What time does your rooster....errr...parrot wake up?

[Mama CJ]

I've had Rocky for about 5 months now. He just turned 5 years old. He wakes up every morning, about 5:50 a.m. with a very loud "Here kitty kitty kitty" then rings his bell. We don't even have a cat! His previous family did.

Anyway, I close the curtains and blinds in the room at bed time but light comes in from a nearby sky light in the morning. I tried covering him at night but he hated it. He would freak out by every little noise and would bite at the cover through the bars. Any other suggestions? I've love to sleep in a little longer since the kids are out to school for the summer!

[Eshana]

I love that my birds start making noise around 5am...it helps me wake up!

[kingsnake]

I try to wake-up around 7:00 so I can take the kids to school, I hope my African doesn't get me up at 5AM lol. I guess it's good to a point, I hope I can adjust the African alarm to wake up later on weekends, during school breaks and vacations lol;)

[judygram]

My grey and in fact all my fids stay quiet until I uncover them in the morning and that is usually early like 6:30 or so on weekdays but later on the weekends so I have no problem with them vocalizing before I am ready to get up.

That is funny that your grey wakes you up with "here kitty kitty kitty at the same time every morning, Rocky is quite a character.

[Codys Mom]

I work afternoons so I do not rise and shine until 9:30 am or 10am and all is quiet until they here me moveing around then Cody is the first one to start lol o and his first words are he just started talking plain where you could actually know what he is saying, he says Chick Chick Chick (lol ) he piced that up from Opey because Opey always says that , thats Opeys chicken sound lol

[Luvparrots]

My amazon is quiet until I get up and sometimes Ana Grey goes through her vocabulary around 7:00 am. But they are pretty quiet until I enter their room with their breakfast.

[JDS5607]

Right before Sunrise... when the sky is still pink and purple. Which, since we face the east- is about 5:15... They all wake up right about that point!

 

And sully starts with talking and making every sound he can- and oddly enough calls the cats too- but we actually have cats! Lol

[munch]

I wake up my CAG up at 5:30 when I give he food and water for the day; I'm out the door right after.

 

But don't worry! The "Here kitty kitty" and bell ringing will change with the sunrise so when it gets darker later, ie winter hours, Rocky will give you a bit more time in bed! I've noticed that in the spring/ummer hours, Took has been waking up on her own around 5:45, sunrise. In the winter, she would be fast alseep when I left (sunrise closer to 7am if not later some days) and thats when on weekends she would start her singing....

 

Close all doors and get a white noise machine!

[thenabrd]

mama cj, i leave one side of the birds cages uncovered so they can see out if need be during the night. their lights are on a timer as well. athena usually stays pretty quiet until she's uncovered and kallie is learning, lol!! she was up at or just before sun rise but now she makes it maybe an hour or so as it gets lighter outside before she just can't take it anymore and starts "praising" the new day, hahahaha!! i don't know if that is because athena stays so quiet or not or maybe kallie's learned to "whisper" for that first hour or so!!!

[chelseaB]

Biscotti is like most of the others, he starts talking around 6:00 am in the summer- later in the winter with the sunrise. He usually starts with a soft "hello?, hello?", gradually getting louder. He then starts going through his whole vocab when I get up & open his window shade so he can look outside. Biscotti doesn't get covered at night. I am a morning person so his wake up time is perfect!! I think by covering them at night you can make some adjustments to their wake up time.

[Mama CJ]

Thanks for all of the replies! Rocky pulled a trick on me this morning. I heard him move around his cage about 5:30 a.m. When it was 6 a.m. I didn't hear anything out of him. By 6:30 he was still quiet, not even moving about the cage and it worried me so much that I had to get up and check on him. Of course, as soon as he saw me he says, "Here kitty kitty kitty" right on cue. So the one morning he let me sleep in, I was too worried about him to go back to sleep!

I don't mind when he gets me up early in the winter, I get up to get my son ready for school anyway.

