Brittany741
New member
- Feb 9, 2015
- 384
- 0
- Parrots
- SI Eclectus (Ruby) - 11 / Eclectus (Wrangler) - 7 / Eclectus (Pinto) - 6 /
Red Sided Eclectus (Oliver) - 4 mos. /
White Bellied Caique (Dan) - 2 /
Foster Congo African Grey (Molly) - 6
You may be wondering how I am able to have birds with my spinal cord injury. My legs are partially numb but I can still control them. I use a wheelchair 95% of the time but I do force myself to walk to the bathroom.
How am I able to have birds while being in bed 23 hours a day? The answer is simple, the birds hang out in my room sometimes but it's largely many short interactions throughout the day! I have a small rolling stand, and I use a small acrylic perch on a piece of cardboard on the bed when we aren't snuggling.
My husband is my caretaker and we also have hired a caretaker for me, so that allows me to do 5-10 minutes worth of things out of bed at a time. I don't spend a solid 23 hours a day in bed. I get up every 4-6 hours. My chair has many functions, one function is to raise 8" which lets me reach the birds.
Feeding is something I have had to get creative about. I make and freeze enough fresh bird mash to last a few months. Ruby, the baby Ekkie, and Dan the caique eat this mash. Molly is a Pellet Piggy and hates everything except for nuts.
I simply serve up their veggie/bean mash first thing in the morning. It lasts all day. Then, I give them fresh fruit for dinner. Fruit spoils much faster and my pain is worse during the day, so I leave all bird tasks for the evening. My pain on average is an 8.5 on a scale of 1-10. It hovers around 9 during the day and late at night it drops to 7.5. I also have had fibromyalgia since I was 15, and if it rains I will have a flare up. Those are the days Rob handles the birds for me, by feeding and interacting with them.
How do I handle feeding fresh fruit? LOTS of kitchen gadgets. I'm a great cook and a sucker for kitchen gadgets. I use a progressive brand chopper for fruit slices. I purchase plastic food containers in bulk from Amazon and use those to store the fruit for up to 5 days depending on freshness. I also feed the fruit and veggie mash in these plastic containers to avoid doing dishes!
Canning jars I use for vacuum food freezer storage of the mash. It's expensive to make ($150+) and bags fail, jars rarely do compared.
How do I handle baths? Frequently, bathing is done in the kitchen sink. Why? Because I can't shower unsupervised. This can be kind of humiliating at first but I'm used to it by now. Choosing to bathe the chickens in the sink means I can pay close attention to them. I did take Ruby into the shower once (I have a shower perch) and she hated it. I gave the baby a shower with me a few days later and he's still a potato. I know showering with an active bird is not an option if either of them ever decide to go wild for showers.
Cage cleaning: this is a big one. Cage cleaning is the worst part of pet ownership! I have a few shortcuts here. First, a pressure washer is your friend. Second, I use Publix brand puppy pads ONLY in the tray. Paper gets wet, cardboard does too. Bedding doesn't allow for monitoring of poop and it's also messy. Publix puppy pads contain an absorbent gel for liquids and they are completely white. We use them for our chihuahuas because they're too small to go outside (we have Hawks.) We have tried every brand and style of puppy pad, all the way up to the expensive Nature's Miracle ones, and none compare to Publix brand. I change the pad once every week or so. I know many of you change your cages every day or two, but I simply don't have the ability. For my perch potatoes (Ruby!) I will place some paper towel under her main perch and just throw it out every couple days. This is a money saver, too, since she rarely poops anywhere else.
I spot clean the cages with Poop-Off spray and paper towels, especially because fresh food creates a total mess. We pressure wash them every 2-3 months. Toys all go in the dishwasher.
My situation has helped me devise many shortcuts or better methods to do a lot of things. I'm hoping I can share all of those things to help others who may have physical disabilities or limitations.
How am I able to have birds while being in bed 23 hours a day? The answer is simple, the birds hang out in my room sometimes but it's largely many short interactions throughout the day! I have a small rolling stand, and I use a small acrylic perch on a piece of cardboard on the bed when we aren't snuggling.
My husband is my caretaker and we also have hired a caretaker for me, so that allows me to do 5-10 minutes worth of things out of bed at a time. I don't spend a solid 23 hours a day in bed. I get up every 4-6 hours. My chair has many functions, one function is to raise 8" which lets me reach the birds.
Feeding is something I have had to get creative about. I make and freeze enough fresh bird mash to last a few months. Ruby, the baby Ekkie, and Dan the caique eat this mash. Molly is a Pellet Piggy and hates everything except for nuts.
I simply serve up their veggie/bean mash first thing in the morning. It lasts all day. Then, I give them fresh fruit for dinner. Fruit spoils much faster and my pain is worse during the day, so I leave all bird tasks for the evening. My pain on average is an 8.5 on a scale of 1-10. It hovers around 9 during the day and late at night it drops to 7.5. I also have had fibromyalgia since I was 15, and if it rains I will have a flare up. Those are the days Rob handles the birds for me, by feeding and interacting with them.
How do I handle feeding fresh fruit? LOTS of kitchen gadgets. I'm a great cook and a sucker for kitchen gadgets. I use a progressive brand chopper for fruit slices. I purchase plastic food containers in bulk from Amazon and use those to store the fruit for up to 5 days depending on freshness. I also feed the fruit and veggie mash in these plastic containers to avoid doing dishes!
Canning jars I use for vacuum food freezer storage of the mash. It's expensive to make ($150+) and bags fail, jars rarely do compared.
How do I handle baths? Frequently, bathing is done in the kitchen sink. Why? Because I can't shower unsupervised. This can be kind of humiliating at first but I'm used to it by now. Choosing to bathe the chickens in the sink means I can pay close attention to them. I did take Ruby into the shower once (I have a shower perch) and she hated it. I gave the baby a shower with me a few days later and he's still a potato. I know showering with an active bird is not an option if either of them ever decide to go wild for showers.
Cage cleaning: this is a big one. Cage cleaning is the worst part of pet ownership! I have a few shortcuts here. First, a pressure washer is your friend. Second, I use Publix brand puppy pads ONLY in the tray. Paper gets wet, cardboard does too. Bedding doesn't allow for monitoring of poop and it's also messy. Publix puppy pads contain an absorbent gel for liquids and they are completely white. We use them for our chihuahuas because they're too small to go outside (we have Hawks.) We have tried every brand and style of puppy pad, all the way up to the expensive Nature's Miracle ones, and none compare to Publix brand. I change the pad once every week or so. I know many of you change your cages every day or two, but I simply don't have the ability. For my perch potatoes (Ruby!) I will place some paper towel under her main perch and just throw it out every couple days. This is a money saver, too, since she rarely poops anywhere else.
I spot clean the cages with Poop-Off spray and paper towels, especially because fresh food creates a total mess. We pressure wash them every 2-3 months. Toys all go in the dishwasher.
My situation has helped me devise many shortcuts or better methods to do a lot of things. I'm hoping I can share all of those things to help others who may have physical disabilities or limitations.
