The Purring Parrot®

So many changes since the last post

2011-01-09T18:42:00.001-08:00

I cannot believe our last post was May of 2010. I swear there is a time warp at the resort and time flies by at such so fast.
We have had so much growth in the past 6 months. For cats we have added more ramps to many of the rooms, an aquarium for the Under the Sea room and welcomed many new guest over the summertime and holidays.
The bird area has been even busier with Patrick building more stands for bird clients, new toys, cooked mixes such as a Tropical blend, Ginger curry blend and an Italian pasta blend. One of our new breads are some multigrain muffins made with honey dates and our cooked grains.
We are also cutting and coloring our own wood and our customers love the funky shapes. Our bulk toy making section has grown quite a bit too.
Some of our goals for 2011 are a 2nd web cam in the Aviary, more bird recipes as well as toys. Getting our food products analyzed. Building frames around the window rooms so we can remove the wiring. More room connections and redesigning for optimum kitty comfort. Our own line of cat trees and loads of marketing with a PDF catalog and start up wholesale to get our products more well known. A video tour of the resort and more vacation videos as well as a photo album.
We also want to stress that we use local producers for 100% of all our bird food products and about 75% for all of our other products. Most everything we have or sell is made in the USA.
All of our updates we have done couldn't have happened without the support of our clients, their cats, birds and trusting us to care for them. We would like to thank everyone that has had an opportunity to experience The Purring Parrot and hope they keep on coming in and be part of our continued growth for 2011.
Lastly, I will try and do monthly updates and if that fails will try really hard at quarterly updates.

New on line store up and Parrot stands being made

2010-05-27T21:45:00.000-07:00

So we redesigned our on-line store to get more visability and the new link is http://thepurringparrot.com/resortpages/parrottoyscatsupplies.html
It is intergrated into our website so looks pretty smooth. The shooping cart is ecwid.com and it was very easy to implement. We are almost full for the Memorial weekend which is great.
We have also expanded out bulk toy making section, set up a basic facebook page and Patrick has started making his own stands from manzanita with stainless steel hardware. I will be loading a photo of one of the larger stands on the store soon.
We have also decided that it would be worth it to start cutting and selling our own parrot wood for toys or refills. We do order our wood from bird safe companies but it does take a long time to get it, usually a month or longer. I have been researching different types of saws and found a great wood workers forum http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/ Very helpful and friendly folks there. We need a bandsaw and an electric sander. The coloring for the wood will be vitacritter.

Spring Break!

2010-03-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

We have been very busy for the first week of spring break. Lots of kitty bookings and alot of regular bird clients seem to be following suit. We have had a lot of happy new clients and keep the word of mouth going. We have even began getting some Xmas bookings. The Liberty Station farmers market has been going well for us on Sundays. The birdie webcam is also starting to get a following with 1 fan as far away as Poland! We have started stocking some new bird toys from Cage n Queen which seem to be a big hit and we have been expanding our toy making section which can save bird owners a lot on toy refills for their birds.

New Bird Mixes

2010-02-15T16:13:00.000-08:00

I have come with 2 types of dry mixes for the birds that can be cooked or served dry. One is a tropical mix called Sunny's Yummy. It has bananas, grains, and other fruits in it as well as almonds. The second one is SodaPop's Pasta which is has big and little organic pasta, grains, pistachos and italian seasonings. Both went through very strict tastings from our bird guests and both were approved with flying colors. We are also trying to get into the Farmer's Market in Little Italy but there is a long waiting list. The Liberty Station market has been good for us regarding cat products so we will continue doing that on Sundays from 9:30-2:30. Patrick has finished his first manzanita bird stand and it looks great! We may also try and get a booth up in Pomona for the bird mart. I started a Facebook page but it is a little bare, I'm still learning

Farmer's Market

2010-01-12T19:07:00.000-08:00

We did our first Farmer's Market at Liberty Station this past Sun, Jan 10. We didn't sell that much but we did do a lot of advertising for the resort. It is waaay cheaper then running an ad in a local paper plus people can put a face to the name and it helps us brand our business by having our logo visible.
The birdie breads have been doing very well and we have some regular customers that ask for it as well as the sprout mix.
I am also working on some easier cat grass kits that can come with a blend of grasses or gluten free with Chia seed, which has even better properties then flax. We did slow down just a bit after the holidays but are bookings are up from last year. The slower times has allowed us to get ready for the Farmer's market though and work on more and better toys.
Our birdie webcam is up and running everyday now and our bird clients are very happy that they can watch their fids all day.
I have also updated the website with employee photos and need to get a quick photo of our human employee, Sue, who has done a great job with the guests and clients.

