Every bird deserves a home, but does every home deserve a bird? We have a strict and thorough adoption process at Cheeky Beaks. No single person is responsible for making a decision as to whether or not a candidate is approved for adoption. Every decision is discussed by the entire team, to give an objective and impartial view based only on facts. Most of us have no knowledge of the person and home we’re discussing, other than the information submitted on the application form. These birds have been ripped from their natural habitats, mostly generations ago, and are now forced to live beside us. So it becomes our duty to ensure that their every need is not only met, but exceeded. This means that unfortunately not everyone will be approved. There are certain criteria that are not negotiable when it comes to welcoming a feathered friend into your home. We require adopters to be able to provide these basics at the very least: - A suitable cage: None of our birds come with a “free” cage. In some instances the cage that the bird is using in foster care may be available for purchase at a reasonable fee, this income helps subsidize the birds that require extensive treatment, long-term care, or arrive with nothing at all. In other instances there is no cage available to sell to the adopter, and it becomes the adopters responsibility to provide a new or decent second hand cage of an appropriate size. If you are unsure of the size requirements, ask us, we will happily guide you, but we will not allow a bird to be homed in a less than adequate cage. - Financial stability: Birds are not cheap pets, and many people think that adoption is the cheaper option compared to breeder bought birds. These birds are not lesser being because they’re “second hand” If anything they deserve even better than hand-reared babies, as most of them have experienced some sort of trauma, loss or inadequate care. You will need to be able to cover the costs of food, care, enrichment and medical expenses, even in emergencies. We have “Project Ray” which assists less fortunate families in caring for their existing birds, it would be unethical and irresponsible to home a bird to someone who is not able to carry the costs of its care. Fostering is potentially an option for those not currently able to adopt; this is however not a shortcut to adoption. - Transport: Many of our adopters don’t have their own transport, but they have access to transport. Before even taking a bird home you are expected to go and meet the bird in its foster home, if you can’t manage that, can you realistically manage an emergency situation late at night if your bird is injured or ill? Another factor to consider is the distance you are willing to travel. You are expected to meet the bird you apply for, it’s only under very special circumstances that this is not mandatory, so if you’re not willing to drive the hour to meet the bird you saw us post about, look for ones closer to your area. Our website is divided up into provinces under the “Adopt” menu. - Knowledge: You don’t have to know everything, none of us do, but there is a wealth of information available online, from our pages and channels as well as several others, we regularly post refreshers and new information, the is information everywhere and if you’re that unsure of what to trust, ask. You should be able to research and learn at the very least appropriate husbandry before even considering an avian companion. We are always on standby to guide you and educate you, we send out countless links everyday to useful articles and resources, use them. While we’re here to guide you, you have to show willingness to learn. - Patience: We are a volunteer run organization, we all have daily responsibilities and families and do this in our free time. Not only do you need to exercise patience with the adoption process, but with your new bird as well. Your new bird has likely undergone some extreme changes recently, and so the first few months can be rocky. You need to be prepared to show endless patience and understanding. If you get frustrated because you tried calling the case manager of a bird 4 times within an hour and they didn’t answer, what does that show us you’ll do if your new feathered friend is having trouble adjusting and won’t step up, or go back into the cage? - An avian vet: If you’ve never owned a bird before we can guide you to a reputable avian vet, but we do not have personal experience in every town of South Africa. It is advisable to ask around, get to know the avian specialist vets in your area. It’s often useful to post in a local community group looking for other bird owners who have a trusted avian vet. - Respect our process: It’s been mentioned before, but it’s simply not possible to fall in love with 3 or 4 pictures you’ve seen online. Every single bird has their own unique personality, and a picture can’t portray that. We review your application, and make a decision whether or not you should meet that specific bird based on what we know about the bird that we have gotten to know and love. Often home checks are conducted by volunteers and not Team Members, this means that the person doing your inspection may never have met the bird you’ve applied for, it is their job to assess your home for compatibility with a bird, not that specific bird. Home checkers have no influence on our decision and the inspection needs to be objective and factual. Often not even all team members have all the information on a specific bird readily available when conducting your home check. The home check is just that, confirming your suitability as a bird home. Sometimes we may take a bit to reply to a message, or miss your call, respect our time. I can promise you that we all want to home every bird in our system, but we do sometimes get busy. If you feel like you’ve slipped through the cracks, pop the Team Member handling the case a message, we’re all human and mistakes happen. Messaging every Team Member because one didn’t reply immediately is waste of everyone’s time. We all prefer texts to calls, as we all have our daily duties to get through and don’t often have the time to dedicate to a call, but a message will get read and responded to when we have time, or an answer for you. The list of official Team Members is always available on our website, and they are the only people that can and do make decisions. We take recommendations from our fosters and volunteers, but as previously mentioned, all decisions are made by the team, as a team. - Honesty: Far too often we get multiple applications from one person with very different responses. We notice, and it raises red flags. If you don’t know what an Eclectus diet should look like, don’t try and fake it. There is no excuse to not research your answers when submitting an application. This is a summarized version of some of the key expectations we have of adopters, we also have a comprehensive guide that you can read by clicking the button below. While many may feel it’s too strict and time consuming for a pet adoption, we will not waive this simply because you feel you’re the best applicant. Human children take years to adopt, a parrot is dependent on you for a lot longer, why should the process be any simpler? These are sentient beings with complex emotions and personalities, they deserve far more than we could ever offer them, but it’s our duty as an organization to ensure that we home them to those that understand this and will treat them accordingly. We could not do this work without our adopters and we value each and every one of you that has stuck through the process and made the changes required to succeed in adopting, or researched thoroughly and been approved immediately. You are the reason we can help more birds, without you we’d all just be a bunch of hoarders with a very limited reach. Just know that every ask we have has a solid backing to it, and is a requirement for good reason.