Breeder's Diary #1: Starting Naviary

Introduction

Hello. I'm Changhwan, a breeder at Naviary.

Now that I'm running a parrot breeding center, I want to share why I started this work, and how I plan to run it while taking responsibility for the precious lives in my care.

To introduce myself a bit, I've loved parrots since I was young. I used to keep galahs, lovebirds, and cockatiels, and today I live with two caiques.

I used to work as a software engineer. Most people just call it being a developer. Developers have a unique culture that you don't often see in other fields, the open source culture.

Open source is about sharing the code you built openly so anyone can read it, improve it, and help it evolve. It's collective intelligence at its best.

When I was a kid, the birds I kept were, in truth, almost entirely my parents' responsibility, not mine. But when I adopted two caiques as an adult, I had to take full responsibility on my own.

In the software world, when you hit a problem, you can always find clear answers and references through official docs and communities. With parrots, it wasn't that simple.

From paperwork to where to adopt from, and how to do it the right way, you have to figure it all out yourself. What struck me most during the process was how big the information gap is when adopting parrots, and how much inaccurate information is out there.

Between places where it's hard to properly verify the environment, unclear disease information, and closed-off "I heard this from someone" style rumors with no real source, I think it's genuinely hard for beginners to set solid standards.

So I hoped that a fact-based, transparent, and systematic breeding culture could take root in Korea too. And I found myself thinking that it would be great if someone stepped up and helped define those standards.

About three years after adopting my caiques, as I kept learning more and more about parrots, I started to think, "What if I build the system myself, using my development experience, and run things transparently?"

That's how Naviary began. Since I was leaving a stable developer career to start something new, I had plenty of practical worries as well.

A breeding center also needs sustainable operations. But the kind of profit I want Naviary to earn is not profit gained by misleading people or taking advantage of information imbalance. I want to build better standards and systems, and earn fair compensation for the value created in that process.

Promises Naviary Will Keep

When I decided to run a breeding center, I thought about the principles I want to uphold, under the name Naviary, for both you and the parrots.

1. Closing the information gap in the parrot world

Just like developers share knowledge, Naviary will also share parrot knowledge openly.

Rather than relying only on personal know-how or intuition, I'll aim to deliver accurate knowledge through reliable papers and books, and share fact-focused, data-based information transparently.

2. Digital transformation of breeding

I want to replace the old analog ways that relied on handwriting and spreadsheets with data and systems. Genetic data, lineage, health status, growth records, feeding records, every part of the breeding process will be digitized. Based on that, we'll pursue "data-driven breeding" that raises healthy birds in a structured way.

As someone who came from engineering, this is what I can do best in this market.

3. Parrot welfare

I don't think the domestic parrot breeding environment has enough standards yet for facilities, records, and welfare. Naviary is thinking hard about how to let parent birds live in a wider and more stable environment. Of course, because of practical constraints, we may not always be able to build an ideal facility.

Still, at Naviary, I want to provide a space where the birds can fly and stay active, and to respect the daily lives of the parent birds as much as possible.

I truly believe that parrots' real happiness, in the long run, will have a better impact on the center, and also on the future families who will welcome them.

A Compass Toward a Healthier Parrot-Keeping Culture

I'm well aware that there are ethical criticisms around breeding life and placing birds with new families. I have no intention of ignoring that heavy gaze and responsibility, or dressing it up.

Still, by proving Naviary's system and welfare philosophy through our actions, I want to show that breeding is not a factory that simply consumes life. I want to be a small compass that offers direction, so parrot keeping culture can settle in a healthier way.

The name comes from Navigate, which means to guide, and Aviary, which means a bird enclosure.

That's why Naviary (나비어리) was born. Please keep an eye on the steps we'll take from here, and thank you for your interest.