Bedtime

[Gizmo_efc]

Hi everyone,

 

I was just after a bit of advice regarding sleeping/bedtime.

 

Usually Gizmo doesnt get covered up until I go to bed, and if I'm being honest he sometimes only gets around 7 hours covered up asleep.

 

Tonight for the first time (He's 20 months old and ive had him since he was 12 weeks old) I've covered him up whilst i'm still downstairs and have the TV on.

 

Ive covered him up and switched the light off in the living room so its not too bright but i can still hear him moving about and preening (i think).

 

Ive decided to do this as he 1) i dont think he's getting enough sleep and 2) He has started screeching and making a very loud sharp noise throughout the day which is vey annoying and i think it may be linked.

 

I'm just a bit worried he'll still stay awake whilst im downstairs and the TV is on?

 

Also, just another quick question, what would you suggest as a good time for a grey to be awake and uncovered? 12 hours?

[Elvenking]

I cover Issac from 10\11 PM to 7:30-8AM. When I do cover him...sometimes he mounches on veggies...but shortly after...I can always hear the beak nashing...that is when I know he is settling in. I do have the TV on low after that till I go to bed...but he seems no worse for it...so long as it's not loud. He also has the house to himself while I am at work, and I am sure he naps in the day too.

 

As far as how long to cover him...I say only over night...all other times uncovered. if he sleeps 10 hours (which is recommended) then 14 hours uncovered. It's only for sleep and never for any other reason.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[judygram]

Elvenking wrote:

As far as how long to cover him...I say only over night...all other times uncovered. if he sleeps 10 hours (which is recommended) then 14 hours uncovered. It's only for sleep and never for any other reason.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

That is exactly right Stephen, only cover them at night and that is what I do to both my birds and they are quiet after covered and I usually don't hear a peep out of them until they are uncovered in the morning.

[Xtreme575]

Yes, their sleep is important, I notice a difference in Paco's behaviour if I have been selfish and kept him up to long. I know I should put him to bed by 8 each night, but then I don't feel that I give him enough out of cage time, so I keep him up until 930...

 

His cage is in the same room as my tv, I turn it down, and like Stephen, hear him settle in shortly after covering the cage. He stays that way until 7 when I get up, but unlike many birds, he lets out a jungle holler as soon as he hears me, not waiting for the cage cover to come off.

[bigbird519]

another option that i personally don't do (i have no where to put it), is to get a seperate cage for sleeping. put it in a quite room and give him ten hours in that cage. greys do require quite a bit of sleep as stephen already stated. and as for mojo, i sometimes stay up with a tv on until midnight. when this happens, i do see it in his attitude the following day.

[JillyBeanz]

Harvey only gets his full quota on a weekend. He is ALWAYS covered at 9pm - but he is in the hall in my home and we close all the doors and he is covered and it is dark and quiet too. Greys don't sleep unless there is complete silence - a TV being on or movement will keep them awake (even if covered). In the wild they will only sleep when it is silent (it's a predator thing). Harvey gets woken up at 06.00am when I come downstairs - or he wouldn't get fed!

 

On the flipside - he is a much nicer bird on the weekend when he's had his full 10 - 12 hours!!

[Jane08]

Our also don't get the full amount of sleep at night, but I don't worry as they do sleep during the day while I am at work. I get them up at 6am and they probably go to bed at 2130 or 2200. I also don't leave food in their room at night and they are uncovered sleeping on a spiral perch that hangs from the roof.

 

We are lucky in that they have their own room. Sometimes if Rangi gets tired he will fly down to the 1st level of the house and then fly into his bedroom and go to sleep<br><br>Post edited by: Jane08, at: 2010/03/05 15:19

[Luvparrots]

My fids go to bed at 7:00 pm, my ekkie (10+ years) insists or he will squawk up a storm. Ana Grey(19-months) agrees as she is always up on her sleeping perch at that time ready for nite nite. I must turn off the lights and close the door or my ekkie will squawk until the roof comes down. Ana Grey starts practicing her talking when the sun comes up and Sully starts squawking for breakfast around 8am if it hasn't all ready arrived!!! So they have set their own schedule and I just comply!

[Brittany]

Hmm..

 

Pepper goes to sleep around at the earliest 9:30pm, and the latest 10 - 11pm..but most times not that late because I, myself am always tired LOL

 

and on weekdays usually I'll get her up between 630isham - 8am depends.

