All you multi species households!!

[OpalRaven]

Hi!! All you other members with multiple species in your home. And a full time job lol. How do you manage all your pets? Ex. If all your dogs are crated and birds caged all day while your at work, what's your free time routines when you get home?

Also if you open a birds cage how long do you give it the opportunity to come out before closing it and moving on to letting the next pet have opportunity for free time?? Thanks!

P. S. Pics of my fur and feather fam!!

 

[sheryl1954]

i have a houseful of pets too. I am lucky to be home retired now . There have always been a houseful of pets but my amazons are new to the family. I walk the dogs at least 2 times day for an hour or so. My parrots have their cages open in the morning and can fly by stay on the cages. One is a monkey and gets on the ropes and toys to play by himself. He stays near chica because he really likes her. My dogs do not bother the birds and the birds do not seem bothered by the dogs. If a parrot lands on the floor , the dogs just watch from their beds. If you were not home and had to work 8 hrs it would be more diiifficult because there is not enough time in a day to clean everything and play with them and go for walks. I would probably separaate the dogs from the birds and let the birds have some freedom in a birdroom . Really my amazons are so lazy i have to get them singing or moving around . They seem to come to life at bedtime, hahah. I never crate my dogs. Its a long day to be stuck in a crate and whem you get home they are bursting with energy. you will have a hard time t rying to tire them out. When i had a guard dog we had a doggy door so they could go out if they wanted to.and run around. Now i just have 3 small dogs, a tibetan and 2 pugs. They cannot guard themselves or my house. Good luck with your animals.

 

[Mizzely]

I create zones. My bird gets the living room area all day long, my cat gets the rest of the house. Then at night the bird is locked up and kitty gets free range. It works well as the cat is sleeping most of the day anyways!

When I lived with dogs I made a bird room so that they were not caged all day and had more freedom.

 

[NightOwls]

Casey's cage is in the living room. If someone is in it or the kitchen (which has view of the cage), his cage is open. He knows to stay on his cage.

The cats and dogs have free range of the house.

 

[Feather]

I've converted my bird room into an indoor aviary that the cockatiels and budgies share, so they are essentially "out" 24/7. When I'm home, Rowan/Zyda and Marii take turns being out of their cages. When Rowan or Zyda go into one of their cages voluntarily, I close the door, put the other parrot away, and let Marii out. Same thing when he goes in: close his door and let the parrots out again. Rinse and repeat until bedtime. Eventually I hope to have them in separate rooms so they can all just stay out as long as I'm home, but that's not feasible right now.

The cat gets free range of the rest of the house, and none of my other animals are appropriate to handle so they never leave their enclosures.

 

[Destiny]

For my birds, I decided to build an outdoor aviary so the parakeets and finches could have a dedicated space. It gives them more freedom than I could possible offer in my home, since I have both cats and dogs (among other things).



The dogs and cats have the run of the place, except for the goat pasture and chicken area. I will let the dogs into the goat pasture under supervision. They know that the goats are not to be messed with, but my lab is an idiot, so she forgets her manners sometimes. Daisy, our head goat, has to remind her that goats don't like to play chicken.



This is Daisy. She is a sweetheart, but mess with her herd and you get the horns. Fortunately, our other dogs have more sense. Like my doberman, happily soaking up the sun in the goat pasture, like a good doggo.



The dogs have also been trained to leave our free-range chickens, ducks, turkeys, and peafowl alone, so they will not bother them as they roam about the property. The "chicken area" is a fenced-off space that is "poultry only." It is where all the food, water, nest boxes and shelters are located for our flock.



The birds can fly out, if they want, but the older and less agile birds rarely do. This helps keep the birds safer and prevents my dogs from eating all the eggs before I gather them. They love eggs.

I will sometimes bring the dogs into the chicken area, but only on special occasions and under direct supervision. This photo was taken after we got our newest dog, Bear the Anatolian shepherd. I brought him in to introduce him to the flock. He spent the whole time chewing on a bagel.



