The cost of owning parrots

[itzjbean]

Total so far is about $5400 - $6000. The joy she has brought to our home is priceless.
We are fortunate that we can afford the cost of a macaw. We planned ahead, maintain a "bird fund" and always expect the unexpected.

Hopefully people will see this thread and ensure that they are truly ready to bring a feathered on into their family before they make that leap.

Much thanks to itzjbean and all other contributors for starting/participating in this thread.

Kelly, Karl, and Arika

It is so true, while the costs may be expensive the love and companionship you get in the end makes it all worth it. Also great idea about having a 'bird fund' set up and to expect the unexpected. I'll have to start one for my future big bird!

 

[SailBoat]

Insurance has its advantages, but is designed for the Provider to cover costs - pay-outs, overhead, etc... plus develop a profit.

If you have a regular CAV Clinic that you are working with, take the time to meet with the behind the door finance person at the Clinic. Talk to them about the different Insurances that are available, but also what plans they may have!!! It is not uncommon for them to provide services like, prepaying for services and monthly payments for services already provided.

If your Clinic has a program for prepayment, you will quickly be able to determine that you can develop a positive cash flow, much greater than using an Insurance Company. The advantage of the Insurance Company is if you start a policy and 90 days later you are faced with a major medical claim! They are betting it will not happen and you are betting that it will! That's the reality of Insurance, you are betting that the worst will happen sooner rather than later.

 

[LordTriggs]

good point sailboat. All about keeping your costs as low as possible whilst also balancing it with keeping every month even in spending to allow your budgeting to be better.

It'll always be cheapest to save the money in the long run. Talking to people and seeing what discounts they can offer and plans they can offer is always the best way t go about things. You'd be amazed what the person behind the counter can do if you merely ask politely

The worst they can ever say is "no" at which point you're in no worse position than when you started

 

[SilverSage]

Great advice on the vet! Here is mine;

-the right diet is a whole lot cheaper than the consequences of a poor diet.

- take your bird to the vet once a year and GET GRAM STAINS AND BLOOD WORK! In fact, I NEVER leave the vet without gram stains. Those simple, inexpensive tests can mean the difference between $8 in antibiotics and $1000 in treatments and a dead bird anyway (yes this is a real case from my flock). Pay the extra money now to keep your bird healthy; it is SO WORTH IT!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Birdman666]

You sacrifice a portion of your Sanity... it's just gone. You never get that back...

There are times when I miss my sanity...

But then again, I was never all THAT sane to begin with.

 

[Tami2]

Hello everyone,

I have noticed a few ppl mentioned an ‘Emergency Kit’, can someone please elaborate. I’d like to get one or put one together for Levi.

Thx :heart:

 

[WakaWaka]

Hello everyone,

I have noticed a few ppl mentioned an ‘Emergency Kit’, can someone please elaborate. I’d like to get one or put one together for Levi.

Thx :heart:

Tami,

I believe there were quite a few good ideas presented when everyone was talking about the bad storms in Texas / Florida. I don't remember what forum area that was discussed. Try a search or perhaps someone else has a link to a sticky.
The emergency kit should include items that may be necessary to take care of an issue at home and be ready in the event you have to evacuate due to fire / flood / etc.

Basically,
- Plastic tote bin to put the emergency supplies in (this should be kept stocked !)
- Dry pellets or dehydrated cookable food.
- Zip-lock bags to keep things dry.
- Water, bottled or a portable water filter to create your own usable water for yourself and birds.
- Styptic power or corn starch
- Tweezers or small needle nose pliers to handle possibly broken blood feathers
- Carry cage(s) with water and food bowls.
- Towels for an emergency hold or to help keep them warm
- Paper towels, Q-tips, neosporin ?

Anyone else please feel free to add / subtract from the list. If it does not already exist, perhaps the list could become a sticky.

Thanks
Kelly, Karl, and Arika

 

[Tami2]

Hello everyone,

I have noticed a few ppl mentioned an ‘Emergency Kit’, can someone please elaborate. I’d like to get one or put one together for Levi.

