what would you do

[Owlet]

So, in July my family is intending to go to Michigan to bury my grandparents. I really want to go but I can't find anyone to cover the birds as my parents normally would and I don't really have any friends in the area and I don't want to hire a stranger. So my options are
A) Don't go, stay with the birds and miss burying my grandparents (We had a wake for my grandma but never really did anything for my grandpa..)
B) Take a flight out, attend the burial, and immediately fly back. I would be gone aprox 28 hours and there would be no one to care for the bird during that time and I am reluctant to go this route.
C) Do a road trip and take them with. I don't have a suitable carrier for the little birds right now, I've been wanting to buy the split pak-o-bird for them but money has been tight. I'm willing to drop the 500$ but it also means I will likely need to get another job sooner than I would initially like.

 

[texsize]

Is there any pet shop or vet you can board them?

I would not recommend option 2. If anything went wrong, missed flights or something you could be gone longer than planned.

 

[Owlet]

Is there any pet shop or vet you can board them?

I would not recommend option 2. If anything went wrong, missed flights or something you could be gone longer than planned.

not that I'm aware of. I know of one place that boards birds but I'm not sure if they require you to bring in a cage or not as I know some places do and there's no way I could get Lincoln's cage in. I'll have to call them or something...

 

[wrench13]

Me I would stay. Lets be honest, your grandpa is not going to know if you were there or not, and the only ones who will be miffed are maybe your parents.

 

[Owlet]

Me I would stay. Lets be honest, your grandpa is not going to know if you were there or not, and the only ones who will be miffed are maybe your parents.

I get that but it would also be closure for me... I never got to say goodbye to either of them

 

[𝕾𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖞𝕻𝖎𝖈𝖆]

I get that but it would also be closure for me... I never got to say goodbye to either of them

Well all except #2 seem fine... and I understand you wanting to say goodbye. What do you want to do?

 

[Laurasea]

So, in July my family is intending to go to Michigan to bury my grandparents. I really want to go but I can't find anyone to cover the birds as my parents normally would and I don't really have any friends in the area and I don't want to hire a stranger. So my options are
A) Don't go, stay with the birds and miss burying my grandparents (We had a wake for my grandma but never really did anything for my grandpa..)
B) Take a flight out, attend the burial, and immediately fly back. I would be gone aprox 28 hours and there would be no one to care for the bird during that time and I am reluctant to go this route.
C) Do a road trip and take them with. I don't have a suitable carrier for the little birds right now, I've been wanting to buy the split pak-o-bird for them but money has been tight. I'm willing to drop the 500$ but it also means I will likely need to get another job sooner than I would initially like.

You do not have to have an expensive bird travel cage. Honestly my birds like my small square bird cage I use as a travel cage. This is probably ment as a budgie cage ( you know those way tiny ones) over the fancier ones I've gotten. Look on Craigslist or fb market. Get your fancy one on down the road.

I vote road trip, a bit of an adventure.

 

[Owlet]

Well all except #2 seem fine... and I understand you wanting to say goodbye. What do you want to do?

I really want to go with option 3 it just means giving up a lot and the birds have never been in the car that long so I'm anxious

 

[ravvlet]

Prevue puts out a white, foldable travel cage that looks like a dog kennel but has 3/4in bar spacing (dog kennels typically have 1 1/2 in spacing). I used it to take my tiel to vet appointments before I got him his travel bag, and then I used it for our quail and actually let their new owners have it. It has a handle and fits well in a car seat (I think I was even able to rig it so my seatbelt fit around it, haha).

It is 12in wide by 20in long, and 15 1/2 in tall. It has a tray for newspaper in the bottom, stainless steel feed cups, and can fit toys/perches. Obviously not something you want them in in the long term, but perfect for a weekend car trip. It’s also only ~$70 USD, much cheaper than the Pak-o.

You can definitely also get them the small, cheap cages they sell for budgies/tiels in big box stores. They are relatively secure, the bar spacing is narrow, and it should fit enough toys/perches for a weekend trip. They may be less expensive than the Prevue travel cage - I just happen to recommend the Prevue because it folds flat!

 

[Owlet]

Thing is, I don't want to get another carrier that I would never use again and it would just take up space. I fully intend on using the pak-o-bird more than this once so it would be well worth the money for me.