He was such a cute puppy and so tiny! Now Bear lives up to his name.



Our cats are mostly indoor only. They are allowed to go outside, but rarely do so. Too domesticated for farm life.



This is likely because we used to have a small dog named Max that would chase after the cats when they were outside. He generally didn't bothered them in the house, but we used a baby gate to keep the upstairs "cat only" while he was alive, just to be safe and to give the cats a space of their own.

With Max gone, the cat vs dog war has resolved, so they coexist together without issues.



Even so, the cats still stick close to the house. This is probably for the best, since we do have coyotes and other nocturnal predators around.



Our cat Neo was the most adventurous. He would sometimes follow me around to see what I was doing. Explorer kitty!

I also have terrarium for my poison dart frogs. They spend all of their time inside of the terrarium for obvious reasons.



It is quite large and they are very tiny, but beautiful. And despite the name, not that dangerous.

 

[Chomskypom]

King Dingo goes to dog daycare some days. When he gets home all he wants to do is sleep anyway, so I close the bedroom door on him and let the birds out. On his “days off”, he gets a long walk and then I set him up in with a kong toy full of treats so he doesn’t mind being shut in the bedroom. Foraging toys keep us all sane in this house!

 

[elitys]

For my birds, I decided to build an outdoor aviary so the parakeets and finches could have a dedicated space. It gives them more freedom than I could possible offer in my home, since I have both cats and dogs (among other things).

View attachment 362404

The dogs and cats have the run of the place, except for the goat pasture and chicken area. I will let the dogs into the goat pasture under supervision. They know that the goats are not to be messed with, but my lab is an idiot, so she forgets her manners sometimes. Daisy, our head goat, has to remind her that goats don't like to play chicken.

View attachment 362410

This is Daisy. She is a sweetheart, but mess with her herd and you get the horns. Fortunately, our other dogs have more sense. Like my doberman, happily soaking up the sun in the goat pasture, like a good doggo.

View attachment 362405

The dogs have also been trained to leave our free-range chickens, ducks, turkeys, and peafowl alone, so they will not bother them as they roam about the property. The "chicken area" is a fenced-off space that is "poultry only." It is where all the food, water, nest boxes and shelters are located for our flock.

View attachment 362414

The birds can fly out, if they want, but the older and less agile birds rarely do. This helps keep the birds safer and prevents my dogs from eating all the eggs before I gather them. They love eggs.

I will sometimes bring the dogs into the chicken area, but only on special occasions and under direct supervision. This photo was taken after we got our newest dog, Bear the Anatolian shepherd. I brought him in to introduce him to the flock. He spent the whole time chewing on a bagel.

View attachment 362403

He was such a cute puppy and so tiny! Now Bear lives up to his name.

View attachment 362411

Our cats are mostly indoor only. They are allowed to go outside, but rarely do so. Too domesticated for farm life.

View attachment 362408

This is likely because we used to have a small dog named Max that would chase after the cats when they were outside. He generally didn't bothered them in the house, but we used a baby gate to keep the upstairs "cat only" while he was alive, just to be safe and to give the cats a space of their own.

With Max gone, the cat vs dog war has resolved, so they coexist together without issues.

View attachment 362409

Even so, the cats still stick close to the house. This is probably for the best, since we do have coyotes and other nocturnal predators around.

View attachment 362407

Our cat Neo was the most adventurous. He would sometimes follow me around to see what I was doing. Explorer kitty!

I also have terrarium for my poison dart frogs. They spend all of their time inside of the terrarium for obvious reasons.

View attachment 362412

It is quite large and they are very tiny, but beautiful. And despite the name, not that dangerous.

View attachment 362413

Can I just say how desperately I want a life like yours someday?? Oh how I dream of having an aviary and goats and chickens...

Hopefully after Ive graduated from college andstarted a career, I can work towards that.

