If you live with an African Grey or a Goffins cockatoo in Pickering, you already know how the search for boarding tends to go. The closest place that takes birds at all is often a small, home-based setup with only so much room — fine for a budgie or a cockatiel, but rarely set up for a strong-beaked parrot that needs real out-of-cage time and housing built to survive it. Closing that gap is exactly why our large-parrot boarding exists.
The Big Birds We Welcome
Large parrots are our specialty, not a favour we grant reluctantly. Our Large tier is African Greys, Goffins cockatoos and similar-sized parrots at $30 per day plus 13% HST, with the larger conures and other strong-beaked companions sitting just below. These birds bring real character and real demands, and we plan every stay around both.
Where We Draw the Line
We are not accepting large macaws — greenwing, blue-and-gold, hyacinth and similar — along with large cockatoos such as umbrellas and moluccans, and large amazons. We do not take hand-feeding babies at all. Those birds need more dedicated space than we can give one guest without taking it from the rest of the flock already in our care, and we would rather point you to a specialist than take a bird we cannot do right by. If your species is not named here, get in touch and we will tell you honestly either way. More on that on our macaw boarding page.
Why Large Parrots Need a True Specialist
There is a reason small sitters cap out at little birds. A grown Grey or Goffins is powerful, deeply intelligent and emotionally intricate. A bored or anxious large parrot does not simply wait it out quietly; it screams, it works its beak through caging that was never built for it, and it can tip into feather-destructive habits within a few days. Caring for one properly means understanding flock dynamics, reading the small shifts in posture and sound before frustration sets in, and offering enough mental challenge to occupy a brain that in the wild would spend all day solving problems. That is not something you improvise on the fly. It comes from spending your days around parrots, which is precisely what we do.
How We Care for Large Parrots
Every large-parrot stay opens with a thorough intake so we learn your bird's diet, vocabulary, favourite people, triggers and any medical needs before day one. From there the care is shaped to the species. Housing is sized and reinforced for strong beaks and wide wingspans, never a single generic cage stretched to fit. Diet stays exactly as you provide it, because an abrupt food change is one of the fastest ways to unsettle a large parrot. A current avian-vet health exam from the past 12 months is required of every guest. Days include real out-of-cage time, foraging puzzles and one-on-one attention, so your bird stays mentally occupied rather than merely contained. Throughout the stay, photos and short updates reach your phone, and we watch closely for any change in appetite, droppings or mood so nothing slips past us.
Booking Large Parrot Boarding in Pickering
Because the big birds need space and focused attention, we hold only a limited number of large-parrot guests at once, and those places are the first to go around holidays and vacation season. If a trip is on the horizon, the sooner you reach out the better. Drop-off and pickup are kept simple: bring your bird's own cage or familiar perches, its usual food and a few notes on routine and medication, and we will walk through the whole plan together. Whether you are out by the lake in West Shore or anywhere across the neighbourhoods we serve in Pickering, your large parrot is welcome here. Get in touch to check availability, and see what shapes the cost of a boarding stay in Pickering.
Helpful reading: our full boarding details and how to keep your bird happy while you travel.