About 20 years ago I owned a Senegal
for about a year, but I had gotten pregnant with my daughter at that time and due to an abusive situation, I had to move back home as I was still pretty young at only 20 years old. My parents would not let me have my bird with me, so I had to rehome her to a friend that I lost contact with within about a year afterwards. I also fostered a parrotlet for a short period of time about a year later, so I am familiar with birds is what I'm getting at.My daughter is now grown and I am an empty nester. I am single, but have a boyfriend that I see nearly everyday, either at my house or his. Every once in a while, about every other week I will spend the weekend at his house so we can do things together.
I guess my issue is....whether to get a new bird at this point in my life now. I work from home about 70% of the time so I would have days to spend with my bird, but what I worry about is the times where I do get busy occasionally, or those times that I do spend with my boyfriend and we are on the go most of the weekend. Would a bird having to spend a day or so here and there in their cage all day, or a weekend about 1x a month be so bad? What about our vacation time that is planned for the end of the year? There may also be days where I have to work outside of my home all day and then have an event that same night that requires me to be away from home from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed. I am looking into a quaker or conure but worry about those times where I would not be able to spend hours with him/her on certain days. I also have 2 dogs who require my attention as well so it would have to be shared. I have additionally toyed with the idea of selling my house and moving into a condo to not have to worry about maintenance, etc. From my experience and what I have read, it isn't so bad for them to be cage bound on occasion, but I feel bad about it, plus worry about them having "issues" because of it. Even with birds having toys, treats, etc. it still seems like a long time from wake time til bed time to have to occupy themselves in a cage, so I worry!
Does anyone have any advice before I take the plunge? I'm not sure if I should forego my love of birds and continue to just feed and watch my wild birds outside
or if I can realistically open my home and life to a new family member. Does everyone that has a bird spend multiple hours every single day with them, or are there times where you just can't? Can you please also share your experience? Thanks so much!
takes in birds for people who have to go out of town for any reason. if i did have to leave mine i would definately trust her to care for my 2. you could bring your bird to your boyfriends home for the weekend and save your activities for after your bird goes to bed. mine go to bed at 7 pm so when i do get invited out i have to explain i'm not able to go anywhere until after their in their cages for the night.