 

[jzarc17]

I have it a bit easier than most people in the comments above me lol I only have one bird...at the moment and two lizards. I work from home 4 days a week and my love bird has the run of my bedroom when the vast majority of the time she is ether on my shoulder or where ever she chooses to hang out in my room. I will put my bird in her cage on and off during the day for short periods of time when I leave the house or the lizards are out. When I do have to go to the office the bird is in the cage all day and I take her out as soon as I come home. My bearded dragon will sit with with me in the evenings while I watch tv and the gecko does not enjoy a lot of out of cage time just some 15 min. Intervals in the later part of the evening- she is nocturnal. I’m lucky because I work from home, I’m not big into social outings and I’m a home body for sure.

 

[Destiny]

Can I just say how desperately I want a life like yours someday?? Oh how I dream of having an aviary and goats and chickens...

Hopefully after Ive graduated from college andstarted a career, I can work towards that.

It will happen for you someday. Just keep working toward your dreams. And get a good job so you can afford the vet bills.

I am no stranger to multi-species households. Growing up, I was fortunate to have very understanding and pet-positive parents. We lived in town, so we didn't have goats or chickens when I was little, but as long as I was willing to do the necessary research and provide proper care, I was able to get any reasonably-priced critter you can find in a pet store or shelter. Between me and my four siblings, my family took care of several large aquariums full of tropical fish, zebra finches, society finches, rats and mice, a leopard gecko, a skink, a green tree snake, multiple cats, multiple dogs, a small goldfish pond, a couple rabbits, aquatic frogs, a hamster, and button quail. Not all at the same time, thankfully, but still our house was a bit of a zoo. Lots of people, lots of pet, never a dull moment.

I knew that where ever I ended up living as an adult, I would be living with animals. Preferably quite a few. So when I reached the point in my life where I was ready and able to buy a house of my own, some of the important features I was looking for were things like "space for goats" and "peacock-friendly" and "lots of fences - just fence everywhere".

My realtor probably thought I was a little crazy when I described what I was looking for, but she listened and managed to exceed all expectation by finding my perfect house. A beautiful well-maintained loghouse on five acres, fully fenced with out-buildings and just an easy 15 minute drive from a major city.



I love my little hobby farm. Fifty years ago, it was part of a christmas tree farm. Now it has a mini-forest of "grown up" christmas trees, a garden protected by deer-fencing, and a small orchard. It is just big enough to have as many animals as I would like without getting to be too much.



A little slice of country heaven.

 

[finchly]

I have times of the day and certain groups that come out at each time. I could almost let all birds out at once, but the caiques are the limiting factor. They fight with other birds.
My cockatiels are out nearly 24/7, and right now the finches and most of the canaries are too because I started working on their aviary, planning to leave them loose in the bird room for one night, and I got covid.
Today I hung one perch and one strand of fake greenery and was too tired to do anything else.
Anyway so I let out parrotlets in the morning, put them up, let out Pionus or caiques and take the other group on the screen porch. Put those up and sometimes a cocktail or another bird will go with us into the office. In the evening I let out whoever seems to need it most while I feed and clean.

 

[Miss Annamarie]

I have 15 animals and a 30 hour a week job. I wake up at 6:30 ish and do the cleaning that needs to be done to tanks and cages etc. I feed the gecko, bunnies, fish, axolotl. At 7:30 I wake up the birds, Mel and River stay in their rooms for awhile while Basil and the littles have free roam of the kitchen and livingroom. My dog is always free roam along with the bunnies. I spend most of my time with Mel at night which is what she seems to like but she still has about 4 hours out in the main area during the day. We are still working out a schedule with River but she's been out about 6 hours a day not including the time we spend in her room with her. I work 2:30-10 3 days a week and i occasionally pick up shifts. Since March my dad has been home all day so I have no worry about them getting enough attention.

