Taking my bird with me on a 4 hour drive

[laducockatiel]

Hi guys!

So in a few weeks I shall be going to my relatives house where I will be staying for a week or so.the drive their will be 4 hours in the car. I will be taking my cockatiel as my relatives have some cockatiels which my cockatiel would love to play with (fingers crossed). I will be taking my cockatiel in his regular cage. He has been on a 1 hour drive many times but never a four hour drive. If anyone has any tips or knows of any precautions I will have to take for the drive their, I would really appreciate that.

Thanks guys!

[liz]

Put him where he can see you while you drive. You can talk to him as another passenger in the car. Stop after two hours to spend a little eye to eye time.

As soon as you walk in the door one tiel will make a noise and they will all start calling. They are flockers and always call the strays into the flock. They don't have to know who they are.

[k-angel]

stop every hour to give him some water . my bird actually just sits in my passanger seat so i can watch him and control to the temp and all pellets dont make much of a mess so they can just be left in the cage . take all toys out of the cage so nothing hits your baby when you turn or anything . i think that covers everying . any other questions just ask

[laducockatiel]

Thanks everyone! That was really helpful. Um, I think that pretty much covers it........oh yeah, we will leave at like 7pm and that is his bedtime so would it be alright if I cover his cage for the journey (when I cover the cage, I leave a gap at the front to let some light in)?

[HungryBird]

Does he have a very strict bed time? Mine do not so they would not have a problem staying up late but some birds do much better on a schedule. I am not the kind of person who works on schedule, ever, so I didn't want my birds to come to expect me to do the same thing at the same time every day!

[laducockatiel]

Does he have a very strict bed time? Mine do not so they would not have a problem staying up late but some birds do much better on a schedule. I am not the kind of person who works on schedule, ever, so I didn't want my birds to come to expect me to do the same thing at the same time every day!

Yes, the breeder that I bought him from said all her birds go to sleep at seven. I
was going to put him to bed a little later, but he already was puffed up sitting on his food bowl at seven. It's like he has some sort of brain clock that tells him when to go to sleep. Sometimes when I don't put him to bed, he tries to indicate to me that it is bedtime (sitting on food bowl murmuring to himself) so I think he'd be best sleeping at seven.

[liz]

Like I have said, my kids are not trained. They have learned. But they taught me too.

I don't cover my birds. They are natural and go to bed at the right time for the season. If I forget and leave the light on, Rambo will tell me "nite nite" for me to turn it off.

Critters cannot read a clock but know what time it is. My dogs come to me as a pack at 3 pm with one spokes dog to remind me it is time for a turkey hot dog. The same thing happens at 8 pm for a chicken jerkey.

The birds wake up, as the outside birds do, just before sunrise. I am lucky that they don't make noise until they see me or hear my mother's voice on the baby monitor. They go to sleep at sundown (except Myrtle). Rambo goes to the little cage he has claimed as his bedroom.