Auto-feeding question

[shadow101]

Hello everyone! I'm a newbie here and I have a question I was hoping to get the group input on. Let me start by saying that I tried to search on the topic and couldn't really find anything that I thought was applicable, but I know that the topic may have been discussed previously and if so I apologize up front for re-asking.

I own two cockatiels that share a single cage and an African Grey that has his own cage. Love the little buggers to death, but they do present me with a problem. I have been offered and will probably take a new job in the near future, but I live alone and the new job will require me to occasionally travel for up to 3 or 4 days at a time. I looked into local bird boarding services, but they are kind of crazy expensive, especially if I have to use them 5 or 6 times a year, as I expect I will. I have friends in the area, but I'm leery about asking them to constantly and without much advance notice keep popping over to feed my pets.

So I'm looking into these electronic auto-feeders and water delivery systems that tie on to the cage and auto-fill the food bowls. Does anyone have any experience with these systems? Can you recommend certain models that you know to be more reliable? Or, failing that, does anyone have any other suggestions that I may have overlooked?

Thanks in advance, Shadow101

 

[Bailey]

I don't have any experience with those, but maybe your friends will be more willing to care for them of you offered to pay them? That way, your friends won't feel like you're using them..and it will be cheaper than boarding. Just a thought.

 

[WendysJungle]

Honestly, I would go with friends or a reliable pet sitter. It usually does not cost much to have someone drop by your house once a day to check on your fids. The thing with auto feeders is that they can fail, and you would not know this had happened and could come home to tragedy. I once had a very expensive auto feeder on a tank of saltwater fish, and it jammed and failed while I was gone for 10 days, and I came home to a tank full of dead fish.

If you can train your birds to drink from water bottles rather than water dishes, that can ensure they have water all the time. Just make sure they are attached to the cage very securely! Lucy used to think it was funny to detach hers from the cage and make it fall on the floor.