Time management

Breeze · Apr 24, 2018

Hello,
I've been in the process of applying for jobs for a while now and with school and a job I'm worried about my birds i have four and they all come out for 4-5 hours each day. When school comes back they come out with my parents while i'm at school and if i do get this job they would be allowed out with them as well. I have no intention of rehoming them at all, they are my life now and i don't know what i would do without them. I'm worried if i do get the job that the hours they will be with me will be decreased. I was wondering if any people on this site work long hours and how they deal with levelling work and bird

DiscoDuck · Apr 25, 2018

they don't deal with..

IMO if you dont understand that parrots are a life long commitment. Then you should not get one. If you truly care, you will figure it out. Its called parenting

Breeze · Apr 25, 2018

DiscoDuck said:
they don't deal with..

IMO if you dont understand that parrots are a life long commitment. Then you should not get one. If you truly care, you will figure it out. Its called parenting

I understand parrots are a long life commitment, i am not one the one who will abandoned their parrot cause of issues. I am going to find a way for it to work, my parents are very willing to get them out while im away.

Scott · Apr 25, 2018

Quality of time spent is at least as valuable as quantity. Big difference between having birds out while your attention is diverted elsewhere vs direct time spent holding your birds or "wearing" them on the shoulder.

The good news is your parents seem willing to assist. I am not familiar with your species and have no idea whether they tolerate new influences. Might help to acclimate them to your parents before before your time is curtailed.

Breeze · Apr 25, 2018

Scott said:
Quality of time spent is at least as valuable as quantity. Big difference between having birds out while your attention is diverted elsewhere vs direct time spent holding your birds or "wearing" them on the shoulder.

The good news is your parents seem willing to assist. I am not familiar with your species and have no idea whether they tolerate new influences. Might help to acclimate them to your parents before before your time is curtailed.

All of them are very much acclimated to my parents as when school is on they come out with them while im away. My interview is not for a while and i might not get the job. So for time being its going to be good.

DiscoDuck · Apr 25, 2018

Scott said:
Quality of time spent is at least as valuable as quantity.

I really need to practice what I preach.

"everything in moderation"

Rudy gets too much quantitative quality time. Why do I always gotta be the weirdo? I really think what I do with him is too much. However to find a behavioral analyses of our involvement and what the future might bear, probably has about a fraction of a fraction of of 1% study on this matter..

Scott · Apr 25, 2018

Breeze said:
Scott said:

Quality of time spent is at least as valuable as quantity. Big difference between having birds out while your attention is diverted elsewhere vs direct time spent holding your birds or "wearing" them on the shoulder.

The good news is your parents seem willing to assist. I am not familiar with your species and have no idea whether they tolerate new influences. Might help to acclimate them to your parents before before your time is curtailed.

Click to expand...

All of them are very much acclimated to my parents as when school is on they come out with them while im away. My interview is not for a while and i might not get the job. So for time being its going to be good.

It seems you have a good plan for ensuring their quality of life when you are at work and school!

itzjbean · Apr 25, 2018

If your parents are on board with helping spend time with them that is great. Know though that you won't live with them forever and will eventually move out and live on your own, unless you plan to live with them for another 30 years. That is when you are likely to have the same time issue but if you are dedicated to making it work then it will.

Carl_Power · Apr 25, 2018

I think with multiple birds its easier and counteracts the loneliness of being absolutly alone and you just spend what time you can with them. You can change sleep scheduals possibly and you have more time on weekends holidays. Your birds will get used to changes and a new constant im sure. I imagine many birds do. Just do the best you can for them and things always change x

RavensGryf · Apr 25, 2018

I so feel your pain, as I’m currently juggling a teething puppy that I keep separate from the 7 birds, 3 of which are tame and need direct attention that is lacking at this time because I haven’t found a way to clone myself. Even with hubby helping me with my puppy, it’s super hard. Of course I don’t have to mention I also have a ton of “human” life, sometimes urgent, to get done as well.

Just remember, life is always changing... the way things are right now, although it isn’t ideal, won’t be the same way forever. During your birds’ lives you won’t always have the same schedule and constant lack of time.

