Ruffled Feathers

Ruffled Feathers Your support helps us continue this vital work. 💕✨ The rescue and rehabilitation of the harder to adopt parrots in need.

🦜 Ruffled Feathers Parrot Sanctuary Inc. 🏡💚
Providing a safe haven for parrots & wildlife in need. 🌿🐦 Dedicated to expert care, rehabilitation & second chances. We are a 501c3 non profit organization formed in 2015 dedicated to education about parrots, birds, and Kentucky’s local wildlife. Also the rescue, transport, and rehabilitation of injured or orphaned wildlife from around Jefferson county,

Kentucky. Working with other organizations to get as many animals help as we can. Thank you for visiting our page. We wanted to create a positive environment for sharing educational as well as fun animal related post. We don’t allow drama and we do our best to keep this a safe environment for all parrot, bird, and animal lovers to enjoy. We appreciated everyone here that participates and shares our content. The more eyes we can reach hopefully the more animals can also be saved. It takes a team and we are lucky enough to work with some of the best around who all want the same thing. To see Kentucky’s animals get the help they need. We try our best to keep the content fresh and entertaining. If you appreciate what we do please don’t hesitate to click on the donate button to help us out or to set up a monthly donation. Our monthly donators really make it possible to budget what we can afford to do from month to month. Facebook does not charge any fees when you donate though them and they also help by donating to our birds by the number of people who see the reels we share. So please share those we really appreciate it. We also have PayPal and snail mail available for donations. We also accept local donations of cages, animal related items, and general stuff which if we can’t use will sell to raise money for the rescue. Thank you everyone for visiting our page and we look forward to sharing many exciting adventures, educating each other, and enjoying our critter lives together. Be kind and this will be a page we can all enjoy. - Brad

Good news after yesterday: the part that is actually on you is the easy part. Warmth, darkness, quiet. That is basically...
06/27/2026

Good news after yesterday: the part that is actually on you is the easy part. Warmth, darkness, quiet. That is basically the whole job.

Line a box or carrier with a soft cloth. Skip terrycloth and anything with loose loops, because those little nails snag on them. Then put a lid on it, and actually secure that lid. These guys are tiny escape artists and championship-level climbers.

A warm, dark, closed box is the closest thing to mom's pouch you can offer. It keeps the baby calm while you sort out next steps. Add a gentle heat source if you have one (a wrapped warm water bottle, never directly on the skin).

Tonight we cover the other half of "quiet," and it is the one nobody wants to hear: skip the cuddles.

Following up on this morning, because we know "don't feed it" is hard to hear when there is a hungry baby in front of yo...
06/26/2026

Following up on this morning, because we know "don't feed it" is hard to hear when there is a hungry baby in front of you.

The reason is simple. A baby opossum's nutritional and medical needs are wildly specific, and the feeding technique is its own skill. Get the formula wrong, get the angle wrong, go too fast, and you can do real harm without ever meaning to.

This photo is what doing it right looks like: orphaned babies in the hands of people who do this day in and day out. That is the goal. Not a shoebox in someone's bathroom and a bottle of mystery milk.

Your job until then is the easy part, and we will cover the whole "warm, dark, quiet" setup tomorrow morning.

06/26/2026

Ten years ago this week, on May 3rd of 2016, we got the kind of phone call no rescue ever wants to get.
Another rescue had suffered a tragedy. The birds who were left behind needed somewhere to go, and they needed it fast. All of them.
We weren't the biggest sanctuary. We weren't the most prepared. We were just the ones who picked up the phone and said yes.
One of the birds who came to us that day was a Moluccan cockatoo named Baby.
She has been here every single day since. Ten years. A whole decade of mornings, of that big salmon crest shooting up the second she hears a voice in the hallway, of a bird who is exactly where she's supposed to be.
We're telling Baby's whole story this week. One short video a day, seven days. This is Episode 1.
Episode 2 drops tomorrow night.

This is the big one. The single most common mistake good people make trying to help a baby opossum is feeding or waterin...
06/26/2026

This is the big one. The single most common mistake good people make trying to help a baby opossum is feeding or watering it before a rehabber gives instructions.

Do NOT feed it. Do NOT give it water. We cannot type this loudly enough.

