Interested in fostering?
Help us grow our "Happy Tails" list - become a Beak n Wings foster home! Beak n Wings can always use good clean homes for foster care.
Fostering parrots isn’t an easy job, it certainly isn’t for everyone. Not all the birds we take in have been well socialized. Just ask any of us to see the scars (really). Many of them are eating crappy diets. All of them are scared and confused. We slowly build their trust, teach them to eat healthy foods, improve their ability to bond to people, and then….we let them go to new homes! It’s heart wrenching over and over. (Well, usually we let them go to new homes.) It’s also extremely rewarding.
Beak n Wings provides the cages and as much of the pellets as we can. Foster homes provide additional food, treats, and some of the toys. We also provide the veterinary care. We require you to use our designated vets and to notify before taking a bird, except in life or death emergencies.
Please note, our foster homes are not trial adoptions. We expect our foster homes to work on socialization of our birds as well as providing their daily care. Our Rescue/Adoption staff assign birds to foster homes taking into account the personal preferences and experience of the foster home, but we do not accept requests to foster a particular bird. However, there are always a few “foster failures” each year. Those birds that we just can’t let go of and are adopted by their foster homes. If you want to adopt a foster bird, please let the VP of Rescue/Adoption know ASAP so the bird will not be listed as an adoptable bird. The adoption will need to be completed in a timely manner.
Become a Foster Home
You must be a BNW member for 90 days to foster. Fill out the membership application below only if you are not already a member. For more information, see our Membership section. You will also need to fill out our Adoption/Foster Application.
We want to get a chance to get to know you and to be sure your schedule is going to allow you to bring your foster bird out on a regular basis, so we ask that you visit our facility several times during the 90 day period before fostering.
Before we place a foster bird in a home, you will need to attend one of our classes. The Basic Bird Care Class 101 is on the 2nd Sunday of each month at 2 pm. The Advanced Bird Care Class is more sporadic, but usually on Saturdays about 1 pm. Please see our Facebook page for details.
A home visit is required. These are scheduled after attending the Basic Bird Care 101 Class. One of our volunteers will visit you to be sure you understand our expectations of bird care and to ensure you can provide a safe, clean environment. You must agree to follow up visits on all birds you are fostering. We must keep watch over all birds in the program.
You must agree to bring the foster birds to our facility or events at LEAST TWICE per month. This allows the public to see the bird, and increases the chances to adopt the bird to a good home. (Birds with certain behavioral problems are an exception, they may not need to come out until they have been worked with.) Therefore, you must live within reasonable driving distance.
Adoption/Foster Application Form
Forms may be emailed to adopt.bnw@gmail.com or mailed to:
Beak n Wings, Inc. 9010 Rosehill Rd, Suite B Lenexa, KS 66215
Surrender
Beak n Wings has limited openings for all sized birds at this time.
To surrender a bird to Beak n Wings:
Contact us by phone or text at 913-322-3398, email us at adopt.bnw@gmail.com or send us a message through our Facebook page to see if we can accept your bird. Once we have agreed to accept your bird, please fill out the surrender form below and return it to us. Please consider making a donation help us defray costs we incur when providing for the birds in our care. It costs a lot to feed each bird an appropriate diet, and provide appropriate cages, toys, and veterinary care. Most birds conure sized and larger will receive a screening exam and laboratory testing by one of our veterinarians.
Download Multi-bird Surrender Form for 5 of more birds of the same species only!