I remind myself of the same thing. One day we’ll complete fixing the “real” bedroom (damaged and under construction) and let the birds have the temporary bedroom/bird room all to themselves; to fly free and play in all day (like small indoor aviary) with custom partitions built into it for the birds who don’t get along. Such a pain right now though. My puppy will eventually grow up and not need to be watched all the time. The other life things I’m dealing with will not be there eventually and will become less hectic. Things will work out.

I’m like you.. you don’t just rehome your animals because time is tight right now. If you love them, you just do your best with the time you have. They’ll live. They’ll adjust. Trust me, I’ve seen my own birds now and in the past adjust. They’ll hang in there until things change.

Omg I just remembered I need to clean the bird room now!

Squeekmouse · Apr 25, 2018

We all just do the best we can. It's easy enough to tell someone if they can't spend gobs of time with their birds then they shouldn't have birds, but that's not realistic. Medium to large parrots can live anywhere from 30-100 years. Show me ONE person under the age of 50 whose day to day life was the same, unchanged for 30 years straight. Some periods in our lives we have barely enough time to sleep between jobs/school/kids/commute/whatever, and other periods in our lives we have more time than we know what to do with. As Scott said, quality is more important than quantity. So when you have very small quantity to offer, make sure it's quality time, and just do what you can.

I have read some people on these forums who work multiple jobs and so their birds typically sleep during the hours the person is at work, and then when they are home is the bird's "daytime" so that they can spend as much time together as possible. Also, when you are home, even if you are doing homework, doing chores, watching TV or on your computer, your fid will be happy to just be with you at the very least.

Don't beat yourself up too much, nearly every parent or parront feels they don't have as much time as they would like, to spend with their children. We all just do the best we can and give all the love and care we have to give. "This too shall pass" after all.

Good luck!!

Breeze · Apr 25, 2018

itzjbean said:
If your parents are on board with helping spend time with them that is great. Know though that you won't live with them forever and will eventually move out and live on your own, unless you plan to live with them for another 30 years. That is when you are likely to have the same time issue but if you are dedicated to making it work then it will.

I do plan on taking them with me when I move that although that is a while away, I still want to take them with me.

Breeze · Apr 25, 2018

RavensGryf said:
I so feel your pain, as I’m currently juggling a teething puppy that I keep separate from the 7 birds, 3 of which are tame and need direct attention that is lacking at this time because I haven’t found a way to clone myself. Even with hubby helping me with my puppy, it’s super hard. Of course I don’t have to mention I also have a ton of “human” life, sometimes urgent, to get done as well.

Just remember, life is always changing... the way things are right now, although it isn’t ideal, won’t be the same way forever. During your birds’ lives you won’t always have the same schedule and constant lack of time.

I remind myself of the same thing. One day we’ll complete fixing the “real” bedroom (damaged and under construction) and let the birds have the temporary bedroom/bird room all to themselves; to fly free and play in all day (like small indoor aviary) with custom partitions built into it for the birds who don’t get along. Such a pain right now though. My puppy will eventually grow up and not need to be watched all the time. The other life things I’m dealing with will not be there eventually and will become less hectic. Things will work out.

I’m like you.. you don’t just rehome your animals because time is tight right now. If you love them, you just do your best with the time you have. They’ll live. They’ll adjust. Trust me, I’ve seen my own birds now and in the past adjust. They’ll hang in there until things change.

Omg I just remembered I need to clean the bird room now!

Ah new puppy must be hard! (but so cute) But yes I agree, it infuriates me when people just pack up ad leave their bird just because they don't have the time, or the time is not right any more. Thats where i got my alexandrine, he's previous owner had no time for him. I love all my birds and can't imagine getting rid of them. Heck! i got to bed every night with my caique snuggled into my neck then an hour of 2 later i have to put her back, I could never give my birds to another person not knowing if they had the same quality of life they have here.

Breeze · Apr 25, 2018

Squeekmouse said:
We all just do the best we can. It's easy enough to tell someone if they can't spend gobs of time with their birds then they shouldn't have birds, but that's not realistic. Medium to large parrots can live anywhere from 30-100 years. Show me ONE person under the age of 50 whose day to day life was the same, unchanged for 30 years straight. Some periods in our lives we have barely enough time to sleep between jobs/school/kids/commute/whatever, and other periods in our lives we have more time than we know what to do with. As Scott said, quality is more important than quantity. So when you have very small quantity to offer, make sure it's quality time, and just do what you can.

