A moving experience: making your move easy for your parrots

Website design By BotEap.comMoving is as stressful a time as any in our lives and in the lives of our children. Having finished moving the “gang” into a new house, I thought I’d share some of the things that helped make our move go smoothly. The feathered crew (Alex and Zeke, African Grays and April, Umbrella Cockatoo) have settled in nicely and things got back to normal quickly. Granted, the move was to a nearby town and we weren’t on the road in the U-Haul for over an hour, but I think preparing the birds had a lot to do with their reduced stress level and smooth transition.

Website design By BotEap.comI also want to mention that there is the best service for moving called PODS (Portable On Demand Storage). I had it shipped to my old house the weekend before the actual move. This allowed me to pack up all the non-essentials in my spare time, clean the house, and reduce the stress and chaos of moving day. They took the “POD” away and stored it in their warehouse until the day I scheduled delivery to my new home. I just had to rent a U-Haul for some leftover stuff and the bird cages.

Website design By BotEap.comEverything but a blanket, pillow, alarm clock, bird supplies, and cages (which didn’t go into the POD) were packed up in the U-Haul the night before the move. It really was worth renting the U-Haul for an extra day! All I had to do on moving day was pick up a few things, place the birds in the carriers, load the cages, and we were off to our new home. My “POD” was delivered to my house later that afternoon and I had all the time I wanted to download it. It arrived on a Friday and I scheduled the POD pickup for the following Tuesday.

Website design By BotEap.comThe reason I recommend a service like PODS is that it is a great stress reliever. It was calm, the birds were calm and I could focus on making them more comfortable instead of running around carrying things at the last minute. I will never move without PODS again, it was that good!

Website design By BotEap.comThe move actually took place in several stages.

Website design By BotEap.comStage 1 – Keep the Fids informed

Website design By BotEap.comHome hunting is always exciting and exhausting. But, when I found a house that I really liked and the offer was accepted, I showed the flyer with the photo of the new house to the fids and told them everything. I told them how nice it would be for them to have a bigger room with nice big windows and everything. Yes, I really did this! They may not understand all the words, but they realize that something is up.

Website design By BotEap.comWhen my old house was sold and the paperwork was going well, I started packing. I made sure they saw what I was doing and I would talk about moving day and how exciting it would be.

Website design By BotEap.comStage 2 – Prepare the Fids

Website design By BotEap.comA few days before the actual move in, I cleared out my master bedroom and moved the kids out of their normal “bird room” into the master bedroom. He was across the hall, and not in some totally unfamiliar environment. But he sent the message loud and clear that a change was coming. I moved in in the morning so they would have time to get used to the new room before going to bed.

Website design By BotEap.comAfter her first night in the master bedroom, I introduced the idea of ​​traveling. Everyone has been on aircraft carriers at one point or another, but I didn’t have three aircraft carriers, I only had one. I went and bought a new one and borrowed another to make three. Three days before moving day, I placed each carrier in front of the cage of the bird that would be using that particular carrier. I put them in there all set up and ready to go with the doors open.

Website design By BotEap.comAfter they were in the carriers for a few hours, I took each parrot and placed them in the carrier briefly. Just long enough to close the door, tell them how good they were, and get them out again. The next day I left them there a little longer, 5-10 minutes or so. On the third day, I placed each one in their carrier for about half an hour. I also collected them in it and walked around the house. All the while telling them how great they were and about moving day the next morning.

Website design By BotEap.comStage 3 – Moving day

Website design By BotEap.comI woke up early. We were supposed to get to our new house at 8am because the phone company, cable company, and internet etc. they would arrive that day to fix things. And you know them, they are so exact on appointment times, “Sometime between 8am and noon” was about as accurate as it gets. I needed my phone and internet connected soon, of course, what’s an online parrot supply store to do without the online part and a phone?

Website design By BotEap.comI talked to the fids for a while and told them that this was it. Moving day was here! I then put them in their carriers and started loading their cages. (They have big cages). They all left on their transporters with no problem. I put them by the front door so they could watch their cages being loaded and tell them how exciting their new home would be. The last thing I did was put everyone in the front seat of the U-Haul with me and drove to our new house.

Website design By BotEap.comOn the way, I picked up my helper for the day who would help me carry their large cages up the steps of the new house. April greeted her with a big “Hello!” She wasn’t stressed at all! When we got to the new house, the first thing we did was bring the birds inside and put them in her new room. Of course, I was talking to them the whole time. Then, we unloaded the cages and one by one they were putting them inside. I prepared their food and water like I always do and tried to keep things as normal as possible for them. All of that was completed and the birds were fully placed back in their cages before anything else was done.

Website design By BotEap.comStage 4 – New excavations

Website design By BotEap.comI kept things as normal as possible for them. After a day or two, they were quite comfortable. That’s when I started to be a tour guide. Each was given a turn in a different room. I would go from room to room, one a day or a tour of the entire house. It depends on the comfort level of the bird. I made sure to point them out to the windows and have them touch them so they know not to fly into them. Things were back to normal quickly and they really love their new space!

Website design By BotEap.comI really think it was so easy because each step prepared them for the next. I was surprised how quickly they adjusted to life in the new house. They even spoke again within hours of the move. April even spoke IN THE U-HAUL. I hope this has been helpful to anyone considering a move in the near future.