Being out of the country with flighted birds in an apartment.

[Nomi]

Greetings to all bird owners

I have recently adopted two bonded lovebirds. They are such 'butts' as my partner and I call them. They are sneaky butts and they are always trying to find places to hide in. They are flighted birdies and we let them out to fly around in the apartment approximately 2-4 hours a day, and they seem to be relatively content and seem to have settled in well with us so far. Mango and Thunderpants are 'semi-tame,' however they do not 'need' human affection. They really only care about each other, if truth be told.

I have a question to bird owners that go on vacation/travel with birds that are flighted:

How do you manage to do so? And what situations are the birds kept in during your time away? What arrangements have you made?

I have done some research on bird sitters in the city I live in, and I have found that bird sitting companies will not let the birds out of their cage when doing 'daily visits' if the birds' wings are not clipped. Which I understand because it would be very difficult to get flighted birds back into their cages.
Although this is the case.. wing clipping is really a last resort for me. :S

Any feedback/experience/guidance would be appreciated.

Thank you!!!

 

[itzmered]

We travel a few times a year and are usually gone for one to two weeks at a time. We have someone that comes over everyday and feeds him but he doesnt get any out of cage time. Tango does just fine. I load his cage up with new toys before we go.

 

[Yoshi&Raphi]

Greetings to all bird owners

I have recently adopted two bonded lovebirds. They are such 'butts' as my partner and I call them. They are sneaky butts and they are always trying to find places to hide in. They are flighted birdies and we let them out to fly around in the apartment approximately 2-4 hours a day, and they seem to be relatively content and seem to have settled in well with us so far. Mango and Thunderpants are 'semi-tame,' however they do not 'need' human affection. They really only care about each other, if truth be told.

I have a question to bird owners that go on vacation/travel with birds that are flighted:

How do you manage to do so? And what situations are the birds kept in during your time away? What arrangements have you made?

I have done some research on bird sitters in the city I live in, and I have found that bird sitting companies will not let the birds out of their cage when doing 'daily visits' if the birds' wings are not clipped. Which I understand because it would be very difficult to get flighted birds back into their cages.
Although this is the case.. wing clipping is really a last resort for me. :S

Any feedback/experience/guidance would be appreciated.

Thank you!!!

I don’t think it’s necessary to clip their wings just so they can be let out on the trip.

I’m sure if you fill there cage up with lots of toys it will be all good!

 

[Nomi]

We travel a few times a year and are usually gone for one to two weeks at a time. We have someone that comes over everyday and feeds him but he doesnt get any out of cage time. Tango does just fine. I load his cage up with new toys before we go.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Nomi]

I don’t think it’s necessary to clip their wings just so they can be let out on the trip.

I’m sure if you fill there cage up with lots of toys it will be all good!

Thanks for your input!

 

[Known Space]

Being flighted is how I get my birds IN to the cage: I command them to fly to their cage and they do. You develop a much stronger, trusting and mutually beneficial relationship with flighted parrots than clipped ones.

For any exotic pet owner, it's important to build a network of people with the same type of pets, and the same ideology when it comes to husbandry. Connect with other people in your area who own small flighted parrots, who have similar beliefs as you do when it comes to husbandry. If you scratch their back, they'll scratch yours. I'm house-sitting a friend's place during the holidays with my birds too; she has a kakariki and a blue-headed pionus. I have a bronze-wing as well as a parrotlet. And I know that I can count on her when I have to leave for a while.

All these birds are tested on the most common infections.

 

[Kokako]

Being flighted is how I get my birds IN to the cage: I command them to fly to their cage and they do.

I love this! And your solution!

When flying “in”/“home” is well-ingrained and trained with the help of all of your family and friends who can themselves be trained for purpose, it could generalise nicely for petsitters. Or you could train a small coterie of friends and family who the birds listen to (because they listened to you about how to communicate with them) and draw from those lovely people who have developed a bond with the birds above and beyond their bond with you

My vet and staff take Emmie into an empty exam room for flight time a couple of times a day. It isn’t the hours of options she wants but they fully support flight as a serious natural behavior important for optimum health both physical and mental. Vet boarding can be extremely dear though! I would love to do what Known Space is doing, especially if they also had a medically complex bird.

 

[Zara]

As long as you have a nice big cage, your birds will be fine without out of cage time while you are away.

I usually travel for 6 day trips, my boyfriend stays at home to ¨care¨ for the birds. I put new toys in the cages, and freeze some chop as daily portions and set up foraging toys. My boyfriend doesn´t get the birds out when he´s alone because he´s a liability. He used to get Sydney out sometimes as he was a lone bird, but he didn´t during my last trip.

 

[berries]

If its for less than a week they should be ok in their cage. I just make sure mine have plenty of toys, especially forraging toys with treats in them, and they do just fine. If you're going to be gone for longer, or just want them to be out anyway, make sure the person you have watching them has had plenty of time to bond with the birds. They should be comfortable being handled by the birdsitter when you aren't in the room. I learned that one the hard way.