[JDS5607]

Sully did that to me a few times as well. If I don't hear him moving around or talking, I get worried enough to get out of bed and check on him. Usually, it's because one of the cats has moved the blinds next to his cage enough for him to see out the window-- and he's watching the birds eating out on the porch. Of course, like you, when I've been seen, it's all over. "hello! Hello! Sullyman!"

[Popsicle]

How can we make them stay quiet-ish at least on weekends, until 9am or so? Is there a technique we can apply? Does covering the cage works?

Edited June 22, 2011 by Popsicle

[Trinkapuppy]

I was having problems with my black headed caique waking up my young daughters at 5am....which led to all sorts of trouble in the house. A poorly rested toddler is NOT a joy to be a stay at home mommy to!!

So, I did a little research, and decided that the concept of a "sleeping cage" was one I wanted to try. We got him a small cage, and moved it into the master bedroom with hubby and I. It does get covered, but that's because he prefers to be covered at night. Jynx took to it almost immediately, and we have actually seen improvements in more areas than just an early wake-up. He seems more relaxed in general, and more "in tune" with hubby and I, his screaming has tapered off in the day times, and the moderate cage aggression he showed (he charged when I attempted to switch his toys) tapered off to nothing, and at night when we say "ready to go to bed?" he pins his eyes and wing flips his excitement to go to bed all the way to the bedroom. He often will hop off and fly the last few feet to put himself away. He is quiet now until hubby and I get up in the morning. Even coming in to bed later at night doesn't seem to bother him. He is a bit cage aggressive over the sleeping cage which is not uncommon, but since he's only in there for sleeping, it is very manageable.

 

When we brought home our grey, she was also surprisingly amenable to the concept of it. Although she won't go to bed until we do (something I'd like to work on, as we stay up too late for her) she does come to bed with us, and sleeps in until I get up. Which is really nice, b/c the two times she told me she didn't want to go to bed, she was up with the sun, practicing her budgie and 'tiel calls. =/

Last night, I was going to leave her in her cage, b/c she was sound asleep in the corner when we went to bed, and I wasn't positive what she thought of the sleeping cage arrangement--she has always seemed very blase about it. However, as I was brushing my teeth, we heard a racket from her cage, and went out to find a very frantic little grey trying to get out of her cage. That said, she has NO problems being in a room on her own, and she doesn't even mind sleeping in her cage when we're not home--we had a house sitter only this weekend while we were out one night who slept in the guest room, and checked on her a couple of times and said she just went to sleep in her cage with no problems. I just think she did not like the idea that we were going to roost for the night without her.

 

Anyway, it's just a thought. I realize not everyone has the setup/need for such a thing, but also realize that many folks haven't ever heard of the concept behind sleeping cages...and I, for one, like having options!

 

PS: we use a $35 bird carrier for Eshe. I also like the idea that I can simply grab their carriers on the way out of the house should we have a fire or some similar disaster. The dogs sleep in portable crates for the same reason! Honestly, my daughters will be harder to get out, in an emergency! 0.0 A fact I hadn't really thought of before! LOL.....Can I train them to sleep in quick-to-grab carriers? (JOKING!!!)

[crossfit]

I think I am the luckiest Parrot owner in the world. My bedroom is completely dark. Hawkins wakes at ten when I wake up only making the softest of noises if I am not up by 11. He does stay up late with me until eleven at night though.

[Popsicle]

Wow... that is lucky! Do you cover him at night? What time does he go to bed? Also, does he sleep in a travel cage or his normal cage?

[crossfit]

He has a sleep cage in my bedroom which gets covered. When we get up he comes up with me to his day cage in the living room. The sleep cage is much smaller. It would be too small for him for his main cage but it is bigger than his travel backpack.

 

I may also have lucked out because when he was an egg, I told the breeder my day/night schedule and she said that is close to what she has for checking on her birds - 10 am for checking on them and 10 or so to bed. So he was always on that schedule from hatching, as were his parents.

