Beaker's Parrot Place - Washington State

Beaker’s Parrot place is located in Western Washington State in the foothills of Mt. Rainier in the town of Wilkseon, WA.  The owners are Jeremy and Elena Galbraith. The Galbraith’s have been in the business of hand-raising and selling baby parrots from their home for close to one year now.  We took some time to ask Jeremy and Elena a few questions about their operation and what they attribute to their success during these tough economic times.

 It’s a team effort. Elena generally handles the first feeding of the day – hand-feeding, fresh water and pellets and general cleaning of cages.  We both share feeding babies the rest of the day as well as spending time in supervised play commensurate with their age. Jeremy is our primary flight trainer.

Our life style is not as spontaneous now that we have the responsibility of raising parrots. We need to plan our schedules and social events. The other day, we went to our state fair and planned our timing around feedings. The other challenge we experience is that we sometimes spend more time with the babies we are hand-raising than we do with our personal flock.  It’s like the ol’ saying, ‘the cobbler’s kids don’t have any shoes.’

Initially we wanted to supplement our income for our retirement. In the next couple of years we plan to refine and enhance the customer experience and build a reputation based on referrals. We are looking into other ways to extend our reach and broaden our services via the web.

We leverage technology and use every ‘touch’ to market our services and enhance our relationships. We advertise on the Internet. Based on the potential customer’s preference, we understand their needs and interests via phone or email before setting up the appointment.  After we have sold them a bird, we use email to send progress reports and pictures of their babies as they develop. After baby goes home, we follow up with the customer via email to see how the vet visit went and invite them to review our service.

We look for people who have an understanding of the responsibility of companion bird ownership, and those who are interested in value over price.  We value an educated buyer and someone who has done their research. We use email and phone to qualify potential customers (this may take a couple of volleys) and are response to the specific questions people have. We don’t want to waste their time or ours. Doing this increases the probability that those who make the appointment will chose with us over the typical bird store experience.

Just as we promote on our website, we offer a personalized service and an alternative to the typical pet/bird store buying experience. It's an experience like no other. We invite customers to be a part of their baby's early development process without having to deal with the day-in and day-out cleaning, feeding and all that goes along with the mess. Instead, they will have the JOY of bonding with their baby on visiting days while their baby is in our care. They watch their baby grow and receive these benefits:  Supervised play time, Opportunities to participate in feeding time or flight training, Capture first hand, pictorial memories of family bonding time Progress reports on development milestones

If you live in the Puget Sound area of Washington, give Jeremy and Elena a call at 360.829.6643 to set up a time to visit and enjoy the experience of Beaker’s Parrot Place.