About Bignest

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Bignest Aviary is located on a small 112 acre ranch near Shiner, Texas


J/S Ranch Established 1983
Our Ranch

On-Line Tour of our Aviaries

Visit our African Grey Aviary Visit our Macaw Aviary  

 

 

Babies may be viewed at Bignest Aviary 
by appointment ONLY

Sorry - we do NOT give live tours

We must be careful of disease being carried in to our aviaries and strangers upset our breeding birds.
Not to mention there are not enough hours in a day!

Visit our Nursery

 

Bignest Babies
We do not have outside hand feeders taking babies away from Bignest to hand feed. We NEVER take our babies to bird marts and expose them to other birds.
  Our babies are abundantly weaned to Zupreme Fruit Blend and Roudybush pellets, fruits, and vegetables.  We introduce them to both Zupreme Fruit Blend and Roudybush because although we prefer Roudybush we realize not everyone has access to this feed in their area. They are introduced to solid foods while still quite young and are eager to try new foods.

Our Breeding Program
We are very proud of our African Grey & Macaw breeding program.   Many of our breeding pairs were hatched, raised and paired right here at Bignest.  We do not sell all of our babies for pets to insure we will have good breeding stock in the future.   We hold back baby birds yearly for future breeders and introduce new bloodlines.   We have found that pairing young Greys at weaning and placing them in a breeder flight in the same area as adult breeders makes good young producing pairs after 5 to 7 years.  We also pair Blue & Gold Macaws here.   Because of the years invested in raising these breeding pairs we seldom have breeder pairs for sale.

We Raise

 

 Timneh African Greys Blue Fronted Amazons Congo African Greys Buffon's Macaw 

Greenwing Macaws Double Yellow Headed Amazons Blue & Gold Macaws Scarlet Macaws

Butch and Shirley Lawhorn

Shirley is an aviculturist and agriculturist. She is a breeder of African Greys, both Congo and Timneh African Greys, Blue & Gold Macaws, Greenwing Macaws, Scarlet Macaws and Buffon's Macaws. Shirley and her husband, Joel, own a small cattle ranch, J/S Beefmaster Ranch, in South Central Texas. They also raise registered Beefmaster cattle on their 112 acre ranch.

Bignest Aviary is a small Model Aviary Program (M.A.P.) Certified aviary located on their ranch near Shiner, TX. Bignest Aviary has over 35 breeding pairs, mostly African Greys. The African Greys are raised in an African Greys Only building, which she designed using the guidelines of M.A.P.

Shirley was born and raised in Arlington Heights, IL. She became fascinated with birds as a child and bred her first birds, English Budgies, in 1958 in Arlington Heights. She has also raised many domestic species of poultry and game birds from eggs including several species of chickens, ducks, geese, guineas and quail.  Shirley has been in Texas since 1980.  Joel was born and raised in Texas.

Shirley is a Certified Avian Specialist and a member of Ladies Auxiliary to the VFW, Coastal Bend Companion Bird Club, Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (P.I.J.A.C.), Commercial Member of American Federation of Aviculturist, Avicultural Society of America, Member of M.A.P., and an Honorary Member of The River City Bird Club. Joel and Shirley are Lifetime Members of Beefmaster Breeders United. Joel is a Lifetime Member of the VFW and a W.W.II Veteran.

Power Point Presentations on various subjects available.  

I will be available for a limited number of speaking engagements this year.  I am available for club meetings.  

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Please email for details - shirley@bignest.com

My Family

#1 Son
Roland

#2 Son and Wife
Eddy and Kristie

#3 Son
Robby

Daughter
Jonnie Lynn
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Granddaughter
Teal
(1981-2000)

Granddaughter 
Tiffany
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Granddaughter
Ashley

Grandson
Spencer
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Grandson
David
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Grandson
Justin
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Great Granddaughter 
and Her Dad
Kaylee and Jeromy
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Granddaughter
Jessica
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Grandson
Hunter
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Grandson
Tyler
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Great Granddaughter 
Kaylee
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Granddaughter
Sarah
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Grandson 
Little Eddie
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Granddaughter 
Jaiden
 

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Great Grandson
Rylan

   

My Pets


Tigger The Ruling King
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Tasha The Ruling Queen
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Star & Family
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Fred & Tasha

Daisy & Cheeto

Ginger & Tasha

Cuddles THE Boss
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Honey

Ruby

Chihuahuas - Long hair - Short hair - AKC - CKC
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Cheeto - Male
AKC - CKC
Dorito - Female
AKC - CKC
Freeda - Female
CKC
Boots - Female
AKC - CKC
Zoey - Female
AKC
Mia - Female
CKC

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Meet Zoey,  Freeto,  Dorito, Cheeto Mia and the 2 kittens The Girls and Star Mia Love Kitties Relaxing on the kitty tree

Sophie is one of our special babies hatched 5/9/95

Her parents have a put up a delightful 
website for her. If you have a moment

Visit Sophie's Page

 

Sophie


View My Guestbook
Sign My Guestbook


Photographs by Shirley A. Lawhorn, C.A.S.

Copyright © 1985 Bignest Aviary.
Updated - 06/19/2009  
All rights reserved.

Bignest Aviary
3450 CR 355
Shiner, Texas  77984
830-857-0990
Email: shirley@bignest.com

Where is Shiner, Texas?
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Click to enlarge