I have read some people on these forums who work multiple jobs and so their birds typically sleep during the hours the person is at work, and then when they are home is the bird's "daytime" so that they can spend as much time together as possible. Also, when you are home, even if you are doing homework, doing chores, watching TV or on your computer, your fid will be happy to just be with you at the very least.

Don't beat yourself up too much, nearly every parent or parront feels they don't have as much time as they would like, to spend with their children. We all just do the best we can and give all the love and care we have to give. "This too shall pass" after all.

Good luck!!

Yes agreed, I feel as though they should have more time out but with school taking up 6 hours of my day, i just can't give that. But they come out in the morning, during school by my parents, the when i get home and during the night.

GaleriaGila · Apr 25, 2018

This is less of advice and more of a personal story... but maybe it will be of interest to you. And I confess... I love to share it.

My story...
I got the Rickeybird in 1984. I was fearing getting evicted due to his noise, and my family at the time HATED him. I recall struggling to make a decision, sitting on the floor of my townhouse, watching him race and skip and frolic around on the tile floor, and then run to me GRINNING, so proud to be showing off for me. I would just stare at him and be amazed: imagine --- a real parrot in my house, and it loved me! I felt so guilty and inadequate and afraid at one point that I had him in his travel cage and was planning to take him back to the bird store. I opened the front door and couldn't go through. Closed it. Sat down. Took my little love out and promised him we would stay together.
I didn't really believe it, but I wanted to. Eventually, I did. I was in college back then, and at least I could spend a lot of time with him.
Then there were were years (about 25 of them) when 5-6 days a week, I was gone at 7:30-ish and back at 6-ish.
Some did and will consider me wrong and think I should have re-homed him. My husband at that time detested the bird. My current ol' man tolerates him with good humor. No, the bird wasn't responsible for the first marriage's ending!
Anyway, here is what I think made it work.
I moved and got new jobs maybe 5 times or so. BUT...
Every morning, he had at least ten minutes, and every evening, he had 20 or so. I have always kept him on a natural light schedule, in a separate room, so sometimes those times together were in the dark. During the day, he had a big window looking out on something interesting, a television on one of his favorite channels (Music channels, CNN - he loves talking heads), a biggg cage, lots of fun foods, and a few toys that I changed out regularly).
He KNEW he could count on those two crummy sessions a day. Somehow we both made it.
I'm now retired and times are good again. Side-note... when I first started being able to spend much more time, he was strangely aggressive and jumpy. Eventually we settled down.
Good luck to you in making a decision. And welcome to the Forum... you'll get lots of empathy and advice here.

Breeze · Apr 25, 2018

GaleriaGila said:
This is less of advice and more of a personal story... but maybe it will be of interest to you. And I confess... I love to share it.

My story...
I got the Rickeybird in 1984. I was fearing getting evicted due to his noise, and my family at the time HATED him. I recall struggling to make a decision, sitting on the floor of my townhouse, watching him race and skip and frolic around on the tile floor, and then run to me GRINNING, so proud to be showing off for me. I would just stare at him and be amazed: imagine --- a real parrot in my house, and it loved me! I felt so guilty and inadequate and afraid at one point that I had him in his travel cage and was planning to take him back to the bird store. I opened the front door and couldn't go through. Closed it. Sat down. Took my little love out and promised him we would stay together.
I didn't really believe it, but I wanted to. Eventually, I did. I was in college back then, and at least I could spend a lot of time with him.
Then there were were years (about 25 of them) when 5-6 days a week, I was gone at 7:30-ish and back at 6-ish.
Some did and will consider me wrong and think I should have re-homed him. My husband at that time detested the bird. My current ol' man tolerates him with good humor. No, the bird wasn't responsible for the first marriage's ending!
Anyway, here is what I think made it work.
I moved and got new jobs maybe 5 times or so. BUT...
Every morning, he had at least ten minutes, and every evening, he had 20 or so. I have always kept him on a natural light schedule, in a separate room, so sometimes those times together were in the dark. During the day, he had a big window looking out on something interesting, a television on one of his favorite channels (Music channels, CNN - he loves talking heads), a biggg cage, lots of fun foods, and a few toys that I changed out regularly).
He KNEW he could count on those two crummy sessions a day. Somehow we both made it.
I'm now retired and times are good again. Side-note... when I first started being able to spend much more time, he was strangely aggressive and jumpy. Eventually we settled down.
Good luck to you in making a decision. And welcome to the Forum... you'll get lots of empathy and advice here.

