I can't recommend The Parrot Domain strongly enough. The owner, Anne, is almost always there. The…read moreemployees are all long-term employees, and the customers are frequently long-time customers as well. I met Anne in 2008 when my son turned 13 and wanted a bird of his own. After meeting my son, Anne directed us to the Hahn's Macaw. The Hahn's was a perfect choice for our son and he's become a beloved member of the family. Anne gave freely and kindly of her knowledge and expertise to ensure that the bird thrived. Then several years ago, I decided I wanted an African Grey. Anne hand raised them from just a few days old. It is a huge amount of work, time and love that goes into hand-rearing baby birds. I went to the store several days a week during the months she was being hand fed in order to bond with my baby and get her used to me so she wasn't frightened when I brought her home. Anne welcomed me at any time, allowing me to sit and cuddle my baby even if it was close to closing time.
The Parrot Domain is in a stone house on Lafayette Blvd., with huge windows in every room, plenty of space to move around, and happy birds in roomy cages. You could eat off the floors, and the cages are routinely stripped completely and hosed down...The store is clean, the cages are clean and the play stands are clean. During the day the birds are rotated out of their cages so everyone gets play time and several times per day they are given fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds to enrich their nutritionally complete pellet diets. Even on days the store is closed, someone comes in at least twice per day to clean, feed, water the birds, change out toys and give snacks and allow them play time. Often there is a radio left on for the calming human voice.
The boarding birds are kept upstairs separately from the sale birds (as they should be) and there are pumps full of hand sanitizer around the store. In order to board your bird, the owner requires you have your bird examined by an avian veterinarian, and you must bring her a certificate of health from that vet to ensure your bird is not bringing illness into the environment. Over the years, we've boarded both of our birds with Anne several times, once for more than a month while we were on the west coast visiting family. Our son called several times while we were gone and Anne actually took the phone in to the boarding room and allowed my son to talk with his bird.
When it comes to the birds being "neglected and unsocialized" I would have to ask how the previous reviewer came to this conclusion? Given that she felt like she got poor service, this seems more like a stab at the owner than a legitimate grievance. If you walk into that store you will see important things - the resident birds like Max, Kiwi and Sirabi are all sleek, healthy, shiny, and talkative with nary a plucked feather anywhere. Neglected birds don't look like that. They pluck, scream, bite and usually exhibit signs of illness. It's pretty much impossible to have a hand-raised bird that is "unsocialized." If you were to look at the store Facebook page today, you'd see the photos of Anne's home over Thanksgiving where she posted about eating in the kitchen because the baby birds are in their enclosures taking up her gorgeous dining room table. Heating pads, stuffed animals for babies to snuggle with, and clean towels in their boxes. Those babies go back and forth with Anne for the months they must be hand-fed, and get 24/7 attention and socialization.
I will say that Anne has carried fewer cages since she moved to the new location. And yeah, you can get cheaper cages online, but you also get what you pay for. The cages Anne uses and sells are top of the line, sturdy and well made. They last forever. The weaker and thinner cheap online cages bend during shipping and often aren't sturdy enough for the bigger parrots.
Anne provides many services beyond just selling birds, she does in-home consultations if you need it and she offers grooming services from bathing to nail, beak and wing trimming to those birdy parents who are not able to do it themselves. I couldn't recommend a store or person more than I would recommend The Parrot Domain. Anne and her staff are the best, hands down!
