperwork. From health guarantees, to vetting, to proper care for a baby bird. Before leaving, the baby was groomed with a fresh wing clipping, toes, and beak trim. He was even snuggled prior to leaving as he was obviously nervous.
Price wise, for a budgie, admittedly, it’s a bit up there. Yes, the chains sell them from $ 19-​$ 24, but those birds are mass bred, live in, well, sad conditions, are NOT hand tamed and have questionable health, and as I was warned by a chain employee ‚“They hate us, and most people and they are all about 4 months old, to 3 years old”(not exactly the best thing to tell someone looking for a nice bird to befriend their current bird). Total, I paid about $ 130. BUT! That $ 130 included a fresh trim of beak and toes and feathers, and three different bags of his current feed, as well as a menagerie of health guarantees, actual tameness (although you will still have to actually try), and Q&A,
As of right now, this baby and my current girl, are absolutely in love. From the moment I brought him home, the two of them have been absolutely inseparable. They’ve been singing and grooming each other as though they were best of friends who haven’t seen each other in years (which is nice given that my girl is from British Columbia and older than him). He’s eating a variety of not only what they provided to make his transition easier, but all that I have as well. Very happy birds indeed. who are more then happy to live in the same cage VERY quickly.
Needless to say, I am a VERY happy and satisfied customer, and despite price, will ALWAYS recommend this shop
**I DO NOT RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE INTRODUCTION OF ANY BIRDS. NOT ALL BIRDS WILL IMMEDIATELY LIKE EACH OTHER. THIS WAS SIMPLY LUCK**

Unlike one of the other reviews, I found the new owner to be very kind and knowledgeable.
Oops what do you do when a bird bites you ?? Let it go… duh.

I used to love this store but it has been taken over by a horrific new owner and I now refuse to shop there after several years of loyalty. The new owner is horrible with the birds and actually told me to drop a bird if it tried to bite me. The store is in shambles and the poor birds are in tiny cages without any toys at all. Watching her hand feed makes me cringe because she is so hard with the poor babies. I miss Karen so much, she was amazing and truly cared about the well being of the birds and this new owner obviously not only doesn’t care about the birds but she also doesn’t care about the customers.

Karen is a sweet heart. We originally went in to buy toys for a different cockatiel we had purchased from Petco, and found stormy. He was three weeks old (we think) at the time, and he was a big old fluff ball of grey feathers and cuteness. He was the runt in the cockatiel cage and we asked to hold him. He was loving and adorable and just perfect… and ultimately we had to take the aggressive bird from Petco back (we felt so bad, but we had to). Next day, we bought that cutie and we were sold. That’s how our little stormy came into our life.
Fast forward a year and a half, and I still have a healthy happy bird. When we first bought him, she informed us what vet to take him to in order to verify his health, and the vet said he was super healthy. He is very social and very smart! If it wasn’t for Karens wonderful shop, I would not have met my little sweet angel. Thanks Karen!

Always call! Their website has hours on it but the staff never sticks to them. Everytime I go they are closed.

This is a great establishment and they have birds of all varieties. Karen is really good with the birds, especially with the baby birds and senior birds. They always look healthy and you can tell they are well cared for. I’m always greeted by the green Conure toward the front of the shop named «Molly» and I always feel welcome. I have purchased a few birds from here and they are so sweet because they were hand trained as babies by Karen and her staff. This is definitely the place to go for anyone who loves birds!

In the last 15 years I have purchased 5 parrots from Karen Goodman at the African Grey. All were healthy and hand raised. I still have all 5 birds and would not consider boarding anywhere else. All bird questions are answered without a lot of techno babble. Prices are good and this is not a big corporate super box store.

Worst pet shop i have ever visited. I went there to buy a new bird. They might look friendly the people who work there but trust me don’t take their word for anything. I asked about a mini macaw and they told me that they will have a shipment in next week. So i had a deposit on the bird. Waited one week, nothing from them. Gave them extra week then i called them, they told me oh we are sorry ill contact the breeder and call u back. Gave her two days with no respond from them. Called back and she said I’m sorry ill email him right now and ill call u tomorrow. Next day i went to the shop she started saying don’t worry u will get next week. So i gave her another week. I called them back and she stated saying we are under the mercy of the breeders please i promise u that u will get it next week. So now they promised me 3 times. So i gave her nine days instead of the week that she requested. I went there asked for a refund cause she promised me one if the bird is not there in one week. Then what happened is they said we have a none refund policy. And she said that states on the deposit paper that i have. I showed her the paper and there is nothing on it. So she blamed her coworker for not putting on the paper. So she said I’m sorry no refund is possible. So i told her show me a sign in ur store or even on the door or the receipt that i have. After 15 minutes she wrote me a check for my refund. Over all this what i went throw she still want to convince me that they will get it on wednesday. Im sorry but don’t trust them unless you have a written statement from them when you will get your bird, otherwise don’t ever trust them and take there word for anything. I have waited a month for something that they promised me it will be there a week.

Coupe weeks ago I bought a lovebird from African Grey shop on Illiff and Parker. I liked the bird it was the cutest thing ever and was in great condition. I was searching for a bird that was more tamed, but the lovebird did not exceed my expectation probably because it was shy. I gave it couple weeks hoping it would help the bird calm down and get used to the new surroundings at its new home, but it didn’t work out for me. I called the shop and spoke with Carmen (one of the owners) and asked if I could exchange for a bird that is more tamed? She was able to help me with that and I greatly appreciate it. She’ll do whatever to satisfy the customers’ needs. They really care about their birds and want them to go to good homes before you purchase them. They’ll educate you on cage size, food, care, etc. There is one thing I really would like them to do, is to inform customers of their policy when buying a bird, there are no signs or any information to notify customers. Other than that it’s a great shop, if you’re a bird lover this is the place to shop.