 

[ravvlet]

Well, the pak-o is also *really really really* small if you intend to use it overnight, or over a weekend. The collapsible cages at least can work as a temp cage for a couple days. The pak-o fits one perch and a toy. I have one, and I don’t think I’d be comfortable letting my amazon sleep in it or spend a weekend in it. YMMV of course.

 

[Skarila]

I'm very sorry to hear about your grandparents.

Is it possible to ask your vet if they know anyone reliable for boarding for a day or two? This is how I found a wonderful vet lady who did the boarding for Pascal personally at her home. (Probably I am just stupidly lucky.)

 

[Briburd]

Prevue puts out a white, foldable travel cage that looks like a dog kennel but has 3/4in bar spacing (dog kennels typically have 1 1/2 in spacing). I used it to take my tiel to vet appointments before I got him his travel bag, and then I used it for our quail and actually let their new owners have it. It has a handle and fits well in a car seat (I think I was even able to rig it so my seatbelt fit around it, haha).

It is 12in wide by 20in long, and 15 1/2 in tall. It has a tray for newspaper in the bottom, stainless steel feed cups, and can fit toys/perches. Obviously not something you want them in in the long term, but perfect for a weekend car trip. It’s also only ~$70 USD, much cheaper than the Pak-o.

You can definitely also get them the small, cheap cages they sell for budgies/tiels in big box stores. They are relatively secure, the bar spacing is narrow, and it should fit enough toys/perches for a weekend trip. They may be less expensive than the Prevue travel cage - I just happen to recommend the Prevue because it folds flat!

I have this too and I definitely recommend it as well.

 

[Briburd]

So, in July my family is intending to go to Michigan to bury my grandparents. I really want to go but I can't find anyone to cover the birds as my parents normally would and I don't really have any friends in the area and I don't want to hire a stranger. So my options are
A) Don't go, stay with the birds and miss burying my grandparents (We had a wake for my grandma but never really did anything for my grandpa..)
B) Take a flight out, attend the burial, and immediately fly back. I would be gone aprox 28 hours and there would be no one to care for the bird during that time and I am reluctant to go this route.
C) Do a road trip and take them with. I don't have a suitable carrier for the little birds right now, I've been wanting to buy the split pak-o-bird for them but money has been tight. I'm willing to drop the 500$ but it also means I will likely need to get another job sooner than I would initially like.

How long of a drive is it? I would suggest boarding or having someone come to care for them. I would trust a stranger to take care of them before I would just leave them alone tbh. You should definitely go. You’re birds will survive with a professional taking care of them. You don’t want to regret not going. Also, as it will be an emotional time for you and you’re family it may be better to not bring them along. Care.com is a good website to find pet sitters. Like you said you could always fly back early but at least you know if you don’t/can’t you have someone to come by and take care of them.

 

[BirdyBee]

So, in July my family is intending to go to Michigan to bury my grandparents. I really want to go but I can't find anyone to cover the birds as my parents normally would and I don't really have any friends in the area and I don't want to hire a stranger. So my options are
A) Don't go, stay with the birds and miss burying my grandparents (We had a wake for my grandma but never really did anything for my grandpa..)
B) Take a flight out, attend the burial, and immediately fly back. I would be gone aprox 28 hours and there would be no one to care for the bird during that time and I am reluctant to go this route.
C) Do a road trip and take them with. I don't have a suitable carrier for the little birds right now, I've been wanting to buy the split pak-o-bird for them but money has been tight. I'm willing to drop the 500$ but it also means I will likely need to get another job sooner than I would initially like.

Option C) might work. Option A) is probably emotionally painful, and option B) is too risky.

 

[Briburd]

Having a sitter would be more cost effective too. Most only charge $20 an hr. Boarding places would most likely charge you per bird. And the peeps on care.com have profiles and reviews and the comfort of going through a company to legitimize them.

 

[Owlet]

Update: decided against going at all will just be staying home with the birds

 

[Cottonoid]

I'm sure this was a very difficult decision ❤️

 

[kme3388]

I am sorry to hear about your grandparents. I hope you are okay. It is very hard to find bird sitters as a lot of people don't have experience with them.

 

[Owlet]

Yeah, finding a bird sitter is hard and not gonna lie, i have some trust issues. My birds are my world and I wouldn't want anything to happen to them.