Thx :heart:

Tami,

I believe there were quite a few good ideas presented when everyone was talking about the bad storms in Texas / Florida. I don't remember what forum area that was discussed. Try a search or perhaps someone else has a link to a sticky.
The emergency kit should include items that may be necessary to take care of an issue at home and be ready in the event you have to evacuate due to fire / flood / etc.

Basically,
- Plastic tote bin to put the emergency supplies in (this should be kept stocked !)
- Dry pellets or dehydrated cookable food.
- Zip-lock bags to keep things dry.
- Water, bottled or a portable water filter to create your own usable water for yourself and birds.
- Styptic power or corn starch
- Tweezers or small needle nose pliers to hand possibly broken blood feathers
- Carry cage(s) with water and food bowls.
- Towels for an emergency hold or to help keep them warm
- Paper towels, Q-tips, neosporin ?

Anyone else please feel free to add / subtract from the list. If it does not already exist, perhaps the list could become a sticky.

Thanks
Kelly, Karl, and Arika

Thank you so much. I’ll search for it. :heart:

 

[reeb]

Hmm. I think I'll just go over the start-up costs of my indoor birds, because an aviary with so many birds is a whole other story!:19:

Since I live in South Africa, the conversions might be pretty interesting to see if it is less or more expensive here!

I have 2 show budgies and 1 cockatiel. My hand reared show budgies were $35 each, and my hand-reared cockatiel was $38. At a pet shop, you can get an untame budgie for as low as $8-$10. All three of mine went for basic vet checkups and my avian vet, which probably cost around $45 in total, or $15 dollars each (interesting that it is more expensive overseas). I recently bought them a new double decker cage on sale for $210. This was a steal, with the original price being $350. This is a very massive double cage though (dimensions of 66"H, 36"W, 25"D), so I would estimate a ordinary large cage appropriate for small birds to go for half the price, perhaps $125 (again, in South Africa!).

I also choose to feed my birds a really good wholesome food that is on the pricier side (at least by South African standards) called Versele-Laga. A 1kg bag of the budgie mix is $11, and the cockatiel mix is $15. Most of their fruits and veggies are home-grown in our garden, so I suppose that saves quite a bit of money! I also give them millet spray, which costs around $5 for a pack
of 4 or 5 sprays. So I probably spend around $30 to $40 on food per month, depending on whether I buy fruits and veggies instead of using my home grown variety.

They have two play stands, both of which cost around $20. In terms of toys.... hmmm. I'd estimate that for the many toys that I've bought for these three (both in their cage and on their play stands) maybe adds up to $90. So, that's $30 per bird (I've spoiled them way too much!).

So, in sum, for three smaller birds (in South Africa at least) with large cages, a good diet and lots of toys and places to play:

Start-up prices - the basics: bird + vet + food + toys + nice cage
A Single budgie = $241
A single cockatiel = $248

For me the biggest long lasting financial consideration is food, vet check-ups, and buying new toys to replace old ones.

Anyway, not sure if this will help many people as it is from an international perspective, but it will definitely provide insight into how costs differ between different countries! Looking at other responses, it is definitely cheaper here!

 

[SilverSage]

Just a note on the emergency kit; I would include seeds. I feed seeds during high stress times to keep weight on my birds


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[Sandy19]

I have a small bird so I'd say the initial set up for her with the cage and play stands and toys was probably $1000.00. The monthly cost of food is very minimal, a bag of pellets and nutiberries lasts her over a month and I don't count the fresh fruit and vegetables I give her since that is stuff I always have on hand anyway.

I'd say the dogs are way more expensive on a monthly basis. Mainly because of the heartworm and flea prevention they get monthly, that isn't cheap. Also they eat more and their food costs more.

 

[BeatriceC]

My costs for the big birds, except Goofy, are pretty much in line with what Sailboat detailed. Goofy's the exception because he's not "yesterday's trash". He's the only one we have that wasn't a rescue/rehab. I've had a rough year. My vet expenses this year alone have topped $5000. That doesn't include toys, food and other supplies, nor my time, of which I spend a lot in order to save money, as I make most of their toys.

 

[jugoya]

Oh man...
Daffy is the most expensive bird I've ever owned.
Lets start with him...

