San Jose Bird Mart

I went to the Bird Mart in Pleasanton on 8.30.15. I got there pretty early — 9:30. While the place was only moderately crowded, there were very few vendors so each vendor was pretty slammed. There were a few breeders who seemed quite responsible and knowlegable who were selling specific species, tending towards the larger more expensive birds (I was there for an eclectus); there were a few «mass producers» with tons of species — many jammed in per cage. Overall some pretty spectacular birds but if you are going there to get educated you will be disappointed — like a crowded bar on Sat night you are lucky to even catch the eye of the bartender — the «mass producers» — much less get in a question or get service. I also had somewhat of a language barrier complicated by loud parrots. Definitely do your homework FIRST. (Birds should never be an impulse buy anyways. They have specific dietary and living requirements, and many live for decades.)
There were great prices on parrot toys. Cages prices can be matched online — so if you can check out cages there but buy online later you probably will get a better deal. Small bird prices were definitely good — and the canary, finch, parakeet selections were unbelievable. Large bird prices were to be expected — expensive.
I meet a great couple showing there and got a fabulous SI Eclectus. Healthy and sweet. I did my part supporting the economy.

So I went to the bird mart to speak to the guy that sold me the infected bird. He didn’t seem to care and was just there to make money. I don’t know what happened to this event but as time goes by it just gets worse. I made the mistake of purchasing 4 more birds from a different bird vendor there. Air sac mites is what I got. Causing the death of some of my birds as symptoms may not show for a while. What the hell is going on that animal control lets any vendor sell bird. They really need to be screened better.

First of all I should start by saying that I own 6 Zebra Finches, 2 males and 4 females. They are housed in a 6X6X5 foot cage. Here’s my experience, I went to the Bird Mart today in Pleasanton coming from San Francisco.
Parking was $ 8 and I paid for a vip ticket of $ 17.50 to get in early. Parking was easy once I located the entrance which was very hard since there were no large signs directing you. Wasted about 15 minutes looking for the entrance.
Exhibit hall B was particularly small, so this wasn’t a large exhibition center.
Once I arrived I was appalled at some of the cages used to house birds. Some of the birds could barely turn around in their cages. Other birds were balding. Specifically there were too many finches in most cages, I counted 30 finches in a 12 inch by 12 inch cage.
Many sellers seemed to have too many birds in one cage, no matter what the breed was.
You should know what breed of bird you want prior to going and what a healthy bird for that particular breed looks like.
Buy with a credit card, many sellers accepted card payments through Square. Some accepted cash only. I would never recommend paying cash for an expensive bird ($ 50 or more), always pay by card and always get a receipt. In the event that the bird turns out to be sick, you could dispute the transaction. With cash you would simply be out of luck.
There was a terrific variety of birds, and all breeds seemed to be selling for 50−75% off what you would normally pay at a pet store. For example, one breeder had fancy yellow canaries for $ 35, the same bird would go for $ 129 at Petsmart.
The highlight of the Bird mart was the prices of cages, they all seemed to be 50−80% off. A cage that goes for $ 70 at Petsmart went for $ 25 here, excellent buys overall for all size cages.
I was able to purchase Zupreem pellet food for $ 8 rather than $ 13.99.
Overall, it was not worth it for me when I factored in the cost of entry, bridge toll, gas, and parking. More than likely I would not visit another Bird Mart in the future. There are better buys on Amazon for bird supplies.
The only way I would recommend the Bird Mart is if you are looking for a hard to find bird breed. Just be prepared to quarantine the bird once you get home to rule out any unseen illnesses.