Cow's milk, kitten formula off your shelf, a little dish of water, all of it can kill a baby opossum shockingly fast. Their tummies are delicate, and the wrong feeding technique sends liquid straight into their lungs.

Here is the mindset that saves them: a hungry baby is a survivable baby. A baby that aspirated a syringe of milk from a stranger often is not. Leave the feeding to the people with permits and practice.

Tomorrow: what you SHOULD do instead while you wait (spoiler, it is mostly about doing less).

Closing out two weeks of May 3rd content with this one from 2017. Somebody dropped a baby off at our business and walked...
06/25/2026

Closing out two weeks of May 3rd content with this one from 2017. Somebody dropped a baby off at our business and walked away. I could not turn him away. Nine years later that single moment is one of a thousand reasons this sanctuary exists. Every May 3rd has given us a story, and every year I get to look back and remember the rescues we made, the birds who became family, and the snapping turtles that almost took my fingers off. That is a pretty good way to mark a day.

Thank you for riding through the whole series with us. Over the Years will be back on the next big date. Between now and then we will be doing what we always do. Rescuing. Releasing. Showing up. ❤️

Bonus tip that pairs with yesterday: whenever you find one baby opossum, look around. Where there is one, there are usua...
06/25/2026

Bonus tip that pairs with yesterday: whenever you find one baby opossum, look around. Where there is one, there are usually siblings nearby.

Then get quiet and listen for a soft little "sneezing" sound. That is not a cold. That is literally how baby opossums call out to find each other. Follow the sneezes.

If you find more, keep them together in the same warm, secure box. Siblings stay with siblings. It keeps them calmer and it keeps them warmer, and warmth is everything for a baby this small.

Tomorrow we hit the single biggest mistake well-meaning people make. Do not miss it, because it is the one that quietly kills.

We will be honest with you, this is the hard one. But it saves lives, so here it is.A huge number of orphaned opossums c...
06/25/2026

We will be honest with you, this is the hard one. But it saves lives, so here it is.

A huge number of orphaned opossums come from moms who got hit by a car. So if you pass an opossum that did not make it, especially in spring and summer, it is genuinely worth pulling over to check. Females have a pouch right on the belly, and there may be living babies tucked safely inside who have no idea anything is wrong.

Wear gloves, gently check the pouch, and if you find babies, get them warm and call a rehabber. A roadside pouch check is not a glamorous way to spend your afternoon. We know. We also know we have saved a whole lot of lives because somebody was willing to do exactly that.

Tomorrow: once you have got one, how to find its siblings (listen for a sound you would never expect).

Ten years ago, May 3rd, 2016, Ray Ray got philosophical and told Kiki "sometimes the questions are complicated and the a...
06/25/2026

Ten years ago, May 3rd, 2016, Ray Ray got philosophical and told Kiki "sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple." Dr. Seuss said it first, but Ray delivered it better. Two cockatoos, a free evening, one universal truth. Cannot beat this place.

Nine years ago on a May 3rd, Jade hit us with this one: "Everyone should be able to do one card trick, tell two jokes, a...
06/24/2026

Nine years ago on a May 3rd, Jade hit us with this one: "Everyone should be able to do one card trick, tell two jokes, and recite three poems, in case they are ever caught short for entertainment." Words to live by from a parrot who definitely could not do any of those things but had absolutely mastered the art of looking like he could.

Real talk: nobody is carrying a tape measure around their yard. We are not either.So here is the field hack. A dollar bi...
06/24/2026

Real talk: nobody is carrying a tape measure around their yard. We are not either.

So here is the field hack. A dollar bill is right around six inches long, which makes it a shockingly good ruler in a pinch. Lay it next to the baby's body (nose to base of tail, tail does not count).

Shorter than the bill? That baby needs help.
Clearly longer than the bill? You have most likely got a perfectly capable juvenile who just looks helpless, because honestly, they all do at that age.

One dollar, one quick measure, and you have your answer. Tomorrow we get into the hard one: the roadside check that saves more lives than almost anything else on this list.

Address

Injured Wildlife Drop Off 4700 Dixie Highway By Appointment Only
Louisville, KY
40216

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 4pm
Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

+15022357493

Website

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