At the beginning of this month, I had an urgent phone call to go out of town to be with my mother while she was in hospital in intensive care. This meant that Sam and Sprog were going to be left in my home with my husband and my maid to care for them. I have said before that it is important to have another person in the home in case the primary care giver has to go away.A person that can exercise and feed your favourite person, if you are not around.

My husband and my maid did a sterling job, Duncan let the birds out before he went to work in the morning, came home at lunch time, to let them out for a bit, and then as soon as he came home , the cages were opened and they did their thing on the veranda before going into the lounge to be with him while he watched tv.You will remember that my birds are out of their cages all the time, as I work from home. My maid carried on feeding them as usual, pronutro in the morning, fruit in the afternoon and a snack with my husband in the evening.

I knew that my birds were in very good hands.You need to have good back up at home or a person that you trust to look after your bird if you are called away. Someone who will take them out of their cages and someone who understands that a well balanced parrot diet is essential.It is so easy for a care taker to buy a bag of sunflower seeds and feed them that, you don’t want this to happen.

When I phoned home every evening, I could hear that both birds were in the lounge and having fun with my husband. The only routine that was changed while I was away was the coming out of the cages for the whole day. They were covered when they went to bed and he stuck to the bed times which was good.

When I came home, they were so excited. As soon as they saw me at the gate the noise on the veranda doubled and I could not get to them quick enough. I felt very loved. As soon as I got on to the veranda, I opened the cages and out they came.Sprog was straight onto my shoulder and I could not get him off. Even the evening ritual of squeezing in behind the couch and the wall did not happen. He walked up and down the back of the couch and got on to me as often as he could.The next day when I had my scrambled egg, both the birds headed for their food dishes and waited, they were eager for their egg, something that they obviously had missed.

The family was back together again, and everyone started settling down.I was so pleased to be back with my birds, and the birds were happy that I had returned. Birds like other animals have feelings and we should not forget this. Remember it always when you are dealing with your bird. Try as best you can to keep them happy, and if you have to go away make sure that they are going to be happy and well cared for by the adoptive favourite person….