Almost every bird keeper says the same thing afterwards, and says it as an accusation against themselves. He was fine yesterday. Families arranging bird cremations Leigh households need are very often carrying that sentence around, convinced they missed something obvious. In nearly every case they did not, because a bird will conceal illness right up to the point where concealing it is no longer possible. Heavenly Pastures is a family run business handling pet cremations for homes across the borough.
Why Birds Hide It So Completely
Every bird you have ever kept is descended from prey. In a flock, an animal that visibly weakens is the one taken, so the instinct to appear well is not a habit but a hardwired survival response that operates whether or not there is anything to hide from. A canary in a front room in Leigh has no predators and still runs the same programme. The result is that a bird can be seriously unwell for a fortnight while sitting up, eating in front of you and singing, and only stops performing when the reserves run out.
The Signs Are Real But They Are Late
The things keepers are told to watch for, sitting fluffed on the cage floor, tail bobbing with each breath, eyes half closed, a bird going quiet, are all genuine. What is rarely said is that by the time they appear the illness is usually well advanced. That is not a failure of observation on your part. It is the nature of the animal. Keepers who noticed something on the Tuesday and lost the bird on the Wednesday did not act too slowly, they simply were not given more warning than that.
A Town That Has Always Kept Birds
Leigh has a long tradition of cage birds and lofts, and it has not really gone away. There are still back yards along the terraced streets with a shed or a small aviary at the end of them, and still households where the birds were inherited along with the knowledge of how to keep them. That matters because keepers here are often experienced people who feel the guilt more sharply for it, having assumed that thirty years of birds should have told them something sooner. It usually could not have.
What to Do in the First Hours
Very little, and none of it quickly. Lift your bird out of the cage and put them somewhere cool and undisturbed, wrapped in a soft cloth or in a small box. Warmth is what you want to avoid. Then ring when you are ready. We answer Monday to Friday, half eight until four, with an out of hours arrangement at an extra charge, and there is nothing that has to be done in the meantime. The page covering our cremation service following natural death goes through it properly.
Where Your Bird Would Go
There is no crematorium, office or unit of ours in Leigh, and none anywhere nearby. Everything is carried out at our crematorium in Burscough, near Ormskirk. We will come out and collect, or you may prefer to bring your bird to us in person, which for a small bird many keepers find they would rather do. Our Leigh pet cremations page covers collection locally in more detail.
Will There Be Anything to Return
This is the question keepers of small birds most want to ask and most often do not. The answer is yes. An individual cremation service keeps your bird entirely separate, carrying identification at every stage, with the ashes given back into your hands. A communal cremation service means cremation with other animals and nothing returned to any household. The choice is genuinely open to you whatever the size of the bird, and assuming otherwise has cost people something they wanted.
Budgies, Canaries, Finches and the Larger Birds
Our small pets individual cremation service covers the whole range, from a finch through to a parrot who has been part of the household for thirty years and knew every voice in it. The arrangements are the same in either case and so is the care taken.
What You Will Pay
Cost follows the service chosen and the size of the bird, plus a collection band based on the drive from Burscough. Birds are at the lower end of the range. The current figures live on the pet cremation price list rather than being quoted in an article that would drift.
The Cage, and What to Do With It
Keepers who have lost their only bird are frequently left with a cage in the corner of a room and no idea what they are supposed to feel about it. There is no rush and no right answer. Some people dismantle it the same afternoon because the sight is unbearable, and others leave it standing for months. Where the bird was one of a pair, do not move the survivor into a different cage straight away simply because the old one now looks too big. Familiar surroundings are worth a great deal to a bird that has just lost its companion, and rearranging everything at once tends to unsettle them further rather than help.
Whether We Reach Your Street
Leigh and the surrounding villages are all covered. Everywhere else on our round appears on the areas we cover page if you need to check for somebody else.
Getting in Touch
Ring 01704 776976 and say what you need to, including the part about feeling you should have spotted it. If writing is easier, our contact form comes to the same office and is answered. Asking obliges you to nothing.