Most boarding kennels — even the good ones — treat birds the way they treat dogs: a row of cages, a feeding rota, fluorescent overhead lights. Birds aren't dogs. A new room, a new sound, an unfamiliar smell — and a parrot will stop eating, pluck a feather, or fall silent for days.
So Northbird isn't a kennel. It's a small, quiet room at the back of a Newmarket house, with morning sun, a humidifier, and the same playlist of mid-tempo acoustic recordings your bird would hear at home. We take one or two households' birds at a time. No more.
When your bird arrives, we spend the first afternoon doing nothing — just letting them settle, take in the room, and watch us move around the kitchen. By day two they're usually whistling. By day three they're trying to steal the spoon.
You'll hear from us every day with a short photo letter — what they ate, what they refused, what made them laugh. When you come pick them up, they'll be a little fatter, a little chattier, and only mildly offended that the holiday is over.
— Claire & DerekFounders, Northbird
