What do you do when you go on trips?

I am planning a two day vacation sometime in the next couple of months and I wanted to know what Some other people's experiences were with vacations. I know there are boarding cares for birds but I'm worried that she will be traumatized and think that she is being rehomed again, any thoughts? I do live with my dad so I could leave her at home, only problem is that she has never had any contact with him whatsoever he absolutely hates the bird and won't go near it so if I were to go out of town she would be in her cage the entire time and I feel very uncomfortable with that, any advice will be helpful!


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Will he at least feed the poor thing? If yes, then staying in her cage at home is preferable, I think. DONT FORGET to explain for a few days in advance that you will be away for X time, and dont worry cuz mom will be back. Several times, each day. They know! Ask dad nicely, and reward him in advance of taking on this chore - couple of nice cigars, a good bottle of hooch, what ever. Giving it in advance will guilt him into doing a good job of feeding her. Who knows , he may even learn to like the girl.

We have a local Ursuline nun convent. The sisters house sit as a revenue practice. Sister Colette (whom we met at a civic event) moves in and reads the Bible to the Bird. No improvement in the Bird so far, but, she is a lovely and trustworthy lady. She says nunneries frequently offer such services. You might look into it.

wrench13 said:

Will he at least feed the poor thing? If yes, then staying in her cage at home is preferable, I think. DONT FORGET to explain for a few days in advance that you will be away for X time, and dont worry cuz mom will be back. Several times, each day. They know! Ask dad nicely, and reward him in advance of taking on this chore - couple of nice cigars, a good bottle of hooch, what ever. Giving it in advance will guilt him into doing a good job of feeding her. Who knows , he may even learn to like the girl.

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Yes he will feed her, just the thought of her being in her cage for two days straight worries me but at least she won't be traumatized by being put at a board and care, I'll even pay my dad 100$ a day to spend time with her, she'll have the cats to keep her company also


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In June my family is going on a week long trip right now and I have a few different options but they all have the pros and cons.

Note: Lincoln is very shy and doesn't do too well with new people. He doesn't really bite, just little warning nips. He also has a past of plucking and feather chewing.

Option 1: Ask a friend to watch over him
Note: I only have one friend I'd trust to keep him safe
Pros:
I've known her more than half my life
I know she'd likely be up to watching him
She's responsible
Has had previous interactions with Lincoln
We could probably let her stay at the house for the time being since my parents know her very well too.
Cons:
She's not big on handling animals (she's just afraid she'll accidentally hurt them) so he likely won't get too much physical interaction
I don't know if she'd be up to actively spending time with him
Doesn't have any previous bird interactions

Option 2: Family friend
Pros:
They live close by (walking distance)
Previous interactions with Lincoln
Reliable adults
Cons:
I don't know their work schedule
They have 2 toddlers so they likely won't be able to interact with Lincoln a lot.
Don't have any prior avian experience

Option 3: Aquaintence
Pros:
Close by (like 5 minutes if you drive, like 45 minutes if you walk)
Prior avian knowledge including special needs birds
Cons:
We don't know him very well
Unsure if he'd be willing

Option 4: Boarding
Pros:
They'd have prior bird experience. Including special needs.
I've been to this place and staff seem very trustworthy
It'd be their job
Cons:
I don't know how Lincoln is with other birds
He'd have to go to an unknown location (to him)
It would be a bit more pricier but that's not a huge problem
I've never boarded an animals and I'm unsure how it works

Possibly option: Neighbors
Pros:
They've taken care of my animals in the past
Very trust worthy
Just across the street
Cons:
No prior avian knowledge
They are moving and I don't know when.


I don't know if that helps but that's what I'm thinking for now. Might give you some ideas.

Only 2 times have I done this.
first time I let my Father and Stepmother watch my 2 Zons in there home. no trouble was a 3 or 4 day vacation.

Second time I let my two Zons be watched at a co-workers house. I get a chuckle out of it every time I think about it. He was interested in getting a parrot and wanted to see what it was like. I think it was for a week.
He made the mistake of using a glove on my YNA and the glove was intended for my OWA. He got Bit and Bit hard when he tried to pick up Bingo using a glove.

We almost always take the whole flock with us when we go out of town. Yes, my car is very crowded and yes, we get all sorts of strange looks on the interstate, but oh well.

