Attack bird after being left with friend

[marie83]

Petsitters will generally stay as long as you ask, they usually have a minimum of a 20 minute stay and charge accordingly for longer periods of time, they dont necessarily have to stay over night.

Many except the busiest sitters will work around what you want and will tailor a service that suits you. I'm happy to leave my two for a couple of days with someone popping in twice per day to let them out for an hour but they have each other for company, if they didn't I might ask for 3x hour long visits a day or 2x longer ones. Theres only two people I trust to do it really, both of whom I know. A pet sitter with bird experience would be used in the event my two friends were both unavailable I wouldn't particuarly be happy about it but put it this way, it is not in the pet sitters interest to do stuff you dont want doing or accidently kill your pets because word of mouth and a good reputation is essential for their business and it takes a long time to get a decent client list to make a living off of. As long as you pick someone yourself, interview them, listen to your gut instinct, check out the references etc you will get a sitter with a good reputation. IMO its better to find someone you trust now, that way should you be rushed into hospital or something you know what options are available.

[cml]

Thank you for expressing your concerns and I'm certainly going to have to rethink it. As it is, I've agonised over what to do. However, I should stress that the 'pet shop', like a lot of pet shops in the UK, doesn't actually sell animals, only pet supplies though they keep an Amazon parrot in the store as the 'store pet', which is why they bird sit. I can't think that it's an ideal existence for the Amazon but it does at least look well cared for. The birds they are boarding are kept in a back room. And, really, if I had a friend or relative who would be willing to care for Alfie do you think I'd be going that route? My nearest relative is hours away and I've been 'sounding out' my friends for several months and no-one is willing.

Seems you took my comment the wrong way, sorry for mentioning that it is risky .

Try paying your friends to help, 3 quid a day isnt a lot, but if you give them 50£ for a weekend, someone might help . We paid my wife´s sister to look after our birds a week last summer, after all it takes some time to do even the bare minimum of water and food changes.
If you are gonna have someone who lets them out etc, it will take even longer, but I dont really think you can demand this from someone inexperienced. This might be why people are unwilling, tell them it will be enough that they take care of the basics. If they can stay and talk a little bit with the bird, thats great.
(I think us bird owners being TOO demanding is whats putting people off, because they have nothing to relate to, very few know how to care for a bird. This isnt the case with a dog, pretty much anyone knows what to do in that case.)

This is not directed at you (please dont take it as such ), but a heads up to all people with a single bird, here's a situation in which having one bird is really bad, it will be all alone if you go away. It's great for them to have company. Its the same if you are at work during the day, they need someone to talk to .

I do think birds are better off being cage bound for a week with someone who can change water and food rather than being in a boarding pet shop.

[Pajarita]

Ask your neighbors and check to see if there are any bird clubs nearby and post in birdsites -birds lovers usually help one another because we all know how hard it is for us to go anywhere. I once had a couple of friends come over and live in my house for the entire week I was out and I did not only left the fridge and the pantry full of food, I paid them $100 a day (I don't only have birds, I have dogs and cats, too).

[Eric&Rebecca]

When my cockatiels stayed with my parents I lent them a book and wrote them a 30 page manual 1 month before on care. They read it and they had Edmund for a practice run for a week (we stayed in the house but didn't see him)- its a big house so we were able to do that. It's not going to get rid of your worry but it makes the person looking after them feel more at ease that they've done it before!

Perhaps you have a friend who has pet experience (preferably with a bird but not essential) that you can do the sasme thing with.

[cml]

When my cockatiels stayed with my parents I lent them a book and wrote them a 30 page manual 1 month before on care. They read it and they had Edmund for a practice run for a week (we stayed in the house but didn't see him)- its a big house so we were able to do that. It's not going to get rid of your worry but it makes the person looking after them feel more at ease that they've done it before!

Perhaps you have a friend who has pet experience (preferably with a bird but not essential) that you can do the sasme thing with.

This is what I mean, I think many people are gonna be frightened by this (Its good to have parents close by, because they have a harder time saying no ^^, but I know mine and my wife's friends would be put off by a 30page manual).

Friends and relatives mostly have no experience with birds, and expecting them to do everything the way we would is demanding a lot. Your situation described above seems like the ideal situation, in which the person birdy-sitting is willing to go through rigorous training prior to watching the bird. I dont think thats gonna happen for most people unfortunatly, and if you can get the birdy-sitter to come over and practice a few times, I think you should be happy.

Thats why I wrote I think its better to let them just do the basics, at least the first time. That way they wont be frightened by the concept of watching a bird, and who knows, the next time they might do even more =). After all, knowing that the bird is watched over by someone you know, who you can rely on to change food and water etc, is a lot better imo than risking infection at a bird boarding.

The writing a manual is awesome advice though I would keep it to one or two pages max .

[Eric&Rebecca]

LOL. probably yes 2-3 pages would be better for someone else. I did give them a month to read it with a textbook.

[marie83]

LOL. probably yes 2-3 pages would be better for someone else. I did give them a month to read it with a textbook.

Man I thought I was super fussy over who cares for my birds. As long as they can recognise the signs of sickness, keep the windows shut, dont spray/burn anything and are confident enough to catch/handle them if needed... I feel quite a chiled out owner now

I show people what I want doing the day before I leave, I tell them to look for a note on the table as well just in case there is something I forgot to tell them.... In actual fact the short note I leave for them to find is usually a reminder just in case I had changed anything since the last time they bird sat and would even if I hadn't changed anything lol.

[janetafloat]

Thanks for all the suggestions y'all! And nothing taken the wrong way at all, cml. I wasn't at all convinced by the pet shop idea myself but was feeling a bit desperate. As mentioned already, friends and family are thin on the ground in this locality due to my having moved around a lot (I landed in Wiltshire via Kent, Surrey & North Carolina) and those that are nearby aren't volunteering. My neighbour has agreed to come in and feed him twice a day but, as he's on his own, as cml pointed out, that would only do for a couple of days. Back to the drawing board for anything longer, I'm going to try joining Birdline, I know they have parrot foster families locally so maybe I can make some connections that way.