A question about Bedtime

[MyGrey-Gary]

I'll need to know for next week - since I will keep (Mr. Grey - currently don't know what I'm going to name him yet since he's not here) in the Family room, is it ok to put a sheet/blanket over his cage at 9pm or so when we are still downstairs watching TV and talking? Do I just go by him? whenever I see him starting to doze - I cover him? And over the course of the week, I'll figure out when he likes to sleep?

 

Same thing for early in the morning -

My routine is to head downstairs, let the dogs out/back in, make a cup of coffee for my wife and I, then head back upstairs. Will that wake him? do I uncover him at that time? or do I wait until I go back downstairs to spend 5-10 min with him before I go to work?

[Dave007]

If your bird is gonna be in the general area where people, action, TV are going on, the cover is best. As time goes on, if you see a big change in the bird's natural attitude towards everything, you can try to remove the cover. You may have to put it back on in a few days if you see that the bird doesn't like being uncovered. Some birds have a serious desire for a cover; others don't.. What you don't wanna do is cover and uncover and cover and uncover in short amounts of time. Either put it on through the night or don't. Especially if you have other animals around.

[judygram]

My fids are in the family room and I cover all of them at night and always have, they know its time for bed when I get the covers in my hand and they generally quieten down and go to sleep.

[Guest]

My birds are in the kitchen, in the hub of the home. I don't cover. I keep a towel/piece of fabric over the roof of the cage partway all the time. This way, if they want privacy or shade, it's always accesible. I notice when it's bedtime (self-imposed), they simply climb up on the perches that they like to sleep on and go to sleep.

 

Out of consideration to them, I try to keep the activity level and noise level to a minimum starting around 10 PM, and try to not get too much going either, till around 8 or 9 AM. (I live alone so ther isn't a lot of chaos, though I do have two dogs as well, and a cat.)

 

I have read in many sources, and heard from a couple of birdy vets, that you can cover them if you like but if they are not tired, they just sit in there, wishing they were out with their family, still part of the action. Just my $.02.

[Luvparrots]

My parrots have their own bird room and so they go to bed every night at 7:00 pm. Actually my ekkie insists, if the lights aren't out by 7:00 pm he screams until the lights go out. Everyone is in their cages by 7:00 pm or the wrath of Sully rains down on all of them. I don't cover their cages as I believe birds need fresh and circulating air.

Edited February 15, 2011 by luvparrots

[FirstPenguin]

I'm a big believer that just covering is not enough if the cage is in the main space. For night owls like myself, a sleep cage away from the main space is absolutely necessary. Birds, budgies to greys, are sensitive prey animals and are highly tuned into their environment. So if you're going to stay up more than an hour after your bird in the main space I highly encourage you to consider roosting your bird somewhere else. Even if you're absolutely quiet the vibrations of clunky human shoes on brittle building materials is easily picked up by your fid. Just my two cents, covering isn't enough.

[Birdnut]

Moussa's cage is in the dining room -- just around the corner from the living room. I do cover his cage. First I turn out his full-spectrum light; then after a little while I turn out the lights in the dining room. Then when I see that he seems to have composed himself on his perch for sleep, I cover his cage. He will be still and quiet after that, except for some sleepy beak grinding. I uncover him in the morning when I hear him begin to stir around.

 

After Moussa has gone to bed, we are usually up watching TV for a while, but I try to keep the volume low and the lights down low.

 

I would recommend covering Mr. Grey's cage with something a bit more opaque than a sheet. We have found some light-weight, inexpensive table cloths that cut the light a lot better than sheets. They come in various sizes, and if necessary, you can use more than one, sewing them together or clipping them together with clothespins. They are easy to throw in the washer occasionally to keep them clean.

 

And thank you for taking Mr. Grey into your heart and your home.

[FirstPenguin]

It's really easy to do, take any material you plan to cover the cage with toss it over your head with the lights on or better sunlight and if you see any light coming through it's most likely too light a material.

[Lambert58]

We cover the cages of our conures and our greys once they go to bed. Having said that: Our fids have large cages in a great room that is open to 7 very large windows so the light bleed from town dictates that we cover the cages. That, and we make about 3 trips per night to the fridge for water or ice cream

[MyGrey-Gary]

Great comments - Thanks! Gives me a sense in what everyone is doing. Last night (being the first night Gary was with us), I could see that Gary was getting sleepy at about 9pm ish. So I went ahead and covered him up. We also went upstairs so he had it nice and quiet. Not sure if it will go like this every night - but seemed to go well.