I had a lot of fun at the bird show. A guy had a extremely cuddly umbrella cockatoo for sale, but it worried me that he NEVER mentioned that they can be extremely unpredictable birds when hormonal, they can get jealous and cause serious bite wounds that will be sending you to the emergency room for stitches. Also if they aren’t raised correctly will often scream constantly causing them to be given away or abandoned.
One man was selling coasters with stolen images from several bird breeders and off of Google. Also a lot of the birds at the mart where kept in wired cages that could appeared to be Galvanized Wire.
Some of the birds didn’t look very good, but I try not to judge since birds can live a long time and I don’t know they’re past. Here’s a few things that did stick out to me, someone was selling medium sized parrots who where chewing on they’re feathers so they had patches of down. She told the lady interested in buying them that they didn’t have all they feathers yet because they’re young. This is horrible! birds are fully feathered by the time they’re weaned (no longer being hand fed) and if that lady bought these birds she is bringing home a bird who has a horrible habit that is hard to break.
There was another booth where they had half the bids on perches, and the other half in smaller wire cages. Some of the older birds didn’t look that great but I’m going to focus on they’re hand fed birds for sale. A Galah cockatoo was extremely scruffy looking, They had a scarlet macaw with a ton of banding in the tail which means there is something very wrong with it, possibly a vitamin deficiency. They also had a scruffy blue and gold macaw who looked off to me.
I’m not a finch person, but they had a fantastic selection of finches. A few of the breeders will let you order a hand fed finch. they also carried European robins, black bulbuls, chickens, doves, and some other animals.
Overall I would go back and possibly buy a bird, but I would show extreme caution about who you are getting it from.

i love the bird mart itself; however, i waited outside to get in today for 45 minutes. the line was so long, and they had one cashier. not reasonable to have folks waiting outside for so long!

I feel they could do a lot better. They are not very customer friendly. I see them more trying to make relations with the venders and not those paying to attend the show. The have 1 cashier as evident today which made for slow entry. They should make sure to have 2 – 3 cashier’s during the busy times. They also should allow you to enter with your own bird. Part of the excitement is having people ask about your bird. This is now not allowed. If you visit the website you will see 50% of the site is restrictions. If they want them have them but keep the same ones for sometime.
Next please have 1 mailing list. It is confusing to have a mailing list on your website and another at the show… I still am not sure if they have 1 mailing list of two? I think they have whats called a Newsletter and a mailing list but their issue is they call them both mailing list. Many people are going to think once I sign up for one there is no reason to sign up for the other. Also they make you sign up for the mailing list each time you go to the show. This is cumbersome. They should figure out another way to get discounts like stamp card or something. Each consecutive show you get $ 1 off until you get the show for free. Then start over. Now they have colors and some shows colors are valid and others other colors are valid LOL.

I had a great time at the SJ Bird Mart. I am a total bird lover. I heard through a parakeet forum that Bird Marts are the place to go if you’re looking for great deals on rare birds, cages, food, toys, etc. I looked up local bird marts, and the San Jose and Santa Maria Bird Marts are the only large advertised ones in California.
Admission fee and parking were a bit pricey, but everything else in the bird mart was very cheap. If you are looking to buy birds, this is the place to go! There are some great breeders here, and you are allowed to bring and empty cage into the bird mart so you have something to carry your new pets home in. If you don’t have a cage yet, I highly recommend you buy your cages here. The prices on bird cages are unheard of. I got a new 30“x18“x18″ cage for small birds for only $ 12. I also saw some large aviaries that were ridiculously cheap.
I’m definitely returning to the San Jose Bird Mart next year. If you love birds, you will love this Bird Mart.

Thanks to my many good bird friends including Unilocaler Kimiko Q and Linda in Santa Cruz, I finally made it to the San Jose Bird Mart event last Sunday. I had missed the one in the summertime and then was determined to make it to the one in November until my father was hospitalized. Despite the crazy rain and the mud bog of a parking lot, I finally made it this time with my GF and elderly father in tow.
As I arrived, I noticed a sign saying that there was also a cat show there that day. I was thinking… who the hell thought of having a cat show right next to a bird show? Is this a joke? What were they thinking? What next… a snake and rodent show? Pretty hilarious! Anyway, it turned out that they were thankfully in separate buildings otherwise, it would have been utter chaos.
After going to so many events and conventions for business over the years, I was a little surprised as I had been expecting something a little bigger, but was told that this year was actually bigger than previous events. Regardless, as we walked around, this event was a ton of fun and heartwarming for a bird lover.
I was amazed at the killer good pricing on everything at the show. Saw some screaming deals on birds of all kinds and it took an amazing amount of self-​control to keep from bringing home another addition to the family. We did pick up a great new cage at a bargain price for Petey and he is really loving it right now… perched up top and doing his best imitation of King Kong.
Birds, bird toys, cages, and everything a bird lover could ever want and at unheard of prices. Truly a must see event for bird lovers everywhere!