Katie’s Bird Aviary Extention/revamp/upgrade
Donation protected
I am Katie from Katie’s Birds. I have been running a not-for-profit home-based bird sanctuary for just over 4 years now, offering a home to neglected, abused, deformed, relinquished and unreleasable birds. I’m not a breeder and do not breed any of my birds. I prefer to offer homes to all the unwanted, neglected birds rather than breeding and adding to the problem.
About 5 years ago I suffered debilitating anxiety that made me so sick I was bedridden for 9 months with anorexia. My throat would close up at the sight or smell of food and I was basically only drinking fluids. I was hospitalised 3 times over the 9 months and was warned by doctors if I didn’t get some weight on my body, I may not make it. I was too weak to return to work but wanted to get my mind off myself as I was severely depressed being so weak and skinny. I remember sobbing in bed one day praying to God to save me somehow. Nothing was pulling me out of this illness and I could feel myself fading away.
Within a couple of days my auntie contacted me and asked if I could take on two budgies she had in a small cage. I agreed to take them and I bought them a much nicer sized aviary so they had more room. From there I decided to start taking in unwanted budgies and creating a beautiful enclosure for them to live in. But each day I would get calls asking if I could take in more and more different bird breeds, so I started buying more aviaries to accommodate the different species. Amazingly helping the birds has also saved me. I got my mind off myself and my illness and slowly got healthier, happier and I found my place in the world: (my calling) the birds. Who knew those two budgies were going to start off a passion in me I didn’t even know I had.
Once I was back to full health, I had already gotten deep into birds and had birds that needed 3 hourly feeds around the clock. I chose not to return to work so I could continue to care for these birds, being available for them and their feeding requirements. This has been a struggle to say the least, giving up on going back to full time work & trying to fund the many birds that come in weekly and all the cost that are involved from heating birds in incubators to running misters all day for the aviary birds; not to mention all the food, medical bills and driving around all over Perth picking birds up daily. Not that I’m complaining, I can live on very little, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t own any jewellery, I op shop for my clothing, I don’t fine dine & I drive around in a $4000 car so my birds can have the best life. My joy comes from seeing them happy. If I have money to spare, I spend it on my birds, that’s just me.
I have been wanting to revamp and upgrade my birds’ aviaries for some time now. This bank of aviaries would offer more enclosures so that I would be able to offer homes to more breeds. With my current setup, I sadly have to regularly turn people down who want to surrender their birds because I just don’t have the appropriate enclosure for the species.
I can’t do this alone unfortunately, being a mum of 3 teens on a pension with such little funds to work with, it’s near impossible for me to gather funds to do these extensions myself.
I created my Instagram account in July 2015 and in just over 3 short years have gained a following of 44,000 people all over the world, who love to watch my videos and follow my rescue stories. I have loved making these videos to share with you all, but believe me, it is also very time consuming editing videos for my pages.
Now I am at a point I really need some financial support. Sadly I receive no government funding for my rescue sanctuary. The only support I receive is from my followers through my patreon page (which currently has 67 of my 42,000 followers supporting me with a total of $650 a month) which is wonderful and helps me immensely, however most people’s weekly income exceeds that, so I’m still struggling hard to make ends meet. With 42,000 followers even a dollar from each of you would give my birds the most amazing life imaginable. They would have everything they could ever desire and the most amazing aviary set ups, and you, my followers, would get to enjoy many more different bird breeds and cool aviary videos in future.
I would like to thank everyone in advance who supports my cause. Even if it’s as little as a dollar, believe me it all adds up and means the world to me and my birds.
Alternatively if you would like to become a patreon & offer me ongoing monthly support that will be rewarded with extra content, patreon.com/katiesbirds . Or if your prefer PayPal to donate PayPal.me/katiesbirds
About 5 years ago I suffered debilitating anxiety that made me so sick I was bedridden for 9 months with anorexia. My throat would close up at the sight or smell of food and I was basically only drinking fluids. I was hospitalised 3 times over the 9 months and was warned by doctors if I didn’t get some weight on my body, I may not make it. I was too weak to return to work but wanted to get my mind off myself as I was severely depressed being so weak and skinny. I remember sobbing in bed one day praying to God to save me somehow. Nothing was pulling me out of this illness and I could feel myself fading away.
Within a couple of days my auntie contacted me and asked if I could take on two budgies she had in a small cage. I agreed to take them and I bought them a much nicer sized aviary so they had more room. From there I decided to start taking in unwanted budgies and creating a beautiful enclosure for them to live in. But each day I would get calls asking if I could take in more and more different bird breeds, so I started buying more aviaries to accommodate the different species. Amazingly helping the birds has also saved me. I got my mind off myself and my illness and slowly got healthier, happier and I found my place in the world: (my calling) the birds. Who knew those two budgies were going to start off a passion in me I didn’t even know I had.
Once I was back to full health, I had already gotten deep into birds and had birds that needed 3 hourly feeds around the clock. I chose not to return to work so I could continue to care for these birds, being available for them and their feeding requirements. This has been a struggle to say the least, giving up on going back to full time work & trying to fund the many birds that come in weekly and all the cost that are involved from heating birds in incubators to running misters all day for the aviary birds; not to mention all the food, medical bills and driving around all over Perth picking birds up daily. Not that I’m complaining, I can live on very little, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t own any jewellery, I op shop for my clothing, I don’t fine dine & I drive around in a $4000 car so my birds can have the best life. My joy comes from seeing them happy. If I have money to spare, I spend it on my birds, that’s just me.
I have been wanting to revamp and upgrade my birds’ aviaries for some time now. This bank of aviaries would offer more enclosures so that I would be able to offer homes to more breeds. With my current setup, I sadly have to regularly turn people down who want to surrender their birds because I just don’t have the appropriate enclosure for the species.
I can’t do this alone unfortunately, being a mum of 3 teens on a pension with such little funds to work with, it’s near impossible for me to gather funds to do these extensions myself.
I created my Instagram account in July 2015 and in just over 3 short years have gained a following of 44,000 people all over the world, who love to watch my videos and follow my rescue stories. I have loved making these videos to share with you all, but believe me, it is also very time consuming editing videos for my pages.
Now I am at a point I really need some financial support. Sadly I receive no government funding for my rescue sanctuary. The only support I receive is from my followers through my patreon page (which currently has 67 of my 42,000 followers supporting me with a total of $650 a month) which is wonderful and helps me immensely, however most people’s weekly income exceeds that, so I’m still struggling hard to make ends meet. With 42,000 followers even a dollar from each of you would give my birds the most amazing life imaginable. They would have everything they could ever desire and the most amazing aviary set ups, and you, my followers, would get to enjoy many more different bird breeds and cool aviary videos in future.
I would like to thank everyone in advance who supports my cause. Even if it’s as little as a dollar, believe me it all adds up and means the world to me and my birds.
Alternatively if you would like to become a patreon & offer me ongoing monthly support that will be rewarded with extra content, patreon.com/katiesbirds . Or if your prefer PayPal to donate PayPal.me/katiesbirds
Organizer
Katie Miller
Organizer
Kallaroo WA
