Camping with Birds

[Montana_2202]

If anyone has birds that they camp with, please advise. We have 2 small parrots and can't decide if we will take the plunge and try camping with them.

[richfaa]

We have 8 year old Cock-A-too that has camped with us all it's life.We use a travel cage in the rear of the CC and transfer it to the camper when we arrive. It is very friendly with everyone (execpt me).Birds are no trouble what-so-ever. It may take awhile for them to get accustomed..then..no problem. There are a few other on this forum with Birds.

[faeb and genb]

We have 2 cockatiels that camp with us all time they love to travel. When I buckle them in back seat they sing & are very happy.
Gene

[Montana_2785]

Our Maximillion Pionus goes with us quite often. He is much happier than when we do leave him behind.

Eric

[Wordsmith]

Have a possibly interesting story here. When I was very young, my parents always had a parakeet, and when we went camping, it went with us in a cage, though it traveled in the TV. We had several at different times—and never any problems—until we went to Canada in the summer of ’72, when we discovered upon returning that there had been a ban on domestic birds coming into the States because of a disease some had been carrying. Consequently, we were not allowed to bring our bird into the States. Fortunately, one of the ladies on the Canada side agreed to give it a home, but it was an unsettling experience. We never got another bird, and several years after that we got our first cat and just did not want to drive her crazy.

[HamRad]

A very dear friend of ours ---- he died a year ago ---- always camped with his bird. Murdock is the bird's name. He is an African Grey Parrot. Man does he talk up a storm. He's almost like a little kid. He's always getting into some kind of trouble. He traveled in his cage in the back seat.

HamRad

[Joyce H]

We travel with our 23 year old medium sulphur crested cockatoo and find him a great attraction at RV resorts. He is quite a talker and makes friends easily. He always travels in his cage in the CC of the truck when going down the road and is transferred to the Monty when we arrive at our site.

[Montana_3299]

faeb and genb....... when I read you post it made me giggle. I admit to having a "healthy" sense of humor, but my mental image of your birds "buckled up" in the backseat (my image did not include a cage) made me smile. Pets of ALL kinds are sooooo wonderful!

[Montana_354]

We have taken any number of our parrots with us without any problems. The only thing I would caution you on would be if you're in a West Nile Virus area to keep them inside (and away from skeeters). A couple of years ago we had to leave all of them at home when we went on caravan to Utah and Nevada with our camping club. That was when they were having the outbreak of the bird disease where they were literally going ahead and killing birds that they suspected of having the disease or having been in the infected areas. I wouldn't risk any of our babies to that possibility.

We routinely travel with some of our African Grays, Blue Crowned Conures (one of them), Sun Conure, Budgies, little scarlet and Amazon. The cockatiels stay home because they tend to be too flightly and prone to 'night frights' so it's easier to not take them. We usually take one of the three bird dogs also. Everybody rides in their carrier or travel cage in the backseat of the crew cab.

This past weekend we took a blue crowned conure, sun conure and a red lored amazon with us. People love to see them and they don't wake you up at 4:30 A.M. like the wild birds did!!

I guess the biggest suggestion I would offer is to take water from your home so it's something they're used to drinking. We've always done that for any animal we took. Familiar treats & toys are always something that help them feel at home, and, of course, make sure you've trimmed their wings. Tossing a bath towel or small blanket over one end of the cage will help them if they feel stressed out because it offers them a place to hide if they want to.

What kinds of parrots do you have?
Kalamity

[richfaa]

Thre is some sort of problem taking birds into Canada from the USA.I can't remember what we were told but we could not take the cock-a-too.