 

Thanks again!

[Cheshire Cat]

My Grey is in my bedroom as I still live with my parents and my mom has lung problems, so Tui is in my room with me. I tend to cover her cage over anywhere between 9 and 10pm. Then I take the cover back off her before I go to work.

[InfamousAlice]

Does anyone have "sleep cages" for the birds? I've never tried anything like this and the idea is intriguing. My apartment isn't huge so it seems a little silly but I wonder how it would affect my grey.....

[FirstPenguin]

Does anyone have "sleep cages" for the birds? I've never tried anything like this and the idea is intriguing. My apartment isn't huge so it seems a little silly but I wonder how it would affect my grey.....

 

Sleep cages are great for small apartments, and great in general. They can help with cage aggression and simulate a natural behavior since birds don't roost in the same areas they play and forage in. I've mentioned my personal setup many times while championing the sleep cage but once more won't hurt. I'm often in a small city apartment. So I have a smaller sleep cage that sits on the upper shelf of a coat closet down the hall from the main space. It works great since we're up moving around after she needs to be covered up. She has the smallest avitech heating panel and a heavy duty cover. This helps us rest easy since the temperature of the main space can fluctuate greatl during the winter nights. Plus the small enclosed space and the closet door helps reduce noise transmission, it's a paneled accordion style door so there is plenty of air exchange in case you were wondering. We even go to the even go to the point of putting an ambient noise machine in the closet to help cover up any extraneous noise you hear through in a typical apartment building.

 

I actually think it makes even more sense in a small apartment if you're not on the exact same schedule as your bird. As much as I want to sleep 12 hours a day. That just isn't going to happen.

[Sherrie]

Greyson is in the living room with us. I have to walk right past his cage to move from room to room- I cover him up at abt 9pm every nite, He has imposed his own bedtime hour..Everynite abt 8:30 he starts acting like he's ready to go to his cage for the nite!! I cover the back and sides and leave the side where he is perched uncovered so he can watch what's going on in the house if he wakes and the light gets turned off in his area...then when we go to bed around 12'ish I cover him completely-- If he is not ready to go to "bed" and I cover completely he gets really upset with that so this is what works best for him! when we wake in the morn, the first thing I do is uncover him and put him on his tower to pooh-(he will not pooh in his cage, and don't want him to hold it too much longer ) then he goes back to his cage for his breakfast and I go do my thing (coffee, smoke, get dressed etc...then he gets to come back out and on his tower.... when he gets sleepy he will sleep on his tower- nothing seems to interrup his sleep--Tv,phone,dogs etc-- he never flinches to any loud noises-- then routine starts all over again at 9pm!!! He does not have a sleep cage nor do I feel a need for one--- maybe you should ask the pple that are taking care of him right now what his routine is for now and ask if he likes his cage covered etc...

[rbpittman]

Mine literally tell me it's "night night" time and kick me out of my own office! Dixie and flock have always had light's out at 8:30 sharp (an arbitrary time I picked) and it's been that way since I got her. We go through a routine of night time kisses, starting with Dixie and ending with Dixie again, but even Morgan has picked up on the theme, when he's tired he start's the night night, Dixie definitely finishes it with "night night MOM!" I don't cover cages as the birds are in my office. Sterling (U2) lives in the living room where my son spends the majority of his time. Sterling has a specific time he think's LP should be in bed - 9:00 pm - of course this is after I've put the majority of the flock to bed, made the coffee for the next day in the kitchen, finished whatever dishes may still be in the sink and then head to my own room. Friday and Saturday nights are the worst since LP doesn't have school the next day he's relegated to watching tv in Mom's room until his 10 pm bedtime. Sterling has a very loud call of bedtime so it's one that is not ignored. The parakeets are in Sarah's room and don't get covered although I'm sure with her night owl tendencies they wish they did.

 

Robin

[MarcusCAG]

In our household, the boys only get covered in the wintertime when it's exceptionally cold (and I get paranoid). Otherwise, Marcus and Beaker remain uncovered for the night. They have their own bedroom though, so it is not as if they are in the middle of everything.