[Popsicle]

My husband and I wake up between 7:30-8am during the week. But on the weekends we always like to sleep more (waking up between 9-11am). So I want to try and work something out that will keep our bird in our same routine. Gonna try letting him sleep with us, in the dark, like you do and see how it goes. Thanks for your comment.

[Trinkapuppy]

Good luck, Popsicle. Has worked well enough for us! =0 ) Healthier for them, too, since they get their full equatorial 12 hours of sleep.

This is what we use for sleeping:

http://www.bird.com/item/prevue-medium-travel-bird-cage/533600/

 

With a choice of a dragonwood perch, or a Polly's Sand Walk Orthopedic perch (which I wish dearly were easier to find. Best things for the nails since EVER!!)

Also hung a tent, but she had zero interest, so the caique gets it now. =0 )

[Popsicle]

Thanks for the link. It's a nice cage. I'm in the UK and unfortunately I haven't found Prevue travel cages here. But I found this one that I quite like:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PARROT-TRAVEL-CAGE-Collapsable-/280699010141?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Birds&hash=item415af6fc5d#ht_500wt_1287

Seems to be a similar size, if not a little bigger. And could be our travel cage and sleep cage at the same time. What do you think?

Edited June 25, 2011 by Popsicle

[Trinkapuppy]

That looks perfect, Popsicle =0 )

 

Remember, don't force the sleep cage....make it fun, and be sensitive to the bird's needs as you settle in to the routine. I was lucky with both of these two, but my redbelly when I had her took a lot of convincing. I had to give her a stuffed toy (I use the UNSTUFFED dog ones, actually. ) to cuddle with, and i had to get her scritches and love, along w/ an almond every night at bedtime, and it took us about a month to work up to her spending the night in there. But, once she did, it was fantastic, and we all got to sleep in!

The amazon I had was old, old, old, and he never did take to the sleeping cage.

Approach it like kennel training a dog. Introduce it, play a bit in/around it, offer treats everytime the bird goes into it, or scratches, or verbal praise, or whatever your bird enjoys from you....

I get up and take a peak at them once or twice during the first two or three nights, too...just to make sure that the idea isn't freaking them out too much.

Of course, I've never had a baby bird to work with, and I would imagine that'll make a lot of difference

[Popsicle]

Thanks for the advice. I'm gonna get a baby so hopefully he will settle in the sleeping cage routine fine. Fingers crossed.

[reggieroo]

I would strangle Murphy, stick him on a skewer & BBQ him if he woke me at 5-6am every morning..........lol

 

As you can probably tell, I don't like being woke up too early, bit of a night owl me fortunately Murphy understands this. I wake around 9am & there isn't normally a sound until he hears one of us. Sometimes he even likes a lie in, like this morning for example. We all woke up to the cats fighting in the hallway, I got up, then my 19 month old daughter Ella-Rose woke up followed by Mummy after being jumped on.........but where is Murphy? He stayed asleep for a further 20 mins, must have been up partying when we went to bed.

[Popsicle]

Haha I don't really want my parrot to wake up at 6am either. What time does Murphy go to bed? Where does he sleep? Do you cover him? Any special trick to make him sleep until 9am?

[reggieroo]

Haha I don't really want my parrot to wake up at 6am either. What time does Murphy go to bed? Where does he sleep? Do you cover him? Any special trick to make him sleep until 9am?

 

Murphy goes to bed around 8pm, sometimes a little later now summer is here like 9pm & sometimes on an odd occasion I'm really naughty & keep him up later.

 

I also cover him up every night which normally shuts him up ready for bed in an instant. What is funny is sometimes he goes down to the floor of the cage to try & peek out & I hear his little feet on the newspaper, then see his little head peeking. :rolleyes: Another thing I ask everybody in the household to do, is not to talk or respond to him when the cover is on so he knows it's time for quiet & sleep time. Then the same in the morning until the sheet is pulled off. All of the above seems to work well for Murphy & our household.

 

If you don't cover at night then that is the first thing I would do, then advocate the no talk rules when covered to give the message it's sleepy time.