If we couldn't take the birds with us we would either board them or have one particular neighbor care for them. We can literally just roll the cages down the hill and to our next door neighbor's house, and he'll care for all of them. Our macaw has some issues, and that's not a good option for her, but she does well at our vet's office. If for any reason our neighbor wasn't available and we couldn't take the birds with us, we'd board all of them. We don't board them just anywhere though. We only use our avian certified vet.

BeatriceC said:

We almost always take the whole flock with us when we go out of town. Yes, my car is very crowded and yes, we get all sorts of strange looks on the interstate, but oh well.

If we couldn't take the birds with us we would either board them or have one particular neighbor care for them. We can literally just roll the cages down the hill and to our next door neighbor's house, and he'll care for all of them. Our macaw has some issues, and that's not a good option for her, but she does well at our vet's office. If for any reason our neighbor wasn't available and we couldn't take the birds with us, we'd board all of them. We don't board them just anywhere though. We only use our avian certified vet.

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We're staying in a hotel for two nights I don't think they'd be too keen on a cockatoo staying in the room [emoji23] I'm considering our avian vet, I saw birds boarded there and they looked really happy out on their perches, Lily is also used to being around other birds, I just don't want her to get traumatized like she is being rehomed again or feel like I am abandoning her


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I've never had a problem with Residence Inn by Marriott and the birds. We haven't taken the cockatoo to a hotel yet, but the macaw can get noisy. They mostly care about noise levels at night, and parrots are naturally pretty quiet after dark.

When we travel we travel with Amazon leading the way!

Prior to retiring, I travel extensively. In the early days, calling home was expensive and when over-seas extremely expensive. With Smart Phones and Skype its really easy! 'The Good Old Days" ya, somethings - but in general nope!

Anyway, learned a method of letting the home owner know when I would be back! Every Golf Store sells Golf Ball Racks that one places Logo Balls in! I was told to place the number of days that I would be gone into the rack plus one! With the rack placed very close to Amazon Centre (cage), my Mrs' would Remove one ball at the end of each day, and make a big deal about the fact that I would be home in ex-number of days! With in four trips, each Amazon had it down and was counting the balls (days) before I would be back.

Now Wrench really nails it with starting days before letting your Parrot know that you will be away! Talk, talk, talk and when I would leave 'Regardless of the Time of Day or Night,' I would always say By For Now, I will be back in "X" number of days! Also, when I came home, same same Story! Regardless of what time of Day or Night! Lots of miss you and happy to see you.

All Parrots want to be and are in constant communication, we NEED to be part of that ALL THE TIME!

SailBoat said:

When we travel we travel with Amazon leading the way!

Prior to retiring, I travel extensively. In the early days, calling home was expensive and when over-seas extremely expensive. With Smart Phones and Skype its really easy! 'The Good Old Days" ya, somethings - but in general nope!

Anyway, learned a method of letting the home owner know when I would be back! Every Golf Store sells Golf Ball Racks that one places Logo Balls in! I was told to place the number of days that I would be gone into the rack plus one! With the rack placed very close to Amazon Centre (cage), my Mrs' would Remove one ball at the end of each day, and make a big deal about the fact that I would be home in ex-number of days! With in four trips, each Amazon had it down and was counting the balls (days) before I would be back.

Now Wrench really nails it with starting days before letting your Parrot know that you will be away! Talk, talk, talk and when I would leave 'Regardless of the Time of Day or Night,' I would always say By For Now, I will be back in "X" number of days! Also, when I came home, same same Story! Regardless of what time of Day or Night! Lots of miss you and happy to see you.

All Parrots want to be and are in constant communication, we NEED to be part of that ALL THE TIME!

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What an adorable story!!! Thank you!!! ❤️


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' Boats you always have such great ideas. I am gonna start that with Salty.

SailBoat said:

When we travel we travel with Amazon leading the way!

Prior to retiring, I travel extensively. In the early days, calling home was expensive and when over-seas extremely expensive. With Smart Phones and Skype its really easy! 'The Good Old Days" ya, somethings - but in general nope!

Anyway, learned a method of letting the home owner know when I would be back! Every Golf Store sells Golf Ball Racks that one places Logo Balls in! I was told to place the number of days that I would be gone into the rack plus one! With the rack placed very close to Amazon Centre (cage), my Mrs' would Remove one ball at the end of each day, and make a big deal about the fact that I would be home in ex-number of days! With in four trips, each Amazon had it down and was counting the balls (days) before I would be back.

