How To Surrender Your Bird To A Loving Home
The decision to rehome a beloved bird is heartbreaking.
Unfortunately, a lot of situations can force us to make this decision, such as a sudden loss of income, a family member falling ill, mental health, and a whole range of other specific cases.
But if it needs to be done, it must be done in the best way possible.
This article teaches you how to ensure your bird is put into a loving home and far away from any neglectful or abusive situations.
Quick Navigation:
- How To Begin Searching For Your Birds New Home
- Examine The Living Situations Through Visits Or Video Calls
- What You Should Look For In A Future Carer For Your Bird
- How NOT To Rehome A Pet Bird
- How To Make The Rehoming Process Easier On Your Bird
- Conclusion | Is Rehoming Your Bird Really The Best Option?
How To Begin Searching For Your Birds New Home
It’s hard enough dealing with the fact that you need to rehome your bird, but it’s also challenging trying to find a suitable home for them.
There are many people who get birds to neglect them, abuse them, or try to make money from them.
And you don’t want your bird to end up with someone like that.
Although you need to rehome your bird, you still want them to live the best life possible, so taking the time to search for good homes is crucial.
Here are some of the best places to start looking for new and loving homes:
- Contact your local parrot rescue centres or RSPCA to see if they’ll take in your bird. If not, they might be able to lead you in the right direction.
- Check-in with a local bird sanctuary to see if they have room for your bird.
- Discuss the matter with your avian vet. Avian vets meet a lot of bird owners, breeders, and pretty much everyone involved in caring for companion birds, so there’s a good chance they’ll know someone who can help or will at least give you a few valuable resources.
- Visit local bird clubs or aviculture societies. Naturally, bird clubs are filled with a lot of bird lovers, so you have a good chance of meeting a few potential future owners for your bird. Turn up, have a friendly chat, and you might find someone who can help.
- List your bird online with an adoption fee. Listing your bird for adoption on Craigslist, Facebook groups, gumtree, etc, is a great way to get the attention of potential new owners. Be careful when using this method as it may also attract the attention of those with bad intentions.
- Try Reddit subreddits! A lot of the species-related subreddits have many active users, so there’s a good chance at least a few users are in your area. Simply make a post on your rehoming situation and see who responds.
Consult & Interview With Potential Future Carers
Using any of the above home-searching methods will likely leave you with a few candidates to choose from.
It’s your job to filter through those candidates to find the one best suited to care for your bird.
And what’s a better way to do that than through an interview?
When talking to the potential future owner of your beloved bird, ask these key questions:
- “How much time do you have to spend with a bird?”
- “Do you have any other pets? cats or dogs?”
- “Have you ever owned birds before?”
- “Are you aware of my bird species’ care requirements, such as diet and proper housing?”
- “How are you financially? Could you afford vet bills if the bird suddenly falls ill?”
Their answers to these questions will give you a good idea of how well they would care for your bird.
Don’t be afraid to be picky and have high standards, this is the future life of your precious bird after all.
Ideally, you should avoid rehoming your bird to:
- People with cats, dogs, or other carnivorous pets
- Someone who doesn’t have a lot of free time
- Those on tight budgets or those who struggle for money
- And those who haven’t owned birds before.
Although new bird owners can make good carers, they’re still learning, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to make your bird their very first experience with birds.
We’ll discuss the qualities of your bird’s ideal future carer later on in this article…
But first, you need to know a bit more about the interviewing process.
Examine The Living Situations Through Visits Or Video Calls
As well as getting vital information from potential future carers, you also need to get an understanding of their living conditions.
Most bird owners would never send their birds to a place they weren’t sure of.
Whether you turned to a bird sanctuary, rescue centre, or someone online, you’ll need to check out their overall living situation to see if it’s a suitable home for your bird.
If you can’t do an in-person visit for whatever reason, a video call is the next best thing.
How Clean Is The Place? Is It Hygienic?
If the place looks unclean and it seems like little to no effort goes into cleaning, you’ll want to thank them for their time and move on.
Cleaning is a huge part of bird ownership that cannot be neglected.
If it doesn’t even seem like they can look after their own living space, how well do you think they’ll look after your birds?
A little bit of mess is fine, such as a bit of dust or a few crumbs on the floor.
But if the place looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in weeks, definitely move on because chances are, it actually hasn’t been cleaned in weeks.
What Type Of Cookware Is In The House?
Whether you’re visiting or on a video call, you should ask to see the kitchen area.
Not only are you looking for a clean kitchen, but you also want to see if they have bird-safe cookware.
One major thing you want to watch out for is non-stick frying pans or non-stick cookware in general as they are toxic to birds.
Simply ask if their cookware has PTFE or PFOA coatings.
If they’re not sure or answer “yes”, it’s best to keep looking for a home with bird-safe cookware.
However, you could also ask them if they’re willing to buy new cookware before you hand over your bird and see how it goes from there.