 

[Sparkles99]

"and I got COVID." -finchly Not to derail this, but are you okay, finchly?

 

[Guava123]

Hi!! All you other members with multiple species in your home. And a full time job lol. How do you manage all your pets? Ex. If all your dogs are crated and birds caged all day while your at work, what's your free time routines when you get home?

Also if you open a birds cage how long do you give it the opportunity to come out before closing it and moving on to letting the next pet have opportunity for free time?? Thanks!

P. S. Pics of my fur and feather fam!!

You have ducks? You'll totally love GoldShawFarm on YouTube.

 

[Guava123]

For my birds, I decided to build an outdoor aviary so the parakeets and finches could have a dedicated space. It gives them more freedom than I could possible offer in my home, since I have both cats and dogs (among other things).

View attachment 362404

The dogs and cats have the run of the place, except for the goat pasture and chicken area. I will let the dogs into the goat pasture under supervision. They know that the goats are not to be messed with, but my lab is an idiot, so she forgets her manners sometimes. Daisy, our head goat, has to remind her that goats don't like to play chicken.

View attachment 362410

This is Daisy. She is a sweetheart, but mess with her herd and you get the horns. Fortunately, our other dogs have more sense. Like my doberman, happily soaking up the sun in the goat pasture, like a good doggo.

View attachment 362405

The dogs have also been trained to leave our free-range chickens, ducks, turkeys, and peafowl alone, so they will not bother them as they roam about the property. The "chicken area" is a fenced-off space that is "poultry only." It is where all the food, water, nest boxes and shelters are located for our flock.

View attachment 362414

The birds can fly out, if they want, but the older and less agile birds rarely do. This helps keep the birds safer and prevents my dogs from eating all the eggs before I gather them. They love eggs.

I will sometimes bring the dogs into the chicken area, but only on special occasions and under direct supervision. This photo was taken after we got our newest dog, Bear the Anatolian shepherd. I brought him in to introduce him to the flock. He spent the whole time chewing on a bagel.

View attachment 362403

He was such a cute puppy and so tiny! Now Bear lives up to his name.

View attachment 362411

Our cats are mostly indoor only. They are allowed to go outside, but rarely do so. Too domesticated for farm life.

View attachment 362408

This is likely because we used to have a small dog named Max that would chase after the cats when they were outside. He generally didn't bothered them in the house, but we used a baby gate to keep the upstairs "cat only" while he was alive, just to be safe and to give the cats a space of their own.

With Max gone, the cat vs dog war has resolved, so they coexist together without issues.

View attachment 362409

Even so, the cats still stick close to the house. This is probably for the best, since we do have coyotes and other nocturnal predators around.

View attachment 362407

Our cat Neo was the most adventurous. He would sometimes follow me around to see what I was doing. Explorer kitty!

I also have terrarium for my poison dart frogs. They spend all of their time inside of the terrarium for obvious reasons.

View attachment 362412

It is quite large and they are very tiny, but beautiful. And despite the name, not that dangerous.

View attachment 362413

Because you love chickens, GoldShawFarm has videos on well, farming and building enclosures for them and a fence.

 

[Kenzie]

I'll be getting a near full or a full time job soon. Looking right now. But my current job is from 7AM - 11AM. I get home uncover birds, feed who I don't plan to train (really just the Budgies, I haven't trained them yet). I do various training sessions thru the day with everyone and talk to them or dance or whatever it is they want to do. During this time, my American Bully Mix, Titan, has free roam! He is a good boy and doesn't bother the birds ever. At 3-4 PM I put all the birds away that came out as my partner is letting the Corgi out (seems behaved around birds but I don't trust him, really). Put him away with my brother later and my English Budgie will usually come out to play. He is in living room while the rest of the crew is in the bird room.

Cat stays locked in bedroom while my partner works from home. She gets to roam the house occasionally but she zones in on my English Budgie in his cage so she has to be super supervised. We play with her during bedtime routine!