Travel with parrot

[Carefree]

We travel with our two Sun Conures all over the country. Not once have we had any complaints from neighbors. We are active hikers and leave the birds back in the RV in their cage for most of the day. They are quiet when we're gone and only get excited when we return from our hikes.
They love to travel. We have their cage right between us when we travel. While parked we have a stand for their cage.

[Toni79]

Back in the 80's there were a lot of wild illegally caught birds so papers were required. If your Amazon is banded then you should have no issues. We traveled with our Blue and Gold without issues.

[Toni79]

We purchased a large cat cage like the ones you see in shelters. It was about 4 foot tall. It was much smaller then our Macaw's home cage, but she was only in it at night or if we were gone. We also brought a smaller play perch for her to use during the daytime that we could take outdoors. We kept her flight feathers trimmed so she never flew.

[paul65k]

We just started traveling with our Umbrella Cockatoo (Yogi). He's 33 and been with us for 32 of them. We started RV'ing a few years ago and recently moved up to a class A pusher from a 34' 5th wheel.

We took him with us once with the 5th wheel and while the living part (Camped) was fine the travel part with him on my wife's shoulder was not good for him or her....even though he IS potty trained (I kid you not).

We typically go for 3-5 weeks in the summer and 1-3 week long trips throughout the year. We have a Bird Sitter that will spend 30 minutes with him twice a day, feed him, take him out of his cage and feed, etc.....but after a long trip he needed time to adjust.....not to mention the cost of $20 a day and an extra $200 to keep the house cool.

He stays out of the cage most of the day when we are home so it's hard for him to be caged up a bunch....fast forward to the Class A and we found a great cage that is about 20X20X58"(Tall) on casters.

We took out one of the benches in our dinette and his cage fits in there almost perfectly. I set up a strap down system so it's stationary while we are driving. Yogi sits up front with the wife on the road and is very content doing that.....if you know Cockatoos you know they just want to be "Part of it".

When we are camped he is out if we are there, in the cage if we are gone and after his bedtime (he goes to bed at the same time every night). Once he's in the cage and he's done for the day we wheel his cage into the bedroom, close the door and watch TV or hang out by the campfire outside. When we're ready for bed he gets rolled into his space by the table and we close the door to the bedroom.....watch TV, whatever.

Does he Squawk.......maybe a little but not too much and certainly not that loud outside with all the doors and windows closed......all in all I think we are much happier with him with us and I KNOW he is much happier then 23 Hours a day of "Solitary" at home alone.....Hope this helps.

[Coldjensens]

I traveled for many years with my Sulfur Crested Cockatoo, Orville. First in a Mazda RX7 and later in a Camaro Z28 then finally in a converted Chevy Express van. We stayed in a tent or in the van.

In the Mazda and Camaro, I just wedged a dowel rod securely between the driver and passenger seats. At first I put a pillow on the dash in case a quick stop dumped him into the windscreen, but that proved unnecessary and blocked my field of view somewhat.

In the van he usually just walked around although he mostly sat on my shoulder.

At campsites we had a metal folding cage that cost very little, maybe $40.

He would sometimes scream a little if we left him alone, but we rarely left him alone. Usually took him along. He had a deformed wing, so he could not fly. We also had a soft sided cat carrier that we lined with hardware cloth so we could carry a nice cave with us if we needed him to be quiet and unobtrusive, if we encountered one of the rare restaurants or something that would not let him in. Until fairly recently most places had no problem with our having him along, especially if they had outdoor tables. Sometimes the staff would borrow him for a while if we were regulars. (He once got to have dinner with the LA Rams).

A few things to watch for:

1. Mosquitoes. Some carry bad diseases. No good solution to this. It is a risk.

2. Raccoons and coyotes. Coons are the biggest problem. They can get into anything and they kill birds just for fun. Not to eat, they just get a kick out of pulling their heads off. Never lave a bird outdoors in a cage untended.

3. Hawks and eagles. We used to have them start circling when he was in a dead tree or sitting on the tripos we used to perch him a the beach.

4. Cold. You need to have some way to keep him warm in a pinch. They have far less tolerance for cold than humans. If they like to stay in a nest box or just a cardboard box in their cage, you can use the ten hour hand-warmers they sell for skiing and ht like, just put them inside of something chew proof.

5. Smoke. Watch your campfire smoke, it moves around. It can be deadly to a bird.

6. Sleeping. One night he was walking around on my and I fell asleep. He apparently thought my toenail was a feather sheath so to help me out, he carefully removed it for me while I was sleeping. He was so gentle I did not wake up, until I did. OUch. Be sure to cage them before you get tired. true anywhere, but especially when camping.

Orville logged over 100,000 miles with us on road trips and we never had any issues. We never asked if it was ok to have him at the campgrounds. No one ever objected. He especially loved group camps like church family camp or SCA events because he got a lot of attention.

Orville lived for 30 years. He got a prolapsed rectum (probably cancer) and died form the surgery. I think he had a really nice life for a bird with one wing. He loved traveling.

The only problem I ever had was in the Mazda, i had no place for my bicycle helmet except right under his perch. He was potty trained, but on long trips we did not always have the luxury of stopping or holding him out the window to plop. My helmet was pretty crusted sometimes and required intense scrubbing before use.