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Professional Bird-Breeder
Hollister, CA
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What is a Breeder?
A Breeder (with a capital B) is one who thirsts for knowledge and never
really knows it all, one who wrestles with decisions of conscience,
convenience, and commitment.
A Breeder is one who sacrifices personal interests, finances, time and
friendships in favor of their passion for their birds.
A Breeder goes without sleep (but never without coffee!) in hours spent
planning a breeding or watching anxiously over the hatching process,
and afterwards, over every little sneeze, wiggle or cry.
A Breeder skips dinner parties because that egg is due to hatch or the
babies have to be fed at eight.
She/He disregards the mess, clutter and noise that being surrounded
by birds brings. But always seeks methods to resolve Biosecurity issues.
A Breeder's lap is a marvelous place where generations of proud and
noble champions once snoozed.
A Breeder's hands are strong and firm and often soiled and scarred from
inadvertent bites, but ever so gentle and sensitive to the insistent thrusts of a
Cockatoo’s beak. (Or an Amazon, Macaw, Conure, etc.)
A Breeder's back and knees are usually arthritic from stooping, bending,
and scrubbing cages, but are strong enough to enable the breeder to help
a bird when stuck. Or assist in a hatch.
A Breeder's shoulders are stooped and often heaped with abuse from
competitors, and AR types, but they're wide enough to support the weight of a thousand
defeats and frustrations.
A Breeder's arms are always able to wield a mop, carry feed in from the
market, lift and move cages, remove/replace nest boxes or lend a helping
hand to a newcomer.
A Breeder's ears are wondrous things, sometimes red (from being talked
about) or strangely shaped (from being pressed against a phone receiver),
often deaf to criticism, yet always fine-tuned to the call of a distressed
bird.
A Breeder's brain is foggy on faces, but it can recognize types of birds
faster than an IBM computer. It's so full of knowledge that sometimes it blows a
fuse.
A Breeder's heart is often broken, but it beats strongly with hope
everlasting...
and it's always in the right place!
Oh, yes, there are breeders, and then, there are BREEDERS!!
--Author unknown