Emergency Preparation For Your Bird

I recently did a call during which we discussed what to do in an emergency, and I thought this would be a great topic of discussion. In the unlikely event that we would have to leave our home in a hurry, what would we do to insure that we could get the birds out quickly and safely? First, you need to decide on an escape route, whether it be a door, or out a window. Second, you need somewhere to put your bird. This sounds obvious, but many people do not have carriers or small cages for each bird. During an emergency, your birds may panic, and picking them up and carrying them in your arms may not be the best idea. You need to have carriers, or boxes, or small cages for each bird available somewhere near the birds' cages. Also, it is critical to be able to handle your bird. Again obvious, but a lot of people cannot handle their birds easily and cannot get them into a carrier. Practice picking up your bird and putting him in a carrier. Feed him in there, put some toys in, and let him get used to it before there is a problem. That way, during a real emergency, you will hopefully not have a fight. I'd love to hear other thoughts and ideas about this.

Cockatiel Can't Fly

Recently a post appeared on the blog about a cockatiel named Molly who, while boarding, lost the flight feathers on one wing and couldn't fly. Molly's owner was concerned about this. Having not seen the bird, I can only guess what happened. Most likely, Molly had a cage fright, during which she knocked out the feathers on one wing. This, of course, would leave her flighted. The only thing to do here is to wait. New feathers will begin to grow in immediately to replace those that fell out. The biggest problem here is that there will be a number of blood feathers all at once, with no grown mature feathers next to them to protect them. As a result, Molly will be at higher risk for breaking a blood feather if she falls. You must be very careful to prevent her from falling until the feathers grow in.