Oh Holey Night

[chezron]

Brutus' cage is covered with a dark blue sheet every night since he was a baby. Lately, he has figured out he can reach through the bars and chew on the sheet and create viewing holes. I admit, sometimes I roll out of bed at 9! So I guess rather than creating a ruckus when I sleep in he just diligently chews more holes in the sheet. The sheet now looks like swiss cheese and I am wondering why even bother to use it. I guess I could buy a new one. What forms of passive aggressive behavior do your greys use to indicate disapproval?

[SRSeedBurners]

I used to cover as well and it was a real pain the butt. Greycie's cage took two blankets to cover and required clips to hold together. She hated the covers. I finally came up with the great idea to mount a removable dowel rod over both windows and we used some 100% light blocking curtains to create easy to hang and remove night curtains. I'll never go back to the cage covering...

[chezron]

My problem is his cage and the others are in my office which is in the same room as the kitchen- pretty much the whole lower floor of the house is wide open. We live here in this space. The cage coverings are mostly to allow me to continue working while they are asleep and not so much to shut out sunlight. Perhaps some day I can have a curtain that extends from a track on the ceiling around ALL of the cages. That would be nice.

[Greywings]

Don't think that is expressing disapproval, just keeping busy. Chewing stuff in their surroundings comes very naturally to them.

[birdhouse]

I don't usually cover cages. I know my fids don't like it. But this is New England & we do have some cold, yucky weather (just every so often). So sometimes I break the covers out whether they like it or not.

 

Phenix dislikes this most, of course. I swear there is just nothing easy w/that boy. lol I had to make him a new cover every single year which he'd immediately set to work shredding.

 

I mean it's easy enough. I usually use big towels which happen to be a very nice size, washable & thick enough to give good warmth & darkness. But eventually, I just got sick of it & outsmarted him w/some PVC pipe, 8 corner couplings, a few rod pocket curtains & a sheet, scarf or big ole piece of material. Whatever worked w/his cage(s') dimensions.

 

The pipe makes a giant cube w/curtains hung on the top pipes of 3 sides. The sheet's laid across the top & down the front. That's how it "opens & closes". Then it was just a matter of experimenting w/clothes pins, ties or Velcro to close up the corners. The first 2 options gave Phenix something to vent his frustration on whenever he was out. So Velcro eventually won.

 

It was so simple. The whole trick was to set it all up just slightly out of reach. The thing stays up until the weather eases up, then breaks down & stores in a closet until it's needed again. They can play on it, it washes nicely & it's been everything I've wanted for years. ...incl free of peep holes.

[chezron]

Birdhouse,

That sounds great. Do you have a photo of it I could see? My boy does like to chew whatever can be chewed.

[katana600]

I enjoy the clever distractions our forum members devise to thwart the clever distractions our greys construct for us. Round and round, I've lost track of who is in the lead in our house.

[jbsmomto1]

LOL thats so funny. many say birds are stupid...such a crock my dog would NEVER think to make peepholes....I'm sure that wasn't what he intended but once he saw the results.......when Storms wants up or my attention he says "Barb, Barb" the first time he called me I almost had a heart attack, I was in bed sleeping and this mans (no man lives here just my daughter and I) voice is calling my name., I was to freaked out to get up and see who it was but he persisted so finally I did...that mans voice was no man at all lol. I think he must have picked up one of my daycare kids calling my name, however he HAS learned that if he is persistent in getting me up by calling my name that eventually I will come, especially if its at 4am, don't want him waking up my daughter.

[SullysMom]

LOL That's hilarious! Smart bird! I've never covered Sully's cage, but do shut the blinds every night. In the mornings he just waits patiently, usually until I wake up and pass by the room to go to the bathroom. Then I'll hear his call out "Good morning!" or "Want to step up!" But if Sully wants to let me know he disapproves, he does this whole woodpecker thing and knocks his beak onto whatever he's perched on several times. If he's not getting his statement across, say one of the cats decides to get a bit too close to his personal stuff lol he tells them how it is! "Go! Go on!"

[birdhouse]

All in all by New England standards, it's been a "wicked" easy winter. Although last week the temp did drop to 4 below, Sunday it was 51°F. Not cold enough long enough to really settle into everything so far (knock on wood). No need to drag out those covers. Even if it was up, a pic wouldn't do much good. Phenix' cage is in corner, behind a couch, end table & lamp.

 

But construction really is super simple. 12 straight lengths of pipe & 8 elbow connectors like this (commonly found in white)

 

 

3 straight lengths get pushed thru the curtain pockets first. The pieces then pushed together to form a cube. The thrifty version uses curtains & a spread from Goodwill & the project comes in around $30'ish. Maybe takes 15-20 min to complete.

 

For my purposes, the simple cube works just fine. But it should in theory be able to be fancied up a bit, too. Originally I was going to try a slightly more complicated frame design to better contour w/my dome top cages. That added 4 short pcs of straight pipe & 4 half 45 degree elbows. I had thought to use a 4th curtain if I went that way as well.