$15 to buy a budgie for a budgie because Quay Quay didn't like being alone.

2500 in the first year alone for Daffy's allergies.
About 1500 a year after that for medications and vet bills for the last nine years.


Porter...
$185 from the breeder
$60 for his first cage- $110 for his second $55 for his third
about $500 a year in annual vet visits save for the air sac mite infestation- a good extra 1000 over the course of 5 years.

Maiboch...
35 for a hand raised budgie
500 a year in vet bills.

Accumulated about 250 a year in treats and food.

 

[itzjbean]

Loving all this great advice and insight into ownership. Keep it up, guys! Would love to hear more.

 

[LordTriggs]

You sacrifice a portion of your Sanity... it's just gone. You never get that back...

There are times when I miss my sanity...

But then again, I was never all THAT sane to begin with.

are you able to substitute a wal-mart gift card in place of Sanity? Just I don't have any sanity left

 

[SailBoat]

Hello everyone,

I have noticed a few ppl mentioned an ‘Emergency Kit’, can someone please elaborate. I’d like to get one or put one together for Levi.

Thx :heart:

Tami,

I believe there were quite a few good ideas presented when everyone was talking about the bad storms in Texas / Florida. I don't remember what forum area that was discussed. Try a search or perhaps someone else has a link to a sticky.
The emergency kit should include items that may be necessary to take care of an issue at home and be ready in the event you have to evacuate due to fire / flood / etc.

Basically,
- Plastic tote bin to put the emergency supplies in (this should be kept stocked !)
- Dry pellets or dehydrated cookable food.
- Zip-lock bags to keep things dry.
- Water, bottled or a portable water filter to create your own usable water for yourself and birds.
- Styptic power or corn starch
- Tweezers or small needle nose pliers to hand possibly broken blood feathers
- Carry cage(s) with water and food bowls.
- Towels for an emergency hold or to help keep them warm
- Paper towels, Q-tips, neosporin ?

Anyone else please feel free to add / subtract from the list. If it does not already exist, perhaps the list could become a sticky.

Thanks
Kelly, Karl, and Arika

Thank you so much. I’ll search for it. :heart:

For a recent list of a Medical Emergency /First Aid Kit, visit the Amazon Forum and the Sticky Thread Titled: I Love Amazons - ... This is a Huge Thread that provides a wide cross-section of advice and practices for keeping an Amazon Healthy. That said, near everything in that Huge Thread can simply be switch from Amazon to Parrot!

The very last Segment covers the Medical Emergency /First Aid Kit. This kit provides far more than just 'First Aid!' This will support you when you are being talked-though the process of stabilizing your Parrot because you have the tools and support products to make it happen!!!

As a result of the quickly changing (expanding) Medical Support Products coming on to the market, anticipate some changes next year. At present, I would recommend adding Liquid Skin! This new product comes from the Human Care side. It is like super glue, but without all the side effects. Take great care to not applying this product on Feathers or Fur!!!

We have since added several up-sized support products and now use it as our Primary Home and Vehicle, Medical Emergency Kit!

Having used the Kit several times and I have purchased one of those tote style 'Tool Bags.' I choose Red, since it is easy to find quickly in a packed SUV. Also, with a White Bath Towel, I first placed the supplies on the Towel folded the long way in thirds. Open the top side and place the supplies from heaviest to lightest under and along the lower side. Now fold the the open side back over the lower and roll the towel from the heaviest to the lightest side of the supplies. Measure the resulting 'Roll' and that is the size Tool Bag that you want to purchase. Place extra hand towels to fill in the open area of the Bag. Yes, it is better to up-size the bag, because you will be adding to it over time.

When you have an emergency do this: Zip open the Bag on a table or flat area that you will be working on or near. Set the rolled Towel on the surface and roll open. Lift the top cover and than the bottom cover. Everything is now laid-out in front of you!!! Why use this method: If you place everything in a clean plastic container, you will end-up dumping everything out to find what you need! Been there and have done that!!! It sucks in an emergency.

Prepare in advance Buys You Time!!! In an Emergency, that pre-purchased time may save a Life!

