Moving Birds.

[kaylayuh]

My boyfriend currently lives in California. I live in Pennsylvania. When my lease is up, the plan is for us to drive the 2,700+ miles to his home where we will all be living happily ever after. Since I'm a planner and kind of crazy about things like this, I had a few questions.

Have any of you ever moved residences with your birds?
What was their reaction?

Have any of you ever driven cross-country with your birds?
How did you house your birds for the drive?
How did the birds react to being confined for that long?

The drive, according to Google Maps, is about 45 hours. As neither my boyfriend or I are super human, I'm guessing we're going to be stopping at rest stops/truck stops/whatever. And my boyfriend has some weird fascination with wild buffalo and desperately wants to see Ted Turner's ranch in Montano, further elongating our trip.

I have a small cage for my budgies that I had been using as their regular and travel cage. I'm worried about being any of the three in a cage or carrier so small for that long without any room for exercise and play. We'll also be renting a car or moving van to move as he's flying out here and I don't have a vehicle, so I'm really not sure about car size at this point either.

[patdbunny]

Have any of you ever moved residences with your birds?

Yes, multiple times - moved out of my parents' house into an apartment with a roommate; out of the apartment into a rented home after getting married; out of the rented house into our own house; out of that house into our current house.

What was their reaction?

I've always taken my birds out and about with me. I've frequently moved my birds cages around the room/house. I have spare cages all over the place and I play musical cages whenever the urge hits me. I don't really do the schedule thing except for making sure they get plenty of sleep at night. So my birds settle in after a move really easily. This includes an african grey which I was told would not take to change well at all. She was fine.

Have any of you ever driven cross-country with your birds?

No, but I've RV'd for weeks at a time. See my thread that I started: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5256

How did you house your birds for the drive?

Small, tiny carriers just barely large enough to turn around in but could hold food and water. I got some cheapy, larger cages that collapsed so I could put those together really fast for temporary housing when we got where we would be staying overnight.

How did the birds react to being confined for that long?

The birds got out of the tiny carriers several times a day to stretch when we'd stop for food, bathroom, scenery, etc. So they didn't really seem to mind being in the tiny carriers. With all the other excitement they'd use carrier time to eat, drink, nap.

Your budgies that aren't tame, maybe do the collapsible flight cage and have it on top of your car. That's going to need a bit of a logistical planning since you can't really take them in and out of the flight cage several times a day. I think they'll be ok waiting until evening when you guys stop for overnight to get into the flight cage (or let them fly around the hotel room and just clean up after them).

You can train them to fly into the flight cage without you having to physically catch them up. That might be less stressful for them. I discovered this with my first finches. I'd set them loose to fly around my room when I was cleaning their cage. After cleaning and putting fresh food and water in I'd be chasing them around the room trying to catch them to put them away. The door to the cage was open and since the cage is their known safe place, after a while they started flying into it.

Then I kept doing what I was doing - letting them fly around, cleaning cage, chase them around but instead of catching them, I'd whistle as soon as I saw them pass the threshold of the cage door into the cage. It didn't take very long for them to connect the whistle with going into the cage and I could just whistle and they'd go into the cage. I think to them it beat being chased around and caught up.

[kaylayuh]

I hadn't even thought about an RV, but they seem like they would make a lot more sense than cramming everything into a car or moving van. They're also big enough to strap their cages into without having to move them into a much smaller cage. And it would save a ton of money on hotel rooms!

The biggest thing I'm really worried about is just having them in the cage for so long. I know the GCC can just hang out with me and he'd be fine. But the budgies are like little boomerangs darting all over the place anymore. Funny, yes. But I'm assuming it'd be a bit dangerous in a car.

[patdbunny]

I'd say with your budgies condition them several months before the move. Start with putting them into a smaller cage at night to sleep; move on to caging them in the smaller cage for short amounts of time throughout the day over several weeks; move on to caging them all day long in the smaller cage, skip small caging for a few days, repeat for several weeks; small cage again with a ride around the block, skip small caging for a few days, repeat for several weeks; small cage again with longer car ride, etc.

They'll take to the confinement better than the day of the move they get shoved into the tiny cage and not let out all day long.

[kaylayuh]

I'd say with your budgies condition them several months before the move. Start with putting them into a smaller cage at night to sleep; move on to caging them in the smaller cage for short amounts of time throughout the day over several weeks; move on to caging them all day long in the smaller cage, skip small caging for a few days, repeat for several weeks; small cage again with a ride around the block, skip small caging for a few days, repeat for several weeks; small cage again with longer car ride, etc.

They'll take to the confinement better than the day of the move they get shoved into the tiny cage and not let out all day long.

They actually love that cage! It was the cage I brought them home in and they play in it all the time. So they're not too bothered by it. I think I'm more nervous about it than they are.

[patdbunny]

Well, okay then! You little worrywart!

Are you sure it's not your own personal anxiety about your pending life changing circumstances?

[kaylayuh]

Well, okay then! You little worrywart!

Are you sure it's not your own personal anxiety about your pending life changing circumstances?

Well, it could be. I'm bipolar with an underlying anxiety condition, so I'm a bit highstrung about these things. I just don't want them to hate me for dragging them across country for a 45 hour drive when they've never really left the confines of my apartment before.