Now Wrench really nails it with starting days before letting your Parrot know that you will be away! Talk, talk, talk and when I would leave 'Regardless of the Time of Day or Night,' I would always say By For Now, I will be back in "X" number of days! Also, when I came home, same same Story! Regardless of what time of Day or Night! Lots of miss you and happy to see you.

All Parrots want to be and are in constant communication, we NEED to be part of that ALL THE TIME!

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That is amazing, Steven! I am blown away by the golf-ball counting technique. Yet another example of their intelligence!

That's a big part of why I took so long to get new birds. I only have a couple of people I know well enough to feel comfortable imposing on them by asking them to watch my birds, and they travel more than I did. I finally got birds after determining that there's a pet-sitting service which will do food-and-water visits for $15 a day, but that's my last resort.

I'm watching the Senegal parrot of someone in one of the suburbs for a week starting tomorrow, in return for her watching my birds in the future. The big problem with this is that she's bringing her bird down, and my birds' cage isn't small enough to conveniently bring places. I'm thinking I'll get a cage small enough to carry that they can stay in if I need to bring them places on trips.

I'm also thinking I might try to find someone in the neighborhood to watch them. In Massachusetts, our neighbors watched my birds, but I lived in the countryside. I don't really know my neighbors in Austin, but they see nice enough, and I might try asking them. I might also try posting ads on Nextdoor.

I was just discussing Skype techniques with Owlet a few days ago - if you have an extra device to leave next to your bird, here's a technique you can use to make Skype calls without having to bother your dad.

You can also ask your dad to leave the radio on during the day - assuming your bird likes listening to the radio.

My goal is to eventually get a spare laptop I can control remotely and leave it next to my parrot when I'm gone. Then I can video chat with him, monitor him through the camera, put on music/video etc for him... endless possibilities

Before my mom passed away,and before Amy came to live with us, my whole family were going out of state for a week to visit my sisters' family,and I boarded Smokes at the local pet shop I was visiting at the time.. I had to supply the cage,the food,toys...EVERYTHING!
When I went to take her home,they had her in a corner,by herself,her house was a mess,and she was VERY p.o. at me! didn't speak to me for a week!!
I will NEVER do that again.. ( it was "cheap"..and at the time her CAV had no room for another boarder).

Before I retired from truckin', I was on the road most of the week,home on weekends,and at times a day/night home,my brother,who lives down the street,or my best bud Joe,who lives about 30 seconds away,would come and feed both Amy and Smokey,and spend an hour or two with them,and leave the stereo on for them.
Now,if I were to go on vacation (driving) Amy would definitely come along,she just loves car rides. Little Beebers' hasn't traveled except to his doctor.


Jim

I haven't been on a trip since 2001. I had to stay in the hospital overnight a couple of years ago, but Hubby was home and looked after the flock.

When I go on long trips with family I usually board her at the shop where I bought her from. All the workers know me and Justine so she is in good hands. I think I boarded her three times since I got her. One was for a week when my grand father passed and my parents and myself were in Oregon for the services and to be with my extended family. My parents spend time with Justine during the days since neither me or my roommates are home during the day.

I think this is one reason that she is ok with it is almost every weekend I take her to the store to be around other birds. I think this is how she is used to the surroundings.

We are lucky to have a great bird-only pet shop nearby and I board my foster Goffin there. They always have a lot of birds boarding from cockatiels to macaws. The first time, I was scared and nervous that she wouldn't eat or would be emotionally scarred, but they kept her right by the front desk so someone was with her most of the day. The second time, they put her near the other birds and when I came in to pick her up, she was flirting away with some of the customers. This last time, there was a sulfur crested 'too next to her that said a few words, and she taught Christina to say "Hello." Granted, she doesn't say it TO anyone, just when she's calling me from the bird room. It's Pterodactyl cries for 10 minutes then pet shop noises (Hello, some squeaks, a macaw call).

For Christina, who is a permanent foster for me, and ate only sunflower seeds at her home, boarding at the pet shop has been helpful in teaching her some socialization. She likes to be pet and given attention by everyone within the safety of her cage. At home though, she is still fearful of everyone except me.

The pet shop was really our only option. None of our friends are bird people and they are terrified of her since she's so big. The other birds (budgies, lovebird, finch) get to stay home and friends usually come over to feed and water them. Although feeding is pretty much the same for all my birds, Christina is definitely more challenging when it comes to mental stimulation.