 

[WakaWaka]

Thank you very much SailBoat!!!
Excellent ideas and advice. The towel idea is great !

Thanks
Kelly, Karl, and Arika

 

[Kentuckienne]

Tami,

I believe there were quite a few good ideas presented when everyone was talking about the bad storms in Texas / Florida. I don't remember what forum area that was discussed. Try a search or perhaps someone else has a link to a sticky.
The emergency kit should include items that may be necessary to take care of an issue at home and be ready in the event you have to evacuate due to fire / flood / etc.

Basically,
- Plastic tote bin to put the emergency supplies in (this should be kept stocked !)
- Dry pellets or dehydrated cookable food.
- Zip-lock bags to keep things dry.
- Water, bottled or a portable water filter to create your own usable water for yourself and birds.
- Styptic power or corn starch
- Tweezers or small needle nose pliers to hand possibly broken blood feathers
- Carry cage(s) with water and food bowls.
- Towels for an emergency hold or to help keep them warm
- Paper towels, Q-tips, neosporin ?

Anyone else please feel free to add / subtract from the list. If it does not already exist, perhaps the list could become a sticky.

Thanks
Kelly, Karl, and Arika

Thank you so much. I’ll search for it. :heart:

For a recent list of a Medical Emergency /First Aid Kit, visit the Amazon Forum and the Sticky Thread Titled: I Love Amazons - ... This is a Huge Thread that provides a wide cross-section of advice and practices for keeping an Amazon Healthy. That said, near everything in that Huge Thread can simply be switch from Amazon to Parrot!

The very last Segment covers the Medical Emergency /First Aid Kit. This kit provides far more than just 'First Aid!' This will support you when you are being talked-though the process of stabilizing your Parrot because you have the tools and support products to make it happen!!!

As a result of the quickly changing (expanding) Medical Support Products coming on to the market, anticipate some changes next year. At present, I would recommend adding Liquid Skin! This new product comes from the Human Care side. It is like super glue, but without all the side effects. Take great care to not applying this product on Feathers or Fur!!!

We have since added several up-sized support products and now use it as our Primary Home and Vehicle, Medical Emergency Kit!

Having used the Kit several times and I have purchased one of those tote style 'Tool Bags.' I choose Red, since it is easy to find quickly in a packed SUV. Also, with a White Bath Towel, I first placed the supplies on the Towel folded the long way in thirds. Open the top side and place the supplies from heaviest to lightest under and along the lower side. Now fold the the open side back over the lower and roll the towel from the heaviest to the lightest side of the supplies. Measure the resulting 'Roll' and that is the size Tool Bag that you want to purchase. Place extra hand towels to fill in the open area of the Bag. Yes, it is better to up-size the bag, because you will be adding to it over time.

When you have an emergency do this: Zip open the Bag on a table or flat area that you will be working on or near. Set the rolled Towel on the surface and roll open. Lift the top cover and than the bottom cover. Everything is now laid-out in front of you!!! Why use this method: If you place everything in a clean plastic container, you will end-up dumping everything out to find what you need! Been there and have done that!!! It sucks in an emergency.

Prepare in advance Buys You Time!!! In an Emergency, that pre-purchased time may save a Life!

Sailboat, may I quote this segment? I'm working on a parrot emergency medical site, and this is a great idea. You will get a credit, and a link back to that thread..

Also, FYI, having used Liquid Skin from my days as a rock climber - it BURNS! Just for a few seconds, and it's worth it, but be aware.

 

[SailBoat]

Based on your statement: "Also, FYI, having used Liquid Skin from my days as a rock climber - it BURNS! Just for a few seconds, and it's worth it, but be aware." I'm sure that we are not talking about the same product, since 'Liquid Skin' was just released to the market in July of this year.

What you are likely talking about is called: 'Super Glue!' That stuff burns!!!

 

[SailBoat]

"Sailboat, may I quote this segment? I'm working on a parrot emergency medical site, and this is a great idea. You will get a credit, and a link back to that thread.."

Yes you may! Please remember to define 'Parrot Forum' as the source of the Thread!