Urgent Advice Needed

[MrTogglesworth]

I have a 15 y/o Senegal Parrot, owned since weaned.

I live in a flat, last week there was a partial collapse of one of the walls - long story. This then lead to the electric being disconnected and the building deemed unsafe to enter. For the first two days structural engineers were entering and feeding the parrot whilst I was on FaceTime, we were told we would be back in the house soon.

Today we have been told it will be a minimum of two weeks until we are back in the flat. I have a few options which I would like some opinions on but first a bit about my bird. He ( I think ) is a very independent bird who has never seemed to be a 'needy' bird. Yes he loves attention, loves to play but has never displayed any behaviours when alone which would lead me to worry about him. He does his thing while I am out and when I return we chill. Usually he will be alone four days a week for about six hours at a time - I have never seen this as an issue especially as he is rewarded with out of cage time on my return.

At times I have to work away and I have various people who come in a babysit, they have more work commitments than me so he has been left for longer periods of time without any (to my knowledge) problems. I also run a CCTV camera so I can check in on him 24/7. In the fifteen years there has been times when he has been left completely alone. The worst case scenario was when I had a family issue and I could not find a sitter in time, I have a friend enter the flat every day to check on the wellbeing of the bird and feed, this lasted for two weeks.

Currently, I am scrambling through a building site to visit him. The site has been deemed structurally safe! Its a bit precarious to access the flat. Everyday I arrive and stay for around an hour, feed, clean play and bring treats and toys. I was doing this because this was supposed to be only a short term issue. Today we might have to wait two weeks to live there again.

Moving on these are my current options.

1. Bring the bird to where I am saying. There are issues, firstly I cannot bring his cage here so it would be a new environment completely. There is a dog here, who is not used to a bird. He has not been moved in seven years and the extraction from the building would be quite stressful as its a building site. I am staying with an "at risk" person and I have underlying health conditions. I would need the help of another person to get the bird out, this would not be ideal.


2. Leave the bird where he is. Currently I am visiting daily and spending an hour in the flat, I would be increasing this to longer. I could potentially work from the flat in the day for prolonged periods of time to give him company. The flat is his home, its safe, warm and secure and there would be no moving stress. I am only 10 minutes away which is no issue.


I am monitoring his wellbeing currently and it all seems well. He is bright and alive, chatty, exciting and noisy. He is grooming well, beak rubbing, tell wagging and today I have weighed how much food he is eating. It seems to be normal but it would be good to keep track.

What are you thoughts?

Thanks very much.

[Pajarita]

Hi, Mr. T and welcome to the forum. This whole coronavirus thing is making everything so much more difficult than usual, isn't it? In truth, I don't know what to tell you... I don't like leaving birds alone but I do realize that, sometimes, we have no choice. Personally, the most that my parrots are alone is two or three times a year for 8 - 9 hours when both my husband and I visit my 93 year old mother in law who lives 3 hours away. Otherwise, the most that they are alone is 2 hours when I need to run an errand - which is normally done only twice a week and it always happen in the pm when they go back into their cages after being out for hours and hours.
Now, if I had to leave my house for any period of time, I would bring my animals with me - and I have a lot of animals! Moving a single bird would not be such a hard thing (put it in a small cage, cover it so he cannot see out and uncover it when you get to where you and him will stay - end of story). I don't see dogs as a problem because I train mine (I rescue dogs and cats as well as birds) to freeze if a bird alights on them by mistake (which has happened)… I don't even see cats as a problem because all you have to do is train them to go into a room where they can be locked in while the birds are out (they gladly go if you get them used to eating in that room). I don't know where, exactly, you are staying but, if you have your own room, the bird could stay with you. If not and you are sleeping on a sofa bed in a living room, close supervision would work -and the bird will most likely stay on your shoulder all the time he is out-of-cage because that is what they do when they find themselves in an unfamiliar place (even the means ones and the super independent ones want to stay ON the human they know).

I do not like the idea of a bird staying alone in a building that is going remodeling, construction or whatever - and I do NOT like the idea of anybody else feeding it or touching anything the bird could touch... but I am a maniac when it comes to my birds. I do not allow anybody to feed them, touch them, clean their cages or have any sort of interaction with them aside from looking at them - and this from not too close, either.

But you know your bird better than anybody else and can judge your situation more accurately than any of us so my recommendation to you is to do what you think it's best for the parrot and not what it's most convenient or easiest.