What a bird
really costs
Purchase price is the smallest number in this calculation. Feed, vet care, housing and replacement across a lifespan that can exceed fifty years is the real figure.
Figures are per bird per year at typical prices. Adjust the purchase price and multiplier to match your own market.
Lifetime total
$0
Per year
Per month
Purchase as % of total
Where it goes
What the number is for
A macaw costs more than a car, spread over a longer term.
Point this at a buyer who wants a large parrot because it is beautiful, and at yourself before expanding a collection. Fifty years of feed and vet care is a commitment that outlives most mortgages.
The figures exclude your own time, which for a breeding collection is the largest input of all and the one nobody costs.
Not in the total
Your labourDaily feeding, cleaning and weighing across a breeding season is unpaid work at scale.
Emergency surgeryAn egg-bound hen or a crop burn can cost more in one visit than a year of routine care.
Permits and ringsCITES and TOPS paperwork, ring series and registration renewals for regulated species.
Provision after youA macaw bought at forty will outlive you. Somebody has to be named and funded.
Track what the aviary actually costs and earns, bird by bird.
See the finance ledger