Tips for a grey't life on a budget!

[MoonRock]

I wanted to extend a friendly greeting to anyone else on the forum who is on a tight budget. While there are some things about owning a Grey that will inevitably cost a lot of money, such as emergency avian veterinarian visits, there is no reason that you cannot find a few ways to make general bird keeping less costly.

 

My first tip is to plan ahead. For everything! Before you need that emergency avian veterinarian visit, search around for an experienced but well-priced animal hospital in your area. Make sure the hospital you choose sees birds regularly, and not just now and then. You will likely get a better price from a hospital comfortable with handling parrots, and your bird will get more experienced care. Be sure to ask who would be recommended in case of an overnight emergency. If your new "home base" hospital is available 24 hours a day, even better! And please remember, in a dire emergency there are veterinarians who accept payment plans. Ask, before you need one, if it is ever allowed to sign a promisory note/ financial agreement. And of course, put away as much as you can towards your healthy bird fund.

 

Buy quality bird food in bulk. It tends to be cheaper. There are also online stores that offer free shipping or other goodies, so be sure to look around.

 

Make your own bird toys whenever possible. If you saw the DVD Captive Foraging, you were probably as amused as I was by the commentary: "Missy (cockatoo) is a slow learner, but even she learned all about captive foraging!" No offense to the 'too owners out there (I do love those cuddly white birds), but Greys are just in a league all their own. Many of them figure out captive foraging and tricky toys very fast, so while you might want to invest in a few store-bought toys, you can certainly make some of your own. Missy might have been confused by a simple sheet of paper over her food bowl, but I suspect my Oscar would get into one of those advanced tube-typed toys very quickly. Captive foraging gets bonus points for helping some birds to decrease feather plucking behavior. I wish I had some links to share about making bird toys, so if you know of any please add them to this thread!

 

Get your talon/ wing/ beak trims at a parrot store, rather than a veterinary hospital. If you find a good parrot store, they tend to do way more trims than your average veterinarian and are also much cheaper. Parrot stores are also a good place to pick up bulk food, foot toys, untreated wood and leather strips for making your own toys.

 

Find a parrot sitter long before you need one. While I love the fact that my favorite parrot store boards birds, I worry that Oscar and my 'keets could become nervous in such a loud, parrot-filled environment for days on end. I think it is fine to go with a cheaply priced teenager as long as they have bird experience, you feel you can trust him/ her in your home, and he/ she knows what to do in an emergency. Again, a little planning ahead will help a lot. Have your chosen bird sitter come over a few times to interact with your bird(s) while you watch, so that you get to know his/ her handling style. This is also a good chance to chat casually so that you can discover any red flags well before you get on that cruise ship (we can all dream, can't we)?

 

As always, feel free to add your own input! I want this to be a really helpful thread.

[danmcq]

Thanks for the useful tips I hope others find helpful.

 

We have a whole thread on Homemade Toys here: http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?104267-Homemade-Bird-Toys