vacation question

[scooter4n]

So we had Lucy for 5 months now and now she is 10 months old, such a sweet hart, joy to have her around the house.

In August we are planing family vacation to Disney Land for one week.

Usually we go on vacation for 2-3 days and I have my parents come over feed the dog and change food and water for Lucy, but 2-3 day is snothing, you see her in the morning, let her play, give her food and on you go, one more day and 3rd day you coming back home, so its really one full day.

My parents are good people, love animals but no so crazy about birds and kind of afraid of her too

 

anyway, for that we we will be gone they will come once a day for 30-min to one hour, fed the dog Mickey and feed Lucy. I will have list of food, vegetables and fruits they need to prep every day and all that stuff, so she gets same good food and all that good stuff she has now, my only concern is her play time. They can let her out of the cage and she can probably climb around her cage an all that, but its such a short time, and she will know something is missing.

 

now the question of the day: Can birds tell how long time has pass? Like, can she tell if its just a day or this been a few days. if she has planty of fun toys, good food and all that stuff, can she stay good for a week like that? and take day at the time, or this will build up and something bad will happen. I am very afraid of her starting to pluck herself or something like that..

 

Anyone do vacations?

 

I am looking at other people maybe coming over, but I dont have anyone that are good with birds, I dont want to put her in to pet store for that week so they can watch her, this can be more stress then good, all this new people, and birds I dont want non of that..

any input? I want to make best I can at home without moving her

[judygram]

We have gone away for a week at a time and Josey is fine with it, she was glad to see me return but I took her to someone's house as I didn't have anyone to come in and look after her in my home. I am taking another trip later this month and will be gone for 10 days but my hubby will take care of my birds. Yes sometimes some birds will stress with your absence but I wouldn't get all worked up about it, more than likely she will do fine and will be so happy to see you that all will be forgiven.

Just tell her before you go that you are leaving for she will know something is going on, they always do as they are observant and can tell when something is about to happen.

[scooter4n]

sounds good. good info.

Im planing this good, Im thinking have radio ON on timer, Ill have live webcam running 24/7 to watch my baby , good, toys and all that, so Im starting to work on this already so she has pretty healthy time without us home.

 

anyone else with some input?

[katana600]

I have had the need to come and go occasionally with Gilbert. He is an older rehomed bird with a past and issues. He has some problems when I am gone and leave him with people he knows in our home. It is minor, he adjusts and after a couple of days of being grumpy when we get home again, he does fine. I like that you are looking out for Lucy's emotional health as well as her safety and care. There are times when we are gone all day going to work or whatever and many of our parrots are home alone all day. Maybe it would help for her if your parents came at the same time every morning so she would have fresh food when the wakes up and that would give her some predictability. If it were not a hardship, or if someone else could come in the evening for just a little while to do whatever her night time routine has been like. We give ours an almond and tell them it is time to go to bed and they seem to like that and get happy to go in the cage at night to get that almond and a transition time. If you already do some of those things, you might have your parents or a friend start a day or two before you leave and show them what you do so they can be your surrogate. She may not love them like she does you, but she would learn that other people are good to her too. I would love to figure out how to Skype to my birds and dogs when I am away. I would love to hear more about your webcam when you return. I think it sounds like you have a delightful, healthy, happy girl and you already look out for her and will handle whatever comes.

[scooter4n]

webcam is easy, go to ether ustrem.tv or justin.tv its free service, all you need is running computer and camera. it all explains there.

I am network tech and I have my own camera with my won address, and I can move camera from my laptop or form my phone, and can watch her anytime day or night.

 

thanks for input

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

A very good question, and good of you to think ahead. I originally took the gang to my birdstore, as I trust the owner so very much. Had to bring a toaster, as they desire buttered toast daily. Had to make sure their cages were open... the only way to do that, was to let them hangout on public gym.( I'm not afraid for gang to hang out with others.) TOTALLY different than going to a vet.( everyone sick there!) I'm a believer in boosting immunity to natural flora. The only problem was... ( I should be honored, but wasn't), the owner got requests to give to me, for my birds, even though they weren't for sale! Even Sunny the beast! It was intimidating, and decided to do something different next vacation. I hired one of Ryan's friends to live here for the week as all birds love him. It has worked for many years. Nancy

[scooter4n]

I did look at the option of one of the local bird stores, where I got lucy from. ITs family operated place, parrots only.

Owners are cool, but the other workers are so os, not so trusty, plus they had insedence where birds was stolen, and I dont want that to happen to my Lucy, so Ill do my best to keep her at home.

[katana600]

Thanks for the links for webcam. I think I will figure it out so Gilbert could watch me in the sewing room when he is upstairs and I am downstairs. I have taken him down with me but he is still too nervous but this would be a great way for us to be close and I wouldn't have to keep his cage closed while I was down there. I sure wish we lived closer because I would be happy to be your bird sitter. We trade with neighbors on dog sitting and understand what it means to have a backup plan to supplement family help. You are caring and astute and will get Lucy settled. Have fun on your vacation.