Wow what a beautiful story. As i have said i have no intention of leaving my birds and i am lucky enough to have the support from my parents who will take them out while im away. I'm not forced to get a job, my parents would prefer for me to focus on my study, it was my choice.

DiscoDuck · Apr 25, 2018

Breeze said:
Squeekmouse said:

We all just do the best we can.

Don't beat yourself up too much, nearly every parent or parront feels they don't have as much time as they would like, to spend with their children. We all just do the best we can and give all the love and care we have to give. "This too shall pass" after all.

Good luck!!

Click to expand...

Yes agreed, I feel as though they should have more time out but with school taking up 6 hours of my day, i just can't give that. But they come out in the morning, during school by my parents, the when i get home and during the night.

GaleriaGila said:
(Music channels, CNN - he loves talking heads),

Breeze you will be fine, simply based on your reply to Squeeze.

Galleria.. Fix your TV. Change CNN to FOX. Honestly, Rudy senses the different personalities. FNC seem generally happier people, CNN seems to rile him up.. :red1:

and.. excellent choice!! Psycho Killer while Burnin Down the House!

Squeekmouse · Apr 26, 2018

DiscoDuck said:
Breeze you will be fine, simply based on your reply to Squeeze.

Galleria.. Fix your TV. Change CNN to FOX. Honestly, Rudy senses the different personalities. FNC seem generally happier people, CNN seems to rile him up.. and.. excellent choice!! Psycho Killer while Burnin Down the House!

Squeeze? That's cute... I got the nickname Squeeks from my husband years ago... but I like Squeeze too... it's like instructions for how he can keep me happy.

re: CNN to Fox LOL!! Too funny. I couldn't agree more. CNN always gets ME riled up. I tend to go through cycles of following the news and current events very closely, until I realize I'm becoming an angry, freaked out, emotional wreck as a result and I have to step away and just listen to music for a while. I swear every news channel thrives on making people scared and angry. Total opposite of these forums. These forums are my happy place.

Scott · Apr 27, 2018

DiscoDuck said:
Galleria.. Fix your TV. Change CNN to FOX. Honestly, Rudy senses the different personalities. FNC seem generally happier people, CNN seems to rile him up.. and.. excellent choice!! Psycho Killer while Burnin Down the House!

Projection? Assuming parrots are apolitical and watch for fun, why would one network be superior to another?? Oh, and that was a rhetorical question. We don't discuss politics here, as you well know from reading the rules.

MonicaMc · Apr 28, 2018

I personally think it's amazing that your parents are on board with caring for your birds!

I've had birds since I was 12, and my mother "likes" them, and will even feed them, but she doesn't really interact with them. Well, she will with one *occasionally*, but that's like maybe a few times a year...

If my father was around, he would most likely be there interacting with them on a rather frequent basis as he *loves* animals! He hasn't been a part of my life for several years now... but he used to (don't know if he still does?) go to a park where a bunch of feral rabbits lived (peoples pets that they let go...) and he'd go and feed them and pet them. Most anyone else couldn't interact with them. Heard a story years ago that he was living on the river and had his own feral cat colony that he cared for... and he's allergic to most cats!

I do have an older sister... but she's a cat person! (her ex used to be a bird person!) Kind of the same as my mother... she might help care for them, but doesn't interact with them. Had one bird that might have mistaken her for me and he jumped on her! (couldn't fly, so jump is the most accurate word...) It was probably a scare for both of them! I have one bird that I can literally say has only truly ever bitten once in her entire life and she's mid/late teens now! The one she bit? My sister! But only because this bird somehow got herself stuck and was freaking out, I wasn't home at the time but my sister was visiting. My sister heard my bird freaking out and went to help out, and got bit in the process!

So I can rely on my family, if need be, to ensure my birds are cared for, but not to interact with them.

IMO, you'll do just fine!

Sure, it'll be an adjustment period for everyone, but you can, and will, make this work for you and your birds!

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