Sleep/Travel cage

[suzyque]

Hi again
I know some of you take your birds out with you if you visit or go on holiday, and Jeff and I were wondering how big a cage we would need if we took Harry out for the day when we go to my daughters, just a rough idea would be great.
Also is it a good idea to have a separate cage in a different room for bedtime.
We have started to put Harry back in her cage at about 8p.m. but we are still up and watching t.v, so don't put her cover over until we go to bed at about 11p.m. I know she needs about 10 to 12 hours sleep, so by the time we go to bed she has only had maybe 8 hours. She starts to get a bit bitey if she gets tired. Do you think that a large budgie cage would do for travel and sleep, or does she need two separate cages for this?

[Shirley]

We took all our larger birds to Ginny's for a week, 17-hr car drive, and they stayed in their travel cages the whole time, with time out taking turns on a small tree stand we brought.

Their travel cages are cages, not dog/cat crates. They had their favorite 2-3 toys each.

Size of cages? don't know dimensions, but each one will fit on the front seat of a car, by itself. It takes up the whole front seat. They rode in the back of our mini-van w/rear seats removed. I have a link here somewhere to our Florida Road Trip pics... probably in the Grey forum or the Squawk forum.

They did just fine.

~ Shirley

[Jean]

There are many parrots that go to a sleeping cage in a quiet room away from the TV or family activity. It's much better to have a quiet area for a sleeping cage then a noisy area shared with the family. I am not sure, what size your large budgie cage is. If it's large and sturdy enough it should be fine for sleeping or traveling.

Elvie has spent a lot of nights in his travel cage as long as 3 and 4 week vacations. His looks similar to this cage shown in the pic attached below, only his has his door at the end instead of the middle of the cage. That gives him more wall space for his manzanita swing and manzanita perch with a few hanging toys. You want it roomy enough in case he is like Elvie and may want to play a little with a toy or just cuddle with one during the night like Elvie does.

Here is a pic of another travel cage.
http://www.birdsupplies.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=136

This attached pic is a lot like Elvie's carrier except his door is at the end of the cage..

[Liz]

Both our macaws have a seperate bedroom and a special "sleep cage" away from the family living area. The smaller (Hahn's macaw) bird sleeps in a cage that is about 12 inches deep by 14 inches high and 18 inches wide. That's quite small, but he really just sits on his sleep perch and snoozes (bedtime is about 8:00pm, up at 6am with me in the morning).

The larger macaw has a cage 24x24 and 36 high - just tall enough so her head and tail don't touch top or bottom - and a tall door on it (so I can slide her in fast without bending her when she's not in the mood for "birdy-bedtime").

Started doing the sleep cage thing with the Hahns - he about bit the thunder out of me, :mad: and I was starting to dread handling him. After starting the 8-8:30pm bedtime routine, he sweetened up within a couple of days. When we adopted the big macaw (Catalina) last summer, there was no discussion: we bought a sleep cage for her immediately (got a cheap cage at a bird fair) - there was no way I was going to risk having something that big get grumpy! Her bedtime is 8:30-9:pm, and up at 6am.

[parrotgirl]

Although Bucc has a travel cage, when we are at home he won't sleep in anything except his cage. We tried once and he kept us all up all night, when we put him back in his cage he was out for the count, he ended up having a good sleep and we all looked awful.

[Jim]

Just want to add that I have found that a good 10-14 hrs of quiet sleep time makes a world of difference in their moods.

[vmtwriter]

Bailey has a huge cage that he lives in.. and a smaller cage for traveling. It's considered a cockatiel cage. He has plenty of room to hang half a dozen toys, put in a few perches, and still move around. I also use it to take him to get groomed. It sits on the front seat of my car and takes up the whole seat.

Just remember, your bird is probably going to "bite" at the sides of the cage. Make sure it's strong enough to withstand that.