Travelling with birds

[Sivin]

Please post your experiences with travelling with your birds. How far was your trip? Did you stay overnight at motels? How did you transport the birds? Is there anything you would have done differently?

Please indicate how may birds you travelled with, their approximate ages, and their type, i.e. budgies, cockatiels, conures, etc.

[kerryandgoofy]

I have traveled for years showing my birds: Doves, Finches, American budgies, English budgies, Barrabands, Crimson-wings, Moustached parakeets. They have ranged from 1 year to 10 years of age. We have gone to shows an hour away or 2 days driving time away. We have spent the night in motels along the way with no problems.

I have also flowing with my birds in the day when you could have 10 per "flat carrier" under your seat. Now days AA does not allow any birds on board so we built Budgie Pods. Our wooden Budgie Pods will hold 4 "flat carriers" - wire top Cabin Kennels and these pods are shipped cargo on our same flight. Once we finally get settled into our hotel rooms we set up our stock cages so the birds can get out of the carriers.

We have our show traveling down and it works very well for us.
Not sure what you are looking for in an answer.

[Sivin]

Hi Kerry,

I appreciate your reply. We might be moving to a city several hundred miles away this summer. We will be convoying it down with three cars. We've never done any trips longer than two hours with the birds before. I will discuss this with our vet but right now my sticking point is the wisdom of setting them up in cages when we stop in the motel for the night.

The birds will be travelling in cat boxes and my only question about transfering them for sleep is that they will both be in a strange cage and a strange place. I am considering getting some smaller cages, such as you described, but am wondering whether I could be complicating things; your birds are used to those cages, ours aren't. Their usual cages would be too large to reassemble for the evening.

Thoughts? Thanks a zillion!

[kerryandgoofy]

When I drive to Houston or to GA we leave the birds in their stock cages. We hang a large bundle of spray millet from the tops of each cage so the birds didn't have to go to the floor while we were on the road.

How many birds are your transporting?

I would also suggest you switch the birds over to pure Pedialite (the clear kind) in the water bottles a few days before you are to leave. Be sure to keep it in the cooler!

[Sivin]

Hi Kerry,

We will have the two cockatiels, in separate boxes/cages due to special diet requirements of one of them. We also have three budgies that will probably travel in two boxes, though I would prefer to put them into one cage/box. A male and female live happily together and the other bird, a "widow" can be an instigator.

Please tell me your reasoning for the Pedialite. I know to be careful about water changes.

Thanks again!

[kerryandgoofy]

I would go ahead and put all 3 budgies in one cage. You really don't need a "flat carrier" to transport these birds, unless you want one.

As we all know travel is stressful on the birds. They cut back on their eating as well as drinking. That is why went I travel to far away shows I hang their most favorite food (spray millet) in front of their noses - to encourage them to keep eating.

The Pedialite replaces electrolytes if the birds cut back on the amount of fluid they consume. Again you don't have to give them Pedialite. My show birds went for years without it, but I would rather give want ever edge I can to my birds so they start on it a few days before we leave, have all the time we are on the road and are still on it about a day or two when we get home as well.

[Sivin]

Kerry,

Those are good thoughts. They would probably go nuts over the millet, too, since the only time I give it to them is when they are ill -- fortunately rarely!

[Sheila]

When I brought my two 'tiels to MO from TX I had them in a bird traveling cage. It's similar to the pet taxi for cats, but has an opening at the top and the front. I put a perch in it just a few inches from the bottom, so they could perch when wanted. I put a drip water bottle in it, I included fresh veggies and fruit, along with some seeds for them to eat. My trip was about 10hrs, and they did ok. I think you'll be ok, just take extra water and food, just in cases the ones in the cages gets dirty.

Best of luck in your move with your birds and dog.