bird cam up and running

2009-12-13T20:12:00.000-08:00

Patrick has hooked up our first bird cam in the aviary. We will try and have it on everyday. We have also gotten in a new shipment of bird toys and our first aluminum cages from King's cages. The cages are very nice but expensive. They will never rust and there is no paint that can be chipped off so it is a worth while investment and they are cheaper then stainless which will eventually rust. They are also super easy to put together without any tools needed and since they are made from aluminum they are very light. We have also been trying to work on our own toys line and have come up with some cute and cheaper box toys that are great for foraging for birds. Our Christmas bookings are full for cats but we still have some openings for birds

New Toys

2009-11-17T12:35:00.000-08:00

We have reorganized our store website for retail items and have loaded more new bird toys. I am inn the process of taking photos of birds next to the toys so it is easy to tell how big the toy is. Here is a link http://www.thepurringparrot.com/0003dp30blg0076/categories.asp?cat=26
We have also sold 2 vacation videos and have samples on them on our youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/Merlin0404
Patrick has been working on establishing petcams so people can log in to see their fids while away. we just have one camera up now and hope to have more up soon but he has to figure out the whole encoding thing so it isn't publicly viewed.
Our birdie breads are starting to get some followers as well as our seed mix.
Bookings have been a little quiet before the holidays but we just see this as an opportunity to improve our services and work on more of the retail end. We are booked in the aviary and almost booked for cat rooms for Thanksgiving. We still have openings in the aviary for birds over Christmas but cat rooms are booked with a waiting list.
Still trying to start a facebook page, maybe by this weekend or after Turkey day.
We also applied to try and get on ABC's Sharktank show.

You tube videos are now loaded

2009-10-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I have posted but we have been very busy. Our occupancy has been on an average of 70% or more. We have a waiting list for Xmas and 1 room left for Thanksgiving.
I have found some time to start getting some very amatuer videos up but with practice editing they will get better. We have loaded them on to our channel which can be found at this link:
http://www.youtube.com/Merlin0404
We are now also carrying catnip bubbles and the combs and brushes that we use at the resort. We have lagged in the bird toy making area but hope to get it going again since we have hired extra part time help.

Has it been a year already?

2009-08-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

We are coming up on our one year anniversary for The Purring Parrot and it has been such a great year! It went by so fast. The busier we are the faster time goes, I think there is a time warp in our resort. Our staff has grown from 4 birds to 5 and we have some human part-time employees that are doing a great job.
Jupiter, our un-cape, is a little spitfire and wants to be part of everything. Sunny, is our newest bird employee. She is a 20 year old green wing macaw and has fit in nicely with our flock. Bean, our bare-eyed seems to be happy to have another female bird around and has been spending more time out of her cage.
Since we are consistently busy enough now we have added some more humans to our staff as caretakers.
We reached maximum occupancy the end of July and for the first 8 days in Aug for the aviary and cat rooms and have stayed, on average at least 50% full for both areas. For our one year anniversary it looks like we might be completely booked with kitties. We only have 2 rooms left for the Christmas holiday and I imagine they will go fast. We are 50% booked for Thanksgiving.
We have been shooting a lot video to post on you tube but need to check out the software.
We are just so thankful that we made it through our first year.
My in-home cat sitting is slowly winding down and I think the best thing for it is to just let it become absorbed by The Purring Parrot.
We have also submitted our application to get a Service Mark (Trademark) for our logo and business name.

Petopia.TV stopped by

2009-07-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

Petopia.tv stopped by and did a piece on us. It was a lot of fun to have them there and they gave us a lot of ideas about making our own videos and getting them loaded onto youtube. The link to their story is http://www.petopia.tv/Petopia.TV/Fun_Videos.html.
We are staying consistently busy and need to start hiring more permanent pt help so we have a little more time to promote the resort. So many ideas and so little time.

