Flight and boarding
I boarded Kappa for 6 days over the holidays. The place I board her has cages of a good size (around 36"x36"x40"), they place the cages of similar species near each other (and siblings right next to each other, with 1-2" space between cages) so they can interact, and they let each bird out onto a large playstand for an hour or two every day for exercise, variety, and socialization with a member of the same species if available. They feed her either their own veggie and pellet mixes, or stuff I bring, as I choose - I usually bring my own b/c her beak does better w/ additional essential fatty acids, but sometimes I do theirs for variety (or b/c I don't make the time to put together a kit of her food). In addition to being a great place, they're also dirt cheap at $10/day, which is less than most pet sitting services.
Kappa is fully flighted, and when I boarded her both this time and for Thanksgiving, I warned the staff that she was fully flighted and that should they feel it's unsafe to let her out that I'd understand if they couldn't, but I did NOT want them to clip her. And the followed my directions: she decided to be a curious little beeb and constantly flew over to other birds' cages. Apparently they tried removing her from the other cages a few times, and she kept flying back. Because of the risk of territoriality in other birds resulting in injury to Kappa, they decided it was safer to not allow her out time. :( I could tell she had been bored when I picked her up because all three toys I'd put in the cage, their hanging clip things had been unscrewed, and she never does that when at home.
So here's my question. I'm going to be away for 4 days in late January, and a week in March. If this were your flighted bird, what would you do? The two options I'm considering are (1) bring her to be boarded still flighted and accept that she won't be let out of the cage, and while she won't have as much interaction or out play time, at least she'll be fine when she gets back home. Or (2) progressively clip her a week or two before boarding so she has time to get used to it, and so she's unflighted at the boarder's and until they grow back in, so at least she'll be happy and social at the boarders, but she'll be unflighted for weeks, possibly months. I don't really want to have a neighbor who doesn't know anything about birds take care of her, I don't know that many bird people near me and don't want to be an imposition upon the few I do know, and searching for a pet sitter would be nerve wracking for me.
There's also a chance that my boyfriend will be taking care of Kappa for 7 weeks this summer while I'm working a job out of town at a sleep-away camp, and I offered to clip her for that if my boyfriend wants me to do so. Since he would be her primary care-taker then, and he's less of a bird person than I am, it's important to me that I reduce his stress and inconvenience, and also that I do whatever would be safest for her. He's been good about putting her away before turning on the stove or opening doors to the outside, so I don't feel clipping her would be necessary, but I'm willing to do what he finds convenient. So if there's a chance I'll clip her later in the year anyway, clipping sooner might not be that big a deal.
Thoughts?
x-posted
Kappa is fully flighted, and when I boarded her both this time and for Thanksgiving, I warned the staff that she was fully flighted and that should they feel it's unsafe to let her out that I'd understand if they couldn't, but I did NOT want them to clip her. And the followed my directions: she decided to be a curious little beeb and constantly flew over to other birds' cages. Apparently they tried removing her from the other cages a few times, and she kept flying back. Because of the risk of territoriality in other birds resulting in injury to Kappa, they decided it was safer to not allow her out time. :( I could tell she had been bored when I picked her up because all three toys I'd put in the cage, their hanging clip things had been unscrewed, and she never does that when at home.
So here's my question. I'm going to be away for 4 days in late January, and a week in March. If this were your flighted bird, what would you do? The two options I'm considering are (1) bring her to be boarded still flighted and accept that she won't be let out of the cage, and while she won't have as much interaction or out play time, at least she'll be fine when she gets back home. Or (2) progressively clip her a week or two before boarding so she has time to get used to it, and so she's unflighted at the boarder's and until they grow back in, so at least she'll be happy and social at the boarders, but she'll be unflighted for weeks, possibly months. I don't really want to have a neighbor who doesn't know anything about birds take care of her, I don't know that many bird people near me and don't want to be an imposition upon the few I do know, and searching for a pet sitter would be nerve wracking for me.
There's also a chance that my boyfriend will be taking care of Kappa for 7 weeks this summer while I'm working a job out of town at a sleep-away camp, and I offered to clip her for that if my boyfriend wants me to do so. Since he would be her primary care-taker then, and he's less of a bird person than I am, it's important to me that I reduce his stress and inconvenience, and also that I do whatever would be safest for her. He's been good about putting her away before turning on the stove or opening doors to the outside, so I don't feel clipping her would be necessary, but I'm willing to do what he finds convenient. So if there's a chance I'll clip her later in the year anyway, clipping sooner might not be that big a deal.
Thoughts?
x-posted