How Does The Place Smell?
Good air quality is extremely important to pet birds.
If the place you visit has any strong odours that you believe may have come from smoking, disinfectants, hairspray, perfumes, deodorants, etc, you should continue your search for another home.
Many people aren’t willing to sacrifice the use of these items for any pets.
Politely let them know of the various toxic smells for birds and ask them if they’re willing to stop using them in the house if they adopt your bird.
If they’re hesitant to answer, it’s best to keep searching.
Here’s a list of other household dangers to pet birds you should look out for
What You Should Look For In A Future Carer For Your Bird
When trying to rehome your bird, you should keep a set of standards that must be met by potential future owners.
Having high standards will ensure your bird goes to a capable and loving home.
Here are some good qualities you should look for in your parrot’s future carers:
- Working from home – If you’re interviewing someone and they say they work from home, keep that person in mind! Those who are home most of the time will be able to give lots of time and attention to their birds.
- There are other birds in the home – Not only does this mean the person has experience with birds, but it means your bird will have some feathered companions. It’s even better if the existing birds are the same species as your bird.
- They already have a cage setup – Having an empty, but fully set up birdcage is a telling sign that they’re prepared for a new feathery addition to their household. Bonus points if the cage is huge with lots of different perches, toys, and stainless steel food and water bowls. Not only does this show their knowledge of bird care requirements, but it shows how committed they are to a new bird as they’ve already invested hundreds of dollars into a proper cage setup.
- No predatory pets – Cats and dogs are naturally a threat to pet birds, so it’s best to look for people who don’t have them. It’s simply safer for your bird.
- They’re financially stable in the foreseeable future – One of the best qualities of your bird’s future carers is their financial stability. With a reliable and stable income, they’ll be able to pay for expensive vet bills, among other items, for your bird.
How NOT To Rehome A Pet Bird
There are 2 main things you want to avoid doing when rehoming your bird:
- Selling them to pet stores
- Giving them away for free
Why You Shouldn’t Surrender Your Birds To Pet Shops
Most pet stores that I’ve seen do not prioritise the bird’s care or health and simply want to sell the birds for money ASAP.
Pet stores don’t care who they sell to either.
By selling your bird to a pet store, you’re leaving their fate up to chance as literally anybody can walk in and buy your bird. I bought my cockatiel from a pet store and there was no paperwork, no home checks, or anything to ensure that the bird was going to a good home.
Why You Shouldn’t Give Your Bird Away For Free
Listing your bird online as “free to a loving home” might sound like a nice thing to do, but it also attracts the wrong type of attention.
There are plenty of people out there trying to get free birds and then sell them for profit.
One of the best ways to prevent this from happening is to put a fee on your bird’s adoption.
This way it’ll be harder for them to flip the bird for a profit as they had to pay for the bird.
Most people who plan to adopt and properly care for a bird won’t mind paying an adoption fee, in fact, a price is often expected.
How To Make The Rehoming Process Easier On Your Bird
Rehoming is difficult for pet birds, just as it is for their owners.
The loss of valued flock members (owners) and being in a brand-new environment is both scary and sad for birds.
But there are ways to make the rehoming process a little bit easier for your feathered friend:
- Drop your bird off in a familiar travel cage – Being dropped off in a familiar cage will be comforting to a bird going into an unknown environment with people they don’t know. They’ll see their cage as a safety zone until they feel ready to interact with their new environment.
- Spend some time saying goodbye – If it’s ok with the new carers, spend a bit of time with your bird in their new environment before leaving. This will help show them that they’re in a safe space with people you trust and approve of, which will also help the bird trust the new people.
- Give them their favourite toys – By allowing your bird to keep their familiar toys in their new environment, you’ll be making the rehoming process a bit more comforting for them.
Familiarity = Comfort
Keep this in mind because having something familiar in your bird’s new environment will help them settle in easier.
It’ll still be very difficult, but it would be even harder without at least 1 familiar thing in their new home.
Conclusion | Is Rehoming Your Bird Really The Best Option?
Rehoming should be the absolute final resort to any problems you’re facing.
Obviously, it causes heartbreak to you as their owner, but it’s also emotionally traumatising for the bird who has suddenly lost contact with a beloved flock member.
No matter the problem, you should try to work around it as best as possible before rehoming.
I know, there are some situations that are simply impossible to work around, but if a behavioural problem with your bird has caused you to consider rehoming them, that’s not an impossible situation in many cases.
Screaming, biting, aggressiveness, and many other behavioural problems can be solved!
With enough time, effort, and maybe a bit of coaching from an expert, you can often find the solution to most behavioural problems.
My main point is this:
Thoughtfully evaluate the problem that has caused you to consider rehoming your bird before you go through with it.
If you do that, you may realise a solution.
If not, I hope this guide will be helpful in ensuring your bird ends up in another loving home.
0 Comments