Morbid question

[Spearmint]

Personally, i'd give him a natural burial so he can decompose with the environment. We take and so we give.
But a part of me also wants to keep his skull, i'm a big taxidermy fan, i know it's not everyones thing but I find the idea of keeping a piece of him sentimental and sweet. Only deterrent is that if it broke or got lost, i know i'd be absolutely devastated.

 

[Zara]

But a part of me also wants to keep his skull, i'm a big taxidermy fan, i know it's not everyones thing but I find the idea of keeping a piece of him sentimental and sweet.

Does your bird not have a band? I am glad to have Sydney and Jaimes bands. I was very specific at the crematorium and requested the band given to me in my hand, not inside the box.
Feathers? These are pieces we can keep of our birds to have a physical thing to touch and remember them.
You can do what you wish, I just wanted to point out some other options

 

[Shannan]

Walter was buried with his favorite toy, some pecans (his favorite) with a picture and a sweet letter I wrote about him and a tree planted in his honor. In memorial I have a painting of Walter done by my daughter on a wood chip with a place to put one of his wing feathers. It sits in my living room and I look at it daily. I wish I would have taken more pictures of him when he was alive but I am terrible at the camera. My heart horse was buried in full mideaval caparison (think about a knight with the horse in full costume). The others are all buried on our 24 acres, with trees planted in their honor. As for me, I wish I could just be buried right beside them on the property but I know they will be waiting by rainbow bridge and the body is but a vessel.....

 

[Xoetix]

i'm a big taxidermy fan

That’s really what prompted the question - I have a number of articulated bone bits and a couple wet specimens, and a taxidermy piece. Plus seeing on instagram some photos of really amazingly done bird pieces. It got me thinking/wondering what I’d do, and what everyone does.

 

[Nala92]

If they pass while at the vet, I want them to be used for education purposes. This isn't something that everyone will agree on. But for me it's important. If that isn't an option, I will have them cremated. For me it's a body. I would like their bands and some of their feathers. But for me it's just a body.

 

[AussieBird]

I've always buried my birds. Just what I've done so never really considered another option. Yeah, I left quite a few budgies behind when I moved a few years ago, but I try my best to always keep feathers and I kept Winston's legband. I actually think burying is apart of my grieving process? Not being able to bury Naut myself made things worse, I feel.
I've yet to lose an animal like one of my dogs or my cat so I dont entirely know what I'd do in that situation. Cremation would be an option but I guess for me too it's just a body.

 

[Dartman]

I always buried but then we had to leave the house we rented for 22 years figuring eventually we'd buy it. Beeper was buried there, Nerd was buried at moms trailer in a park and then she left us so Nerd is there forever. When Kiwi recently left us we had her cremated and they gave us her footprint and a really nice box with a spot for a picture so I put one of the favorites in the front with the footprint and the nice letter the vet sent us a bit later. it makes me sorta sad but happy at the same time and she'll be with us till we're gone.

 

[rocky'smom]

Some of my birds were buried at my parents Lake home. My mare is buried on the farm, in the pasture that she loved.
I have a very good friend of mine, who's horse, her barrel racing horse. She had body moved to her dad's place, where Dusty was born. She buried Dusty and planted a several trees in the area. The only tree that survived was the oak. We call it Dusty's tree. And it's where the other retired horses live out their last days.

 

[AW2023]

I’ve been thinking about it. There’s a guy semi local who does really amazing work with articulation - building the skeletons. I don’t think I could have it done with mine… maybe. I don’t know. Or a full taxidermy.
Does anyone ever think about that?

That's actually something I am very heavily considering for when Tatu passes. I found someone amazing at that who has also done it for her unusual species several times. I'd get to have her skeleton + wings + tail. My hesitations are only that I'm terrified she could get lost during shipping (as I am states away from this person), and also worried that her skeleton would frighten my other birds.
My backup plan is cremation. When I was a kid my parents buried our pets, but that would tie me to a house forever. And while I'm not a fan of moving, I'd like to always have the option. I could never leave my birds' remains behind.

 

[Kassiani]

My sister has her pets cremated. She wants them scattered on the earth with her own ashes after she passes. I had my one budgie, Kuiper, cremated. I may do something similar.

 

[keirieski17]

Ella was buried on my in-laws’ property. Titus was cremated, and his urn lives on my desk.

 

[Sparkles99]

Burial or cremation.

 

[haleybird]

I am also fascinated with taxidermy, and considered getting my first bird, Honeybird, a budgie who died around 10 of old age, taxidermied.... BUT, (and warning, graphic) a big part of me cannot imagine someone peeling the skin off of my beloved boy, and then, what happens to his insides? I'd want those insides cremated, and returned to me. In the end, none of that ever happened. He passed last Oct, and I couldn't find a taxidermist would worked on tiny little birds. One kind man told me to put him in the freezer until I found someone. I bought a beautiful bay leaf tree to bury him, but I also can't bear the thought of dirt covering his beautiful iridescent feathers and perfect tiny face. He was my best friend for over a decade. I didn't touch his cage until I had adopted my cockatiel, Coconut, this last December. She got new everything including enclosure. I put everything of HB's in a crate and have his enclosure stored away. He is currently wrapped in a shroud in my freezer, and I have yet to do anything. Idk. He is the first pet I've ever lost, and I still cry when I talk about him. I have everything set though, to bury him in a big bay leaf tree that's in a huge pot, that way when I buy my own place, he can come with me. I'm open to cremating him too, that way he and my other pets can be mixed in with my ashes someday.

 

[BrianB]

My cats have all been cremated. When I find a place that speaks to me, I'll return them to the earth. When it comes to my feathered friends, it's been different depending on the situation. Mostly I've had them cremated, or if it's a mystery, then I have a necropsy done. A male Eclectus had a spat with his mate and unknown to me he had an internal injury. Our local avian vet's office is also an education center for vet students so I donated his body to them.

 

[Sparkles99]

When mine are cremated, I bury them too.