Birds and travel

[Alibaby]

I am planning on getting an Alexandrine from a breeder in a months time (assuming everything goes well!). I was just wondering about frequently travelling with my bird. Once a fortnight I go to my boyfriend's place (it's an hour drive) and of course I'd want to bring my parrot with me. His parents have owned parrots in the past and absolutely love them, so that wouldn't be a problem. I'm just wondering if it would be okay to travel with the bird so often? I've read that you can use a towel to cover the travel cage to calm them if they get stressed, but would it be possible for him to adjust/get used to the travel?

[ellieelectrons]

If you train them to accept the travel cage it will be fine. You can train them by having them around it a lot and having a command and a reward for them going inside it. I wouldn't say it's likely that they will enjoy the travel but I think they will tolerate it.... and I imagine if it means being with you, they'd probably prefer to travel if we had some way of explaining the situation to them. I'd love to have one of those pet translator devices like they have in the movie Up!

On another note, just thought I'd share this story. I bought a cheap cat's cage and put a perch in it for a travel cage for Janey. We took her out and about with us one afternoon and she got her head stuck between the bars and we couldn't get it out. It was a very stressful experience for Janey, myself and my husband. It all ended well in the long run after my husband cut the cage bars with some wire snips. I was so scared he was going to accidentally cut her when he did it.... so, what I'm trying to say is, if you get a travel cage, be very careful about the bar widths. Ours was a grid.... which is what made it so bad when she got her head stuck, we couldn't bend the bars or cut them further down away from her head.

Best wishes!

Ellie.

[Alibaby]

Hi Ellie!
That sounds good. And I suppose if the bird learned to associate that travel = a trip to a house full of Scottish people who love to give him treats and extra attention, it'd make it a more enjoyable trip?

Oh that's terrible! I'm glad it ended well though. How small would bar spacing need to be? The carrier cage I'm looking at has a bar spacing of 3.5cm. I know it's bigger than the recommended regular cage... but would it be okay? If not, where can I find one more suitable?

[pinkdevil]

I know of a few people who take their pet birds for daily or weekly car rides. Also I have seen a few caravan travellers with birds in tow, so guess they would get used to it.