Going on vacation - Tips to keep Zebes happy while I'm gone?

[Sir Bubbles]

In May I'll be going on a week long trip with my family and I've been stressing out about how my birds will do completely on their own. I've had to been away for them for longer than a week before but I had my parents look after them for me during that, so this time it's a bit different. Our grandma will probably come by once or twice to check on our cats for us ( don't worry, the birds are kept separate from the cats. ) So she might be able to just take a look at my Zebes for me, but she won't be there each day.

I'm pretty attached to my little girls and have a bit of a daily routine where I make sure they have optimal lighting throughout the day as well as fresh food and water, so it's stressing me out knowing I won't be there to do this for them. I started introducing them to a gravity based feeder and this is going well so far, they've taken a liking to eating from it. I tried a water feeder in the past but it didn't seem to work, I think it might have just been the feeder itself, so I can try another one. Food and water is simple enough to take care of, but it's the lighting and just being there for them that worries me. Has anyone had to leave their birds completely alone for such a long time? How did it go, what did you do for them? I can't leave the lights on for 7 straight days, but I can at least open the blinds halfway, I don't know if this will give them enough light to thrive though.

Am I overthinking this too much? Any tips and info would be much appreciated.

[isobea]

I just have a minute to respond, but why don't you put the lights on a timer? That's what I did with my terrarium and it works really well. BTW, how many birds do you have?
Iso

[MiaCarter]

I would pack the cage with food and water.
I'd leave them twice what they need for the period you'll be gone.

I think food should be fairly easy.
Water is my primary concern, so that's what I'd ask granny to check on. Water tubes leak. Open bowls can get fouled. (I'd leave both.) So that would be my main worry.

I'd also give it a trial run while you're home.
Pack their cages just as you'd do if you were about to leave. Then, leave them for the period you'll be away and monitor to see how things go. That will give you a feel for if you need to rearrange or add more of something, etc.

Of course during the trial run you can intervene if the water is fouled or the food gets filled with hulls. That's a problem my guys run into. They're dumb about seed hulls. They don't seem to toss the hulls out. They put them back into the tray, so every day, I spoon out up to an inch of empty hulls, depending upon the bowl/tray. (The trough-style vacation feeder gets deep with hulls fast, whereas the bigger bowls take longer since it's more exposed surface area.)
Once they get to a depth of about an inch, it's as if the food trough is empty, so that's something to watch out for.

If if were my guys, I'd give them a big cupcake tupperware (approx 8 inches wide, 12 inches long, maybe 3 inches deep) filled with seed. And I'd place multiple bowls of water. And I'd add individual bowls with other dry foods, like Miracle Meal, herb salad, etc. And I'd hang millet sprays throughout the cage.

I'd go overboard and give them way more than they need. Better to be safe than sorry.

[MiaCarter]

Oh, I'd also leave a radio or television on for them.

It's always best to leave some sort of sound for them. An empty house is deafeningly quiet.
And for birds (and many other animals), that's extremely stressful. The only time birds are quiet in the wild is when a predator is nearby. So silence = danger.
In fact, when you hear a random lull in the birds' vocalizations and suddenly everyone goes silent, watch their body language. They immediately get very alert and still and start looking around cautiously. Clearly in "checking for predators" mode.

Even nighttime isn't totally silent. There are crickets and owls and even random birds singing. (I always wonder who those nighttime birds are! I hear them all the time. Not owls. Like normal birds that you'd hear during the daytime like sparrows and grackles and such.)

[Sally]

I really wouldn't stress over it too much. If you are getting them used to a gravity-type feeder, that works very well, especially if grandma is going to come by the house to check once or twice. I have routinely left my birds for three days at a time without anyone checking--longer than that, and I have to have a pet sitter come in. So if grandma could check at least every three days, that will help a lot.

Don't worry about changing papers/cleaning cage, no bird dies from a cage that isn't cleaned in a week. The biggest problem is water. When I am gone for a period of time, I put multiple tube waterers on the cages, in case one leaks (my birds are used to tube waterers). A shallow bowl of water on the bottom of the cage as well, though they will probably quickly dirty that by bathing in it!

I can't remember how many birds you have. In my cages with only 2 birds, the vacation-type feeder doesn't even need to be refilled in a week. The hull drawer may get full, so if grandma could empty the hull drawer, that will let the good seed continue to fall down. If you are using a gravity feeder that doesn't have a hull drawer, even better, as the hulls will fall on down to the floor.

The only extras I add when I am going to be gone is plenty of spray millet. They love it, and will eat all that before they go to the seed hopper, I believe. I don't leave veggies, egg food, fruit, anything else that might go bad in between grandma's visits.

All my lights are on timers, so I would get a simple lamp timer that you can set for the lights to come on in the morning and off at night. Try it out before your trip to make sure it is functioning properly.

Truly, as much as we like to think our birds miss us, finches are much more into other finches than into us. As long as they have other finches for company, and plenty of food and water, they really will do fine. Think about the people who have finches and work all day, often not getting home till after bedtime for the birds. Those birds are not stressed out by being alone all day. Finches are not like hookbills, that need the company of humans.

Leave a checklist for grandma, so she won't forget what to check when she comes over to the house. If you use tube waterers, ask her to empty them out, rinse them well, and refill with fresh water. Check the seed and top off if necessary. Add more spray millet if they have eaten all the seeds off it.

Go on your vacation and enjoy yourself, your birds should be just fine.

[Sir Bubbles]

Thanks for the information everyone. I'll try not to stress things too much! I'll try getting them adjusted to a water feeder before we leave.

I have three birds by the way Sally. They certainly don't go through their food very fast, so I won't be worrying about whether or not they run out, especially if I give them more than enough to last a week.

My dad and I were discussing getting a lamp on a timer, so that way they have some extra form of light.

I feel a bit more confident about their well being now!