 

Normally she doesnt make a sound in her cage, unless she is up and doesnt wanna be in there anymore. Every morning I take her out she usually stretches then goes "WOO" and steps up! =) lol

 

So I guess she doesn't get the full sleep, but it doesn't seem to affect her mood at all. She takes naps during the days....and yea!

[Janfromboone]

I wonder if it is important that the birds cage is covered at night. I never have covered Tobies cage at night and I wonder if I should. He hates bedtime. He chews his nail when I put him in the cage at night and then does this treadmill thing on the side of the cage. We do our nighty night ritual and I turn out the lights and leave him and he immediately seems to settle down. Should I cover him at night?? Why do we cover the cages?

[Elvenking]

Cage covering sets bedtime regardless of your bedtime. They feel secure when ther are no distractions and and its sets a routine. When i cover Issac, I hear one of two things..beak nashing (signal of getting cozy) or eating followed by beak nashing. It works wonders. At first I left him uncovered...but he kept lookin at me..and wondering what I am doing. It sets up a report when they see the sheets going over...they know what time it is. You definitely should cover your grey unless you have lights out the same time as your bird. Then maybe...but I recommend it highly.<br><br>Post edited by: Elvenking, at: 2010/03/06 05:04

[Brittany]

Oh, I definitely think they should be covered.

 

It lets them know that it's bed time, and they probably sleep 10x better with the cage covered.

 

Pepper loves being covered; whether it's in her cage or on my lap.

[danmcq]

To cover or not to cover is a topic that normally brings a 50 - 50 split from people who do and don't.

 

It is not a MUST.

 

We have always covered our birds at night, but thats us.

 

Jake the conure flies to his cage and starts screaming for us to close his cage and cover him at the first darkness of evening (right now, about 630). Once Jake is covered, he is done, silent and not moving or beak grinding at all.... He's DONE.

 

Dayo wants to stay up until he is certain that we have shut the TV off and started our household retirement to bed ritual.

 

However, we always try to get him to his cage and covered by 8 or 830. He does not become silent however. He sits and grinds his beak, maybe eats a couple of seeds etc. and then may or may not be a sleep in the next 20 or 30 minutes.

 

Birds in nature and in our homes always keep an eye open and alert at anything out of the normal. If I walk silent as a ghost by either of my birds cages when you would think they have been sound a sleep for an hour or two. Dayo will flutter his wings and Jake will make a cute little worry some two tone sound.

 

In the wild, they are never in "Pitch Black". There is always some light from the moon and stars.

 

All critters, whether bird or beast will awake in an instant if they hear an abnormal background noise. They know their environment and every normal sound in it and will sleep right through it normally. But, even an imperceptible sound by us, will alert them.

 

If anything, the only thing covering does is stop any breezes from air vents and give them a little more feeling of security perhaps by feeling hidden and enclosed. However, if they hear something that alarms them, it is probably nerve racking to them in not being able to see where the noise came from and what caused it.

 

Also, ALL birds and critters nap on and off through out the day which probably totals up to what they need respectively in terms of total hours of sleep.<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2010/03/06 16:59

[pearllyn]

Alfies normal bedtime is 10pm, but if we've been away all day, she get's to stay up a bit longer. When we put her to bed at 10, she usually resists, but as soon as the cover gets picked up, she's straight into her birdie bunk and that's her - never a peep. If she get's to stay up untill we go to bed, she goes in willingly at the mere mention of bed!

We never hear a peep out of her until we get up in the morning, which varies wildly! She never sleeps in her bunk during the day, but does nap on her perch.

She does get very stroppy without her beauty sleep!

[rbpittman]

My greys are in my office and as a rule of family, I am not out there past 7:30 pm. This makes it very easy to have a strict bed-time for all of my babies who's cages are in my office (4 of them). I do not cover them however as I turn off the television, all the lights are out and my office is on the opposite end of the house from the rest of the family comings and goings. I may have to come up with something different for the summer and my office windows. Sterling's cage (U2) is in the living room however, and we do cover him at night promptly at 8:00. This schedule works year round for us, especially since the summer months leave us with light until 9:00 pm. I think you have to look at the amount of sleep your bird is getting and how much stimulation is interrupting that sleep.

 

Robin