Bird house-sitting

[Cheekybirb]

Hello, I hope this is in the right place! Does anybody in the UK have any idea on where to look for parrot sitters?

We've been on Facebook groups for home sitters etc. But all the people who say they have experience in birds mostly look after chickens or all small animals and think parrots are just the same!

We've looked at some of the boarding places near us but they seem to try to take as many birds as possible and don't disease test or let them out for longer than an hour a day which we would never do to them, so we really want a house sitter ideally

We would appreciate any recommendations or advice and I would love to hear what everybody else does! We haven't been away abroad since getting our birds, we've been on staycations with them where they can come along, but they are our family and we want to make sure they're super safe If we did go on holiday elsewhere.

Thank you!

 

[April]

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[April]

@Zara (I know your not there any more but thought just in case) @tka @Emma&pico

 

[Zilga]

We use a professional pet sitting company that we have worked with for years. They stop by a few times a day to walk the dogs and also hang out with the birds, and they do a good job. They keep an eye on everyone and are good with dealing with our feeding schedule and system. The birds don't get time outside the cage, but they all (except Olive) live with a buddy and everyone has good-sized cages or aviaries. Someone human has eyes on them a few times a day, the sitters send us pictures of everyone when they stop (we set up cameras for the rest of the time), and they can change cage paper and talk to them, at least. I don't love that they don't get out, but our birds are not going to be trustworthy to go back in for someone they don't know within a reasonable time frame, so we just overstock them with fun toys and deal for a few days. I will say having a pet sitter has not seemed that stressful for our birds; I'm not even 100% sure it's not less stressful than coming along (thus far, we've brought Olive with us on vacation and she's had mixed feelings about it).

 

[Sparkles99]

I’d not be looking on FB or any dedicated site for pet sitting. There’s a recent horror story turned criminal investigation regarding one of the latter here.

Personally, I’d do the opposite. Look first for someone you know in real life & trust, then train them.

 

[Cheekybirb]

We use a professional pet sitting company that we have worked with for years. They stop by a few times a day to walk the dogs and also hang out with the birds, and they do a good job. They keep an eye on everyone and are good with dealing with our feeding schedule and system. The birds don't get time outside the cage, but they all (except Olive) live with a buddy and everyone has good-sized cages or aviaries. Someone human has eyes on them a few times a day, the sitters send us pictures of everyone when they stop (we set up cameras for the rest of the time), and they can change cage paper and talk to them, at least. I don't love that they don't get out, but our birds are not going to be trustworthy to go back in for someone they don't know within a reasonable time frame, so we just overstock them with fun toys and deal for a few days. I will say having a pet sitter has not seemed that stressful for our birds; I'm not even 100% sure it's not less stressful than coming along (thus far, we've brought Olive with us on vacation and she's had mixed feelings about it).

Hiya thank you very much for your reply.
I think a professional pet sitter would be great. The only problem we have is we have 3 budgies in 1 cage and our GCC in her own cage. They're big cages and the budgies are very happy with each other but our conure would need lots of human interaction and time out of her cage. Also we wouldn't be able to leave them unattended overnight.
Ours have been quite good when we have bought them away with us. They're pretty happy as long as they're getting attention. The only issue is our conure gets car sick so we can't go very far, bless her.
Really appreciate your perspective. Thank you!

 

[Cheekybirb]

I’d not be looking on FB or any dedicated site for pet sitting. There’s a recent horror story turned criminal investigation regarding one of the latter here.

Personally, I’d do the opposite. Look first for someone you know in real life & trust, then train them.

Hiya Thank you for your reply! Yes I definitely get that and will avoid Facebook. It's just the pet sitting websites that we've looked on haven't seemed much better and no one seems to have experience with parrots.

Unfortunately we don't have anybody who is able to do that for us.

We haven't booked any holidays. We're just wanting to do as much research as possible and find someone who is the right fit and just factor in any costs as part of holiday funds. The main thing is that they're safe and looked after. Thank you for replying!

 

[Sparkles99]

The nightmare criminal case is specific to a pet sitting site, not social media. But in either case, you’d be trusting your pets to strangers. Some vets or legit rescues board.

 

[Cheekybirb]

The nightmare criminal case is specific to a pet sitting site, not social media. But in either case, you’d be trusting your pets to strangers. Some vets or legit rescues board.

Oh I see! Thank you, I will make sure to be careful of them. None of them have seemed very trustworthy at all anyway! We do have a lovely avian vet so I will ask them for their recommendations. Just wanted to hear what other parrots owners do and who they use if they use a house sitter.
Thank you!

 

[Emma&pico]

Where abouts in uk are you

I don’t use pet sitters my best friend looks after my birds for me while I am away

 

[Cheekybirb]

Hiya, thank you for your reply! We're in Sheffield!
Yes, unfortunately we don't have anyone who will be able to stay in our house due to work etc or who has experience with birds. They are quite specific and different to dogs and cats which is what our friends and family have.

 

[Cheekybirb]

Thank you for all the replies so far!
Just for more information we're also making sure to use a professional pet sitter with full insurance and be DBS checked so we know to look out for that!

 

[Emma&pico]

I am a from Barnsley but live in Yeovil

 

[Emma&pico]

use to do parrot boarding but I don’t know how good they are anymore my neighbour used them before we moved in and look after her African grey but that was 10years ago

 

[Cheekybirb]

View attachment 457402
use to do parrot boarding but I don’t know how good they are anymore my neighbour used them before we moved in and look after her African grey but that was 10years ago

Thank you very much, I will see if they offer what we're looking for! I'm just not sure about using a pet boarding service as the ones we have found so far don't require any avian health checks or disease testing and they don't guarantee much time out of cages.

 

[Zara]

Yes, unfortunately we don't have anyone who will be able to stay in our house

They don't need to stay in your house, just visit daily.

Maybe a trustworthy neighbour?

 

[Cheekybirb]

They don't need to stay in your house, just visit daily.

Maybe a trustworthy neighbour?

Thank you but we are looking for someone who could stay overnight. We don't have anyone unfortunately.

 

[Cheekybirb]

Does anyone here use a house sitter who looks after their birds when they go away? We're looking for any recommendations Thank you

 

[Sparkles99]

Your best friend, a sibling or colleague. A coworker of mine does this. And she’s a good colleague, so people know she’s trustworthy!

 

[Cheekybirb]

Hiya thank you for your reply! Unfortunately anyone we trust is unable to help due to work or family commitments etc so we're just looking for recommendations from any one who does have to use a house sitter.