help please

[Ellen]

I have tried posting before but some how I cant figure how to put it in the right place. I hope you all can help me. I will jump to my specific problems. I am a new parent of a rescued grey congo. One issue I am worried about is the bird getting enough sleep. She is in the room next to the kitchen and next to the tv room. She seems to love it during the day but I cant get her to go to sleep she is like a toddler peeking and yelling from her crib wanting to know what is going on. I cover her at 7:00 pm but I have teens coming in and out of the house and I tell them to keep it down but we must live in our home. Last night she was still talking covered at about 10:30pm and then was up and ready at 6:45 am when the kids are up for school. Is this ok ? Please help

 

Ellen

[Barbara2]

How long have you had her? Do you know very much about her routine in her previous home?

[judygram]

Some people use a sleep cage in a room where they get darkness and quiet, if she is in a room where there is activity going on that may be the only option so she gets her sleep. It wouldn't have to be a big cage, just room enough to move around and of course some food and water.

[BenzMama]

Our flock bedtime is @ 9:00 ... but they are all back awake to greet hubby when he comes home from work around 10:30 each night. They know he will be stopping at every cage (yes, all 9) for a quick word & a few rubs. We do provide a night light for the Greys to avoid possible stress if they hear any odd noises. As it's getting light out earlier, they are starting to crank up around 7:00 each morning. They also have nap/quiet time around 1:00 - 3:00 daily.

 

This seems to be sufficient as all are very healthy & happy, no displayed irritability from lack of sleep ~ unlike hubby some days.

 

Have you had her thoroughly checked by a good avian vet?

[Talon]

I have the same problem. I have 3 kids, 2 are teenagers with friends coming and going all hours. Noisy at the very least! One of my birds has a sleep cage in my bedroom. The others are next to the living room. e have french doors I close on one side of the room, but the other is very open where everyone comes in and out of the house. I cover their cages with a black sheet. Their cages are large, so it only covers the top half leaving the bottom to peek out if they want. They do nap during the day and I think that helps.

Your bird will adapt, just make sure he is able to get some quiet time. I like Judy's suggestion about a sleep cage in a quiet room. That's the best solution in my opinion.

[Luvparrots]

Our greys are flock creatures and they like to be with the family so I can understand your grey wanting to interact with the family when they come and go. My greys are in their cages if the lights off by 7:00 pm at night. They are in the cages by 6:30 pm and eat their evening snacks and then head for their special sleeping perches. If lights aren't out at 7:00 pm my male eclectus will scream until the lights are out. My birds free fly all day long as I live alone and they are flighted so they can go to a quiet corner during the day if they want to nap. So I believe as long as there are quiet times in your home, when kids are in school or baby napping and hubby working your grey will snooze if he wants to do so. Mine do.

[Ellen]

Thank you for responding and no I know very little except the owner had just had a baby and moved out due to forclosure. Her cage wAS HORRIBLE and I dont think she was handled alot in recent times. Her diiet was terrible and I dont think she has ever had a bath.

[Ellen]

Thank you for responding. Yes we brought her into our home and two days later she looked awful so we took her to emergency room because it was the weekend and we had not yet developed a relationship with a Avian vet yet but after the emergency visit we took her the next day to Dr Tara Hadley and she said she was 15% under weight and gave her fluids and put her in an incubator for two days. She took some tests and said she had yeast and some e coli. We could not get the antibiotic in her or the niastatin without stressing her to the point where it would be harmful so the vet said since she was doing so well we could try the holistic route and build her up.

[Ellen]

We do have the old cage but we watch tv in our bedroom till about midnight. It would be about the same thing wouldnt it ?

[Ellen]

Thank you for helping me. I do see her closing her eyes here and there but our dogs are always walking around so even if she catches a nap its not for too long. If we cover her at 7pm and she gets disturbed every hour or so till 1am do you think that she will get enough sleep ?

[Luvparrots]

You have been give some great suggestions that work for different members of the forum. Although I have a bird room for my parrots, I do hear them talking and playing after lights out. So try different methods and see what works for your grey. By the way, what is her name?

[rbpittman]

I have 6 of 7 parrots in my office/bird room. Lights out is at 8:00 to 8:30 pm year round, even though in the summer there is still some light coming through the windows. They are all up and moving at 6:30 am - best alarm clock in the world if you ask me. Nap time is from 3:00 to 4:00 daily. This routine allows my parrots to know they will have that quiet time to sleep/nap/rest if they need it. When they want to rest/nap they just find their place and get quiet. The 7th bird is in the living room and his bedtime is 9:00. Lights out, tv off, etc. Sterling has more quiet time during the afternoon than the others do, but is the first one out in the morning's and the last one down at night due to being in a more active part of the house. You may want to look at the consistency of the routine as opposed to the actual times and your Grey will learn when they can catch up on any missed sleep. The only grumpy ones in my household are my husband and daughter who could both sleep much more than they do.

 

Robin