Birdy Boarding

[froggij]

What all do you guys do when you're going out of town and can't take the fids? Since Rose and Dori don't travel well and can be quite noisy compared to Orsino (who's relatively quiet and travels excellently), we tend to leave all three of them at birdy boarding when we leave town. I've got a trip planned at the end of the month, and would really have loved my friend to pet-sit for us, but her pet-sitting business is based off of dogs and cats, so she charges by the half-hour. Not conducive to spoilt rotten birds who are used to 5 hours of supervised play time at a minimum, up to sixteen hours on a day I have off. Luckily, there's my trusty neighborhood bird specialty store down the highway, and they charge by the day including food, snacks, playtime, and handling, but they take care of a lot of birds, so I sometimes wonder if the handling always happens with them, especially with my two problem children, Rose and Dori, who weren't very social last time.

So what's your go-to leaving bird while you go out of town solution?

[kendrafitz]

I am lucky, I have my mom or Jefs mom come and stay with Rosie and the dogs. Since my mil is terrified of birds, I also have my teenage neighbor trained with Rosie. She comes to let Rosie out in the morning and to bed at night. She is also "on call" the whole time my mil is here. ;)

The funny thing is my mil really likes Rosie. They chat and laugh and Rosie likes her right back. But the minute Rosie starts flapping, my mil is running into another room for cover. :)

I trained two teen girls in the neighborhood with Rosie, so if we are away and our moms aren't available, they come. We have a "fun" house (pool and theater room in the basement), so I bribe them & their families with that and pay them of course. That way someone is here to hang with my farm. Could you do something like that? Makes life easier for you and the birds. :)

[Mare]

I use to think I could NEVER leave, EVER again once my birds took over the whole world I live in :(. It was truly sad, to me, almost like I was being locked up,,for life! It took a few years of stress to overcome this. I finally said to myself, #### it! I'm getting out! Best thing I ever did! :th_biggrin: The birds survived without me, under the care of my daughter, and life became so much simpler with this knowledge.

[BeakFace]

I am absolutely scared to death to bring my birds into any pet store for anything. We have a local pet store that sold two African Greys. One died shortly after purchasing and the other very sick. The sick bird is under doctor's care but this is not a curable disease. Very contagious and can be treated in some cases. Life expectancy unknown for sure. The director of the local Sanctuary after receiving many phone calls pays a visit. Long story short they do not get health certificates before boarding just take the owner's word for it. Before all was said and done they asked her to leave. She has reported it and nothing been done. They take in birds to sell for private owner's, no health certificates. They sell everything from birds and plenty of them to snakes, rabbits you name it. Please check your facility out before bringing in your birds! You can read all about this on the Facebook page of Birds of Paradise Sanctuary and Rescue. June 16 & June 26. Please read! They are still in business and nothing been done. The director called the owner of Pet Store to let her know the testing of the second African Grey and she never heard of that disease. Total denial or just? They have people bringing in birds everyday for nail and wing trimming. They were reported first off for the fifthly conditions. So very sad. JUST BE SO CAREFUL WHERE YOU TAKE YOUR BIRDS.

[BeakFace]

I am lucky, I have my mom or Jefs mom come and stay with Rosie and the dogs. Since my mil is terrified of birds, I also have my teenage neighbor trained with Rosie. She comes to let Rosie out in the morning and to bed at night. She is also "on call" the whole time my mil is here. ;)

The funny thing is my mil really likes Rosie. They chat and laugh and Rosie likes her right back. But the minute Rosie starts flapping, my mil is running into another room for cover. :)

I trained two teen girls in the neighborhood with Rosie, so if we are away and our moms aren't available, they come. We have a "fun" house (pool and theater room in the basement), so I bribe them & their families with that and pay them of course. That way someone is here to hang with my farm. Could you do something like that? Makes life easier for you and the birds. :)

YOU HAVE A PERFECT SITUATION. GOOD FOR YOU! I too have someone I have been training for a few months and she does well. She owns quite a few birds herself but not the big guys. She's not afraid of them so she can handle cleaning the cages and making sure they are well! She works for me three days a week so she is around a lot. She comes everyday if I am out of town to do birds, dogs and clean. Most of the time my husband is here also so it gives me peace of mind and he is always on top of things. The key is knowing what to look for just in case the birds go down for whatever reason. I do rescue work at the Birds of Paradise Sanctuary and Rescue and the director would be here for me if anything came up. She can handle any emergency any bird, trust me. Knowing I have her is almost like having your own personal avian vet! She has the contacts as well to make it happen. I had an issue with my Palm the third day I had him, I was alone, my husband was out of town and I just went into panic mode! She was here in 20 minutes. I had the breeder on the phone in one minute! Of course false alarm and I felt like a total idiot! I have learned a lot and still learning everyday. You have to get a way sometimes. I call and talk to my animals via a web cam set up and they talk back to me. Its the best. They just look around for me. Sometimes I'm silent not to disturb. It just depends on the time of day. The camera's work very well at night also so I can check in on them via computer or cell phone anytime of day or night.

[kendrafitz]

The web cam is an awesome idea!!!!!

[BeakFace]

I love the Web Cam and I like to check in on them when I'm running errands or at night when I'm watching TV in my bedroom. I use DropCam brand. This is my second set and a different brand. They have come a long way.