Kitty Grass and more new toys

2009-06-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

Our new cat grass seed mix is available now and can be found at http://www.thepurringparrot.com/0003dp30blg0076/products.asp?cat=11&pg=2
We have a wheat grass blend and a gluten free blend. There are kits to grow and just seeds to buy if a kit isn't needed. All the seeds and grains are certified organic.
We also have some new parrot toys and I have finally been able to put together a cornbread recipe that I am happy with. Next I need to figure out how to set up express shipping for the on-line store but have it so only certain items default to that.
Patrick finished combining the Arabian and Forest suites so now we have another larger room if needed.
Next I need to establish a photo album slideshow so we can upload updated photos faster

Busy Busy for the Summertime

2009-06-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

We have been very busy and can't believe it is already June and we have been open now for 9 months! We are already getting holiday bookings and all the standard window rooms are booked for Dec 20-29 give or take a few days. We are telling our clients to book early!
Patrick has ramped out the French Cafe Suite, changed the ramps in the Under the Sea room. He has also added ramps to the Pirate Suite, Forest Suite, Southwest Suite and is redoing Mt Olympus. He will also be connecting the Arabian Suite and Forest Suite so they can be expanded if needed.

We have also been working on kitty grass kits with a wheat grass blend and one that is also gluten-free for cats that need to avoid wheat.

On Thurs we get a new employee, Jupiter an un-cape parrot. He will be a new member of our flock and family, joining our African grey, SodaPop, in teasing the cat guests. Our other employees are Merlin, our Blue and Gold macaw and his job is to keep the aviary under control and play flock leader. Bean, our Bare-Eyed cockatoo's job is our guard bird and assists Merlin. When she starts vocalizing we know something is amiss and find out what's going on. She also comes out and helps SodaPop with kitty entertainment by doing flyby's past the rooms. Cats love that!
One of our distributers also has informed us that Parrot Towers are no longer being made, which is too bad because they are light, easy to clean, durable and fairly inexpensive. I'm trying to find out more information.
Lastly, since we have been updating and changing rooms I will try and put up a slide show of the latest improvements. It's easier to quickly post photos here then on our Home Page of The Purring Parrot.

New links added

2009-05-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

We have added our favorite links to our blog.
Business has been very busy with summer starting to roll in. We are working on more bird toys and have come up with some food foraging designs.
Another thing we are working on is to put together a little vacation book of photos for pet owners. We used Shutterfly to put a great book together of some photos of one of our clients. We did the photos, editing, etc and Shutterfly puts it all together in either a hardback or paper back book. It was done so well we thought it would be a good idea for clients.
We are also letting our clients know to book early for Thanksgiving and December because we are already getting bookings.

New Parrot Toys now on-line

2009-05-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

We have finally posted our new line of parrot toys. They can be found by clicking on the following link http://www.thepurringparrot.com/0003dp30blg0076/products.asp?cat=13
Our toys are hand-made with parrot safety in mind. All links are either nickel=plated or stainless steel. A few come with a big plastic link. We have incorporated a lot thick compressed card board in many shapes and birds seem to like to really chew on these and they also last longer then wood since there are so many layers. We also have our hardened gelatin pieces on the toys which are colorful and very durable. The paper roll toys are the biggest hits though. They look like they create a lot of mess but is so quick to clean up.

New Kitty Toys Now On-Line

2009-04-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

We have posted our new kitty toys to our on-line store. They are hand-made, bio-degradable and kitty tested for durability and satisfaction. They can be found under The Purring Parrot brand at http://www.thepurringparrot.com/0003dp30blg0076/products.asp?cat=11&pg=2
We also hope to upload some of our parrot toys too, especially the paper roll which has been very popular here at the resort and seems to keep most of the birds busy. Plus it looks like it creates a big mess, which the birds like, but is so easy to clean up, which is what we like.

I am hoping to upload our birdie breads soon.
We have two successful breads so far: Anise fruit bread and Cornmeal sprout bread. Both have been sampled by our guests and they have eaten more then they have thrown to the floor. Our breads are made with healthy human grade ingredients.

