❤very well said and true, im a younger breeder in Az and its sad to see it going down slowly

Agree. As a parrot breeder in China, I noticed that aviculture know-how, or related professional content in Chinese, really scatters and is insufficient on the Internet, making it difficult when coping with some unexpected bird's issues on one's own. At the same time, access to professional and reliable avian veterinarians is extremely limited in most cities in China since only those big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou have professional avian practioners. Definitely need some sort of knowledgebase of aviculture internationally.

Yes, absolutely. I remember getting my first Budgerigar in 1999 and back in the 2000's the aviculture scene in Florida was HUGE! And I also bred Lovebirds and Cockatiels for several years. Now, its fading away quick. We don't promote our passion like the reptile, fish keepers, cat, dog, etc., owners. My biggest mentor was Gloria Allen, she's long gone. Remember the Bird Talk Magazines? Times have changed!

Hi Mark, I just stumbled across your channel, and I’m really glad to see this discussion in other animal fancies. I exhibited dogs in AKC all throughout high school and currently breed Roborovski hamsters and mice to work on show quality individuals as a hobby, so animal breeding is something that I really love and wish was more widespread. The way that animal hobbies are dying out is very easy to sense in the dog breeding hobby. At a show, anyone under the age of 50 is considered “young”. The community of breeders is even smaller in the rodents, where the majority of the keepers tend to be pet owners who more often than not end up gatekeeping them from new owners. So it’s the trenches. 😅 I’m 19 years old, and while I have a handful of breeder friends around my age, most people my age have no clue what the point of the animal breeding hobby is. I really do think that the solution to reach young people like me into getting involved in the hobby is social media. Breeding is so demonized (moreso in other species than birds, I believe though) that breeders and hobbyists of animals will be doing the fancies a service by creating relatable content and explaining the hobby, and how to get into it. Great video! Subscribed. - Hannah

Outstanding video. I have recently started researching birds/parrots and as you probably know, I have subscribed to your channel and commented on several videos. You have been fantastic at responding and continuously putting out useful information. I am not a younger person that is obsessed with social media or video games, etc., and most of the videos I see are about cuddly birds and/or talking birds. As a retired person (not old) that isn't wealthy but isn't poor, I was shocked at the cost of parrots today. I have no interest in breeding birds, I'm just interested in having a bird(s) as a companion. There are several breeds that I won't even consider simply based on the price of the birds. That's a shame because I have a lot of time to offer and I have a safe, committed situation for a bird. Of course, everyone wants to make money, that's a given. But like many other hobbies, many new people that could become the lifeblood of the hobby are turning away because it's become a rich persons hobby, more or less. It's not a matter of quality over quantity, the amount of birds in rescues or being "sold" on Craigslist and similar platforms should make people aware of the fact that the higher pricing isn't creating a better quality of birds or clientele, it's simply creating less potentially high quality hobbyists to be interested and invested in the hobby. Losing hundreds of species of birds in the US alone should give every serious aviculturist concern and it should motivate them to do something different. Thanks again for this excellent video.

There's not enough people in the bird community, and there's not enough men either. I'm glad you're here man. Still so happy to have found you. Instantly subscribed bro.

The exotic pet trade as a whole is dying in the U.S. but aviculture is definitely dying the fastest. I think part of the problem is that it's so vilified. Everyone even people who keep these animals say they don't make good pets. The other problem is we all broke and every things getting more expensive.