A Women's RV Forum run by Women RVer's!

Has anyone traveled with a bird? I am sure you know Zeee and I can get each other in all kinds of trouble even 800 miles apart. I just love her Shuga and she has me thinking about a Cockatiel. They are a small bird but I am not sure how it would work traveling. We won't be traveling more than a day then sitting still for at least a week wherever we go. Not sure how birds acclimatize to this. The dogs have been doing great. Having a bird would be a big adjustment for them too. I would not be able to have the bird out with them in the room until they become accustomed to the bird and accept it. These are very social birds, so would have to have time with the bird every day for a little while.

One thing to keep in mind, birds can be very messy!

Yep to the messy. I have a friend who travels with two large birds (well did until recently when one died). They love traveling, and because she keeps their wings clipped, she even can bring them outside. But, they are a lot of upkeep - and are messy, very. Most importantly, you'd have to have a dedicated place for a cage which you could secure. And if you want one badly enough - you can find a way to make it work. But, like with all pets, I say make a decision you mean to keep -

Good luck.

I used to travel with my Dusky Conure and he would ride perched on the steering wheel he'd go up one arm, around my neck and down the other
arm. I used to really get laughs and smiles going down the road. When it was cold he would crawl under my collar to snuggle. I loved my birds but I do
not miss the mess, the feathers and the dander mostly. The poopers were easily managed, cause the majority of my birds were potty trained. My
cockatiel was the best poddy trained bird ever. He would run to the end of his perch before getting on my finger to relieve himself and then come back.
I do have some friends that currently travel with their cockatiel Mr. Doc and he's 22 years old! He has his cage and they put it in the back seat of the
truck while they go down the road and then put it in the trailer at the campsite. They do set him out on the table for fresh air and he likes to talk to
the wild birds.
I raised cockatiels and quakers and had various other birds with my dogs around for almost 15 years. Only once did I loose a bird to the dog, and it happened
right in front of me, it was that quick. It wasn't a careless thing, it was just a very quick dog and something very unexpected, so it does happen. Yes, I miss
my birds, however they are very demanding and take alot of care but that can actually be managed in a motorhome. With that said keep in mind if anyone
has breathing difficulties a bird would not be a good fit but can be managed with alot of bird showers from a mist bottle. Ok, I think I'll quit while I'm
ahead cause it makes me miss my birds more.

My son had a male cockatiel. It was very friendly until it became sexually mature at 5 years of age. Did you know they live to be 25-30 years? This is a substantial undertaking. They are messy and it would be difficult in a small space, plus they really need a lot more space than the average cage provides. Personally, I would never have a bird unless I could give it a very large flight cage.

His bird became very aggressive and bit everyone except him and me, because I had been around and had taken care of it when it was a baby. (He used to chase my other son around the house and try to bite him in the back of his neck.) And they bite hard enough to draw blood and take a chunk of flesh off as well. Because they had small children and his wife did not like the bird, he ended up giving it to a bird rescue organization after 12 years.

My son's bird ate my fireplace mantel--literally. I had to fill in a ton of spots with wood filler, sand them, and restain it. He also ate the top edge of the cabinets in my son's apartment, which also had to be repaired. And when I say he ate them, I mean he ate at least 3/4 " off of them. He also ate large chunks out of anything wicker I owned, including two lamps.

Even with wings clipped, they do need to do some flying. One year my son had not clipped enough and had to rescue this dumb bird from a tree by climbing up it!

By the way, my son's two cats were terrified of the bird! When he was out, they ran. Before you consider this more seriously, you need to visit a rescue organization and talk to them about why so many cockatiels are left there. They can be good pets, but require a lot of care and can be very destructive.

Zeee, calm down girl. it's OK. I have had bird before. Was a parakeet when the kids were little as you know so I definitely know about the mess. That is manageable with regular cleaning. I was just curious about how well birds traveled if I do decide to get a cockatiel. I have several months to think about this before I make a final decision. My brother in MS laughs at me because he says I will end up with a traveling zoo, knowing me. If it weren't for the weight, I would probably have a small fish tank again too. Used to have large fresh and salt water tanks. When Chuck started to get sick, had to give them away because didn't have the time for all the upkeep. Have been thinking about getting a Betta at least. I had small aquarium in my office on my desk with a Betta. At one point, had fresh water aquarium in my office too for years. Ended up giving that whole setup to a co-worker for her kids.

All of this is to say I am very familiar with the work involved with all different kinds of pets, including a bird. I always take everyone's advice, pro and con, process it and then make my own decisions. I am a pretty independent person as you know. This is my home now 24/7 and I will make my decisions based on what will make me happy going forward.

I didn't mean to sound negative, sorry for the mis-interpretation, I was just being matter of fact but to sum it all up,birds travel just fine
But I did forget to add that when Peewee traveled with me he did have a little travel cage that sat between the seats on the armrest, he could
come out when I opened it and therefore would just climb up to my shoulder. He didn't travel ALL the time out of his cage.

Even though he was very destructive when he was out, on a positive note, my son's bird did travel very well. Usually he was loose in the car and sat on the top of the passenger's seat. He would wander around, however, and tear open any food items and make a lot of crumbs.

You do have to be very careful to keep wings clipped as feathers grow back or you will have a loose bird flying around the campsite one day. Or climbing up a tree to rescue him as my son did more than once.

Judy, I will have to learn how to do that. Our parakeet flew around the house when we let him out of his bird cage. Unfortunately, one day, one of the girls did not realize he was out and was holding the front door open. He flew right on out. We never were able to get him back. I taught him how to say "Pretty Petey Bird". That was the extent of his talking. I was mostly concerned about how birds traveled. Now have to learn how to keep wings clipped too. Lots to think about.

Thanks guys. I really appreciate all your input and opinions.

Dawn - before Ike came through there was a parakeet colony that lived in one of the bayside towns not too far away. It's thought it started from pets getting loose. It was a pretty good size colony. I don't know if any survived - I haven't seen sign of them the few times I've driven through that town.