Moving -- best logistical approach?

Hi all! Our move is fast approaching. I'm trying to figure out the best logistical approach to handling the bird (and cat) part of the move. With the cats in the past we've always had a room we could cordon off in the new house, where they could stay for the duration of the chaos. In this case, we are going to need mover help in every single room except the bathrooms.

The movers will pack up one day, load the next, park overnight at their HQ, drive to our new home and unload the following day. We are planning to stay in a hotel room near the new home that second night. The bird cages will almost certainly need to get moved by the movers. We are renting a trailer, but I don't think with my husband's back problem we can realistically unload it and make a second trip with the cages. It will already be filled with the stuff the movers won't move. The options for the birds include:

1) Stay with us in their travel carriers for the better part of 48 hours (but probably locked in a bathroom most of that time).
2) board them for 2-3 days
3) Stay in a bathroom in their travel carriers at the new home the first night.
4) Stay in a bathroom in their travel carriers at the old home the first night.

The travel carriers are not all that large, I worry about having them so confined for so long. The cages are likely to be the last thing on the van and the first thing off, but they will need to be stripped down and cleaned prior to loading. I really don't want anyone to get out and get lost or injured in the fray.

FWIW I have much the same options for the cats, replace travel carrier with crates, and they can be loose in a bathroom (not the same one as the birds!) once transported. Unfortunately the master bathroom, which is ample, does not have a separate door from the Master bedroom.

Any suggestions?

For my move, the drive was 2 days, and then for the first day and night here they were still in their travel cages. I didn't take them out at all during this period, I mean, I didn't want them flying everywhere in a new place, with all the chaos going on.

I think a real comfort for my guys was that they were all near each other. They were never alone. Plus, they each had two perches and two toys from their cages for comfort.

They were kept in the now bird room for the first day. There was no furniture minus the cages that had to be moved in there. But, a bathroom would be your best choice.

During the day of unpacking though, I did bring Einstein's travel cage into the other rooms where ever I went, when it was just me there. He would contact call me, but was quiet as long as he could see me. The budgies were perfectly content the whole time.

They don't seem to be traumatized by the experience. The small travel cages are in the bird room, and they'll land on them and climb around. So there is no fear or angst about it.

I don't know if this was very much help or not.

It's just that the travel cages are very small... I do also have one "hotel cage" so they could each go up one size after transport. What did you have for travel cages?

In a perfect world, i'd leave them in their travel cages at the old home and have their old cages set up when they arrive at the new home. My birds seem to tolerate their travel cages well if in usual surroundings. Making the drive at night ,might also be an option.It would depend on how well your fids travel.(Teils don't travel well at night without some sort of light.)

I'm with this boat right with you. Except I need to find a foster.

We're looking into boarding the cats, but taking the birds with us. I'm reluctant to leave them in the old house because it's a long enough drive that it would probably be late into the second day before I could go and check on them. Plus with all the furniture gone, they'd either be in a less familiar room or on the floor. So I think they'll be stuck in travel cages in a hotel overnight... it's that or board them, I think. Everything else is too darned complicated.

Take them with you. The boarding in a strange place with strange people is more of a stress than 48 hours in a travel cage around people they know.

I agree. Take them with you. Travel cages may be hard for them but not nearly as hard as being "abandoned."

I can't speak for your Scotty or your new guy, but I expect that Scooter will travel VERY well. Both JJ and Allie have been great travelers .. Travel carriers, bags, hotels, small cages, everything. As long as they've had me its all been fine.

Our guys have moved with me a multitude of times, and a few nights in their travel cages kept them calmer than switching too much around...

Thanks for all the input guys, it's very helpful!