Hey! Im doing a science project where I have to make a replica of a cell. Me and my partner decided to do a bird cage to model it. For alot of the stuff im using pompoms and pipe cleaner they wont be in the cage long so I dont think they will cause a problem but if you think there bad please tell me because I dont know! Also how can I make sure my bird is comfortable at school (She will be in my science teachers class in her cage) The cage is a vision cage but im taking the top off so its short
There’s really a lot to consider and one of the main points I’m going to emphasize here is do the risks outweigh the benefits?
Taking a bird to school can seem like a really fun idea but there’s a lot to consider. Do people put on perfume/body spray/etc. in the school? Teflon or burning things from the home ec./foods room? Is your bird comfortable with this, will they be stressed out by the situation, how do they normally react around strangers, are they accustomed to different environments? Will you have control over the situation, what if the bird gets tangled, panics, breaks a blood feather? will you have emergency supplies on hand, will you be in the mindset to help? How will the people in the class react, do any of them have allergies, phobias, are some of them extremely immature and likely to be loud, rude, or distress the bird? Is your bird reliable if something goes wrong, will they recall or panic and hit a window? can you ensure someone won’t have a window or door open should the cage somehow open? Have your informed the class of how to respond in those situations for the bird’s safety?
Depending on your science class and grade level there’s also chemical aspects to consider. Biology dissection specimens will be kept in buckets of formaldehyde which is a carcinogenic, bad for people and worse for birds to be breathing in. Chemistry may be doing the balloon helium explosion experiment or playing around with sodium and water to make small fireworks (which my chem teacher burnt a hole in the roof doing) or other reactions which release fumes that will be bad for the bird. Doesn’t matter if it happened in your block or the block prior, those chemicals will be in the air and won’t be good for them.
I have taken Zeeby in to school for presentation in the past, once for a project on avian evolution where she helped demonstrate the use of zygodactyl feet and how hollow bones help her fly and another for an exiting presentation where I had to demonstrate what I wanted to do with my life, Zeeby demonstrated complex tricks and helped me show the relationships built through training along with more personal things I won’t get in to. For these situations I was extremely over prepared for them, I had cleared it with the teacher, ensure no one had phobias or allergies, had permissions to keep the doors and windows shut. I know my birds well and knew that Zeeby would be okay in this environment, she’s well socialized, been exposed to a lot of varying environments for a very long time, her recall is extremely reliable, and I know she is a relatively calm bird. Beginning of the presentation I quickly said something along the lines of “Please don’t get up and move around too much and keep your voice calm, they’ll likely be fine but I would really appreciate it if you could. If one of them does take off just sit still, she won’t hurt you and won’t hurt herself as long as you stay in your seats, getting up trying to catch her or running away may cause her to get scared and hurt herself.” so everyone knew what to do and we could proceed easily. She was there for 1-2 hours so she didn’t have to sit through block changes and noisy people coming in and out and I have permission to leave before the bell so she could be calmly transported through the halls and back home. I knew myself well, I knew that I would be able to have my desire for her safety be more important than impressing peers or walking around with a puffed out chest, I knew I would listen to her instead of trying to impress anyone. I understood the risks involved and prepared for them as much as possible, I knew how to remain level-headed and would be solid in my ability to react appropriately if anything goes wrong.
If you bring a bird to school you need to be able to assess the situation, assess yourself, and assess them, if anything is even slightly risky its just not worth it.
With regards to the pipe cleaners and pom poms, they won’t be vegetable dyed and may be made of a tougher thread meaning it may compact in the crop and leach chemicals in to their systems if they eat it. Pipecleaners also have metal in them, not sure what it is actually but that’s something to look in to and any glues will likely not be super good for them to be chewing on should they decide to.
All in all it’s really up to how you feel your bird would treat the experience, how well you know them, how they tend to react, how reliable they are, and how much you can trust yourself not to be swayed by your peers. It can be fun if you and your bird are readily prepared for the situation but otherwise it can end up being a stressful disastrous mess.