One of our favorite Opaline hens – she is a calm and sweet bird! Her name is Henny – we will miss raising Bourkes, but know it is the right decision.
© COPYRIGHT 2014-2019 Eddie’s Aviary

After raising Bourkes for ages, we have decided to stop breeding them. We truly enjoy hand feeding, loving, tame and fantastic pets for our clients. Bourkes parakeets are beautiful, quiet and docile birds, but they are generally best suited as aviary birds. Even when hand-fed, they don’t accept cuddles (as they don’t even preen their own mates), which is what most people want in a bird companion. They don’t do well wing-clipped, so the best one can expect (of course there are always rare exceptions), is to step up on your finger and then fly off again. So in order to ethically reproduce a species that won’t end up being re-homed a couple of years later, we have discontinued raising Bourkes, and gone back to Cockatiels, which really are fantastic pets, sure to please for their lifetimes.

We are always happy to help people with breeding assistance, advise on how to select a good quality Bourke from another breeder, give feedback via photo of a bird you are considering, mutation explanation and help with pairings, and even provide referrals.

Of course, we will continue to manufacture the Species Specific Feed blend “Bourke Mix” which has over 50 ingredients and is beloved around the world.

We wrote a terrific article about Bourkes that is available in the UK parrot magazine PARROTS. You can purchase that back issue here: http://www.parrotmag.com/component/content/article/272-magazine/what-s-in-magazine-231/1182-bourke-s-parakeets-good-citizens-of-the-bird-world