2009-04-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

We have completed our parrot and sprout mixes and they can be found here: http://www.thepurringparrot.com/0003dp30blg0076/products.asp?cat=14
We have a big /medium bird dry mix called Hercules' Organic big bird mix and then for smaller birds we have Juju's Organic small bird mix. The mix doesn't have any sugared products, soy in case your bird is hormonal, or peanuts to avoid aspergillosis

We have our big bird sprouts and little bird sprouts which can be soaked overnight and served, as well as Bean's Organic Bean and Legume blend for sprouts. Our sprouts will come with easy to follow directions and are a yummy healthy treat for birds.

Sprout and Dry Seed/nut mix

2009-04-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

We will have our sprout mix by this weekend and should have our dry seed mix by next week. We are getting most of our ingredients from Sun Organics which has Certified Organic products and Just Tomatoes.
Our Sprout Mix will be 3 separate mixes: A bean/legume mix, little bird mix and big bird mix. We only have a name for the bean mix so far and it will be Bean's bean/legume mix. The big and little bird sprouts are a blend of sprouts that can be soaked overnight and feed the next day or hold on to them a little longer and let them grow some tails

Our seed mix will be a small bird mix called Juju's mix and the larger bird mix will be call Hercules' mix.

Both our sprout and seed mixes will be missing any soy and peanuts. There is controversy regarding soy and hormones so we are leaving them out. With peanuts in the shell there is a chance of a bird picking up Aspergillois so they are out. There are plenty of other nuts that are safe and healthy. Our mixes use human grade organic ingredients.

We will be using dehydrated or freeze dried fruits and veggies from Just Tomatoes. We like this company because they product is only the fruit or veg and nothing else added. No preservatives, sulfur dioxide or extra sugar added. We have found that a lot of dry mixes have small bits of dried fruit that are just little sugar bombs and super sweet. They are sweetened with coconut milk, honey or other natural products so as to preserve them which is great if you want a product without sulfur dioxide but it really adds to increased sugar content which makes all the fruit taste the same. Just Tomatoes is simply, just the product and nothing else.

Our dry mixes will need refrigeration once opened to keep the fruits and veg crunchy but this will also help keep everything else fresher and keep those nasty moths away. I hate those things.

I'm also getting closer to having some good breads ready. So far the most popluar is a fruit/nut/anise bread which tastes great and has no sugar in it.
I am also working on some bird friendly breads that are low in cholesteral for the over weight birds, such as my CAG (Congo African Grey) Soda Pop, who is starting to show some borderline clevage

First Blog

2009-03-24T15:49:00.001-07:00

We opened in Sept 2008 and have been very fortunate to have been as busy as we have since that first month. We were fully booked for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and anticipate the same for next year. Right now we are able to catch or breath and are able to focus on some of our projects such as developing our own cat and bird toys and bird foods.
Patrick is also working on changing some of the ramps and expanding the cat rooms with creative openings that we can close off when a larger room isn't needed. He did this for the English and Celestial suites and it has been a big hit. Patrick also just finished adding more ramps to The Under the Sea suite.

The cat toys that we are working on will be feather toys on a stick and we are using bamboo sticks and rubber, making them more eco-friendly then the plastic stick feather toys that are imported from who knows where. The bird toys we are working on will be wood chew and destroy toys.

I have also been working on some durable parrot toys that use parts similar to acrylic or very hard plastic but is neither. I have always worried about what our birds might be injesting when chewing on acrylic or plastic parts. I came across a recipe for very hard toys and the material is a substance made from gelatin, is very hard and durable and seems to have been able to with stand the beak of a cockatoo (Sydney) so far. Hopefully we will have some photos up soon of these products. Our guests are trying them out right now to make sure they are durable enough.

Another service we are working on offering is food/toy delivery for birds diets. Delivery would be free with 12 miles of the resort and customers can pay by using paypal or calling us directly. We have several bird breads and muffins we are working on and would like to help those busy bird owners out there feed their fids (feathered kids) a nutritious and varied diet.
Some bird owners may not know what fresh food out there is good to feed their birds or may not have time to go shop for it, clean it, etc.
We are looking at doing the shopping for these clients, prepping the fresh foods and then making weekly deliveries with the produce. The owners just chop it up and give it to their fids. We will call it " We shop. You chop". We will have a list of seasonal products owners can check off for us to get and a different levels of prices for what they want.

We will be promoting our pick up and drop off service too.