 

For whatever reason, Beaker, our Quaker parrot, has decided that 9:30 is bedtime--and that's that! He will scream his little head off otherwise, something I'm sure the neighbors don't appreciate (haha), so I try to have them 'put to bed' by 9:40 at the general latest. Beaker will go immediately to sleep but it takes Marcus, our CAG, a loooooooong time to fall asleep, himself. Sometimes we wonder if he ever sleeps at all, really.

[Talon]

One of my 3 birds has a sleep cage in my bedroom. The other 2 don't and they sleep downstairs. All my birds get covered at night. Their cages are big, so a black sheet only covers the top half. They can go down further in to peek out in the am while they wait for me to get them up. Bedtime is anywhere from 8-9pm depending on our household schedule.

[Jingles]

i moved jasper's cage into our room and i put a towel over the top to block out the light from the tv, it's cozy up there and dark ... although, he hates me putting the towel on his cage. hisses and crouches down low with his beak open... but, after i get it on, he's completely fine and goes up there when he's ready for sleep.

[thenabrd]

i use an old lace table cloth for athena, our peach front conure. i cover all of her cage but the front. for lona, our newly adopted grey, i have a dark sheet on the back area of her cage in case she feels the need for a more "secure" space. then at night i use a lighter sheet for the top and sides and leave one end of her cage uncovered. they get some low level light this way. we have a 12 1/2 year old husky and his bladder doesn't last the night anymore. so some nights he needs out 2-3 times. so to help prevent the birds from becoming spooked and trying to "fly" to safety, we leave them with the ability to "see". bed time on work nights is 7 pm or so, since we get up around 4 am! non work nights, its closer to 9-10 pm. but they get to "sleep" in the next morning, lol!!! i'm keeping a look out for a really large lace table cloth to use for lona. i'm thinking by this weekend i can get rid of the dark sheet on the back area of her cage. she's been very vocal and outgoing since we got her last saturday, so hopefully she'll be ready for it to be removed.

[reggieroo]

Murphy goes to bed in his cage at around 8-9pm every night & gets covered up with a fleece throw that helps keep any light out of his cage. His cage is in the hallway, light off & not much activity there as we spend our evenings in the living room. 99.9% of the time he goes quiet once the cover is on him, every now & then I hear him moving around his cage mostly at his food dish stuffing his face but generally he just goes to sleep. Sometimes I peek in & he's asleep with his head all tucked up standing on one foot, so I know he gets his rest.

 

Morning comes & Kate is up at 6.30 to get ready for work, she keeps noise down to a minimum as not to wake me, my daughter or Murphy. We all stay in bed till 9am, well I do & they wake me up. I either hear Murphy whistling & playing with his birdy babble ball or my daughter Ella-Rose playing in her cot, which wakes me if I over sleep. They both make great alarm clocks........lol. Once I'm up I go get Ella-Rose, change her nappy & put the kettle on to make her bottle & then uncover Murphy for a fresh new day.

 

It seems to work just fine for us all.

Edited February 16, 2011 by reggieroo

[Morana]

We have a very, very small apartment and in my opinion my Zak would like to sleep a bit more but he can't because my boyfriend gets up early. Also, we are very dynamic people in the evening so Zak goes to his cage at 10, 10:30PM and he would like to stay out a while longer if he could because he can't sleep till we go to sleep + he starts to be playful little devil around 6PM and could keep it up till 11 if we would let him. Strange bird ;-) So, we put him in a cage, and he has time to eat and play a bit more till we are ready for bed. We have our routine and then I cover him. Covers are in parts so some are longer and some are a bit shorter because IMO, they need fresh air. If someone wants/needs to stay up a while longer, they must go in another room, dim the lights, if watching/listening something use earphones because the rest of us are asleep and everything else you do, needs to be super quiet. Of course the parrot can hear you so it is not such a great rest for her but it can be tolerated from time to time. In the morning, Zvone is very quiet not to wake us but sometimes he wakes us both and we do our best to go back to sleep. Usually if I get up too early I let him sleep till 8 and then uncover him.

Around 8:30AM Zak would be 100% awake but he wont make any sound till 9, 9:30 if he is not uncovered (if by any chance someone is sleeping that late!). So if you were out all night, it is tough luck for you because he won't let you sleep. He is like an alarm clock. I read they need approx 10hours of uninterrupted sleep but for now my Zak can't have it :-(

IMO your bird should be in a separate room to have his peace and quiet and you should respect that and be quiet as you can so he could get enough sleep.