I live in a country where Indian Ringneck Parakeets (an invasive parrot species) are very common. My family – my wife, our two daughters (7 and 4), and I – live on the second floor of a suburban apartment building. One day, a pair of these parrots decided to build their nest inside the ventilation duct of our laundry room.
Right from the start, I knew this was a problem, but I ignored it. My daughters enjoyed watching the birds, and their chirping was actually quite pleasant at first. Over time, however, their chirping echoed through the vent system, and a smell of dust and bird droppings started spreading into the laundry room. I realized I had to deal with it.
I hired a pest control professional to evict the birds and seal the vent. He even brought a crane to reach the duct, which increased the cost. I watched from my window as one parrot flew out, and he sealed the vent with a plastic cover and silicone. I asked if he was sure both parrots had left, and he said yes.
Later that day, though, I still heard chirping from the vent. In fact, I heard the noise about five minutes after the pest control guy had just left. I called him, and he told me to leave the laundry room light on; the trapped bird would eventually leave. Days passed, but the bird didn’t come out. Over the weekend, the male parrot kept trying to chew his way back in, apparently trying to rescue his mate. My daughters found it adorable that he was trying to save his “wife,” but my wife and I were horrified—it was heartbreaking.
By Monday, the pest control guy did come back, but he didn’t have the right equipment because he thought the wall was made of a different material than it actually was. He said he couldn’t fix the problem until Thursday.
By Wednesday, the chirping stopped. We saw the male parrot for the last time then. On Thursday, the pest control guy opened the vent and found not only the female parrot but also two nearly grown chicks – dead. He removed the bodies, and I cleaned the laundry room vent from feathers and droppings.
Then, just when I thought it was over, the pest control guy called me shortly after leaving to mention there might have been lice in the vent. I immediately sprayed the laundry room with insecticide, took a hot shower, and washed my hair with lice shampoo (a standard item in a house with two kids), just to be safe.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell my wife about the chicks. That part of the story I’m keeping to myself.
TL;DR: Ignored a parrot nest in my laundry room vent. Hired pest control, but one parrot and two chicks got trapped and died. Had to treat the room for lice afterward.
Disclaimer: English is not my native language. I used ChatGPT to help correct mistakes and improve the writing.
Comments
Oh what a horrible story. Hopefully ringnecks don’t mate for life.
Sorry
That’s really sad, OP. I hope you don’t feel too bad. You didn’t mean them any harm.
You did not intentionally do harm, and you did your best to fix it. What happened was not your responsibility or your fault. Sometimes life just sucks. Don’t be too hard on yourself for it
You didnt kill em, the pest control guy is to blame.
Sucks for the birds but they are an invasive species so no real loss
Hugs. There isnt always a good ending to stuff like this but to be fair you tried to get them out using a professional.
Side note, birds are cute and all but they can be a nuisance for sure. In my area we have to abate these egrets because they are very destructive and very protected. Most people learn after not preventing their nesting once to never allow another again.
Frankly you should have called that guy back the moment you heard chirping to get back there – there’s no way he didn’t know the female and chicks weren’t in there.
And frankly you knew there was a nest and sealed it up without making sure chicks weren’t out? What did you think was happening?
Imbecile worker lied about both birds leaving. 100% blood on their hands.
leave a bad review. I mean I would have called animal rescue at that point. knowing an animal is dying