Jane_L
08-12-2020, 12:00 PM
Hi all, I hope everyone is well.
I had a question re lovebirds and their bed time. First, let me give you a super brief context of my birds and our situation. Pearl and Jeff are Peach-faced lovies.
I've always tried to put Pearl & Jeff to bed at decent hours, so they get long periods in total darkness and seem fully rested. It will easily be 12 hours most nights, and has been for as long as I've had them.
Lately, Pearl (who is nearly 12) has had some health issues (she started having seizures earlier this year) and is on various non-permanent medications. Their cage is mostly ropes for her to get around as her flying isn't great any more (disabled access!)
I have moved house with these two three times in the past three years (due to a breakup), so they've had to deal with a fair bit of change which I know causes stress.
They live in the conservatory of my house, which is great in summer, and we keep it totally draft free and warm in winter. However, the conservatory - at this time of year particularly - is a high traffic place, people going in and out of the house to the garden a fair bit each day. If it gets too busy, I tend to cover them up in their cage so they are not too disturbed, though they often just scream and yell if I do that anyway.
They have sufficient food / water and cage covers where needed. We really can't keep them anywhere else, we don't have the space.
I've tried wearing them out before bedtime with play and flying around, but it's not always possible when I've got work / house stuff to do (and Pearl isn't always up for it, ie; bites me instead).
At night I put them in a smaller cage and take them upstairs to a quiet dark room. The 'bed cage' I put them in is a small one, which Pearl is SUPER territorial over. She's like this with every small cage. Makes loads of aggressive noises when she jumps and and will literally throw herself at it to get to it.
So my issue is this: They have been wanting (ie: screaming) to go to bed at like 5pm this summer. I can't work it out. Every day they just get so loud wanting to get out of the room and upstairs to bed. Nothing seems to calm them down, and Pearl gets really irate and bitey when she doesn't get what she wants (Lovebirds!) so I always just relent and take them up. I have neighbours and don't want the birds to disturb them, especially as so many people are stuck at home right now.
The problem is that they are then in bed for like 14 hours, and they wake up really early and and also irate when I let them out! I can't win!
Does anybody know why they are doing this? They never used to, they'd only get loud when they could see it getting dark outside. But now they're screaming for bed in full daylight !
Do you think I should take them up for a nap in the day time? Is that a thing?
At a loss here :confused: and it's starting to affect my partner's sanity! (he's very patient but the constant screaming does upset him).
Any ideas please let me know!
Thank you
Jane x
I had a question re lovebirds and their bed time. First, let me give you a super brief context of my birds and our situation. Pearl and Jeff are Peach-faced lovies.
I've always tried to put Pearl & Jeff to bed at decent hours, so they get long periods in total darkness and seem fully rested. It will easily be 12 hours most nights, and has been for as long as I've had them.
Lately, Pearl (who is nearly 12) has had some health issues (she started having seizures earlier this year) and is on various non-permanent medications. Their cage is mostly ropes for her to get around as her flying isn't great any more (disabled access!)
I have moved house with these two three times in the past three years (due to a breakup), so they've had to deal with a fair bit of change which I know causes stress.
They live in the conservatory of my house, which is great in summer, and we keep it totally draft free and warm in winter. However, the conservatory - at this time of year particularly - is a high traffic place, people going in and out of the house to the garden a fair bit each day. If it gets too busy, I tend to cover them up in their cage so they are not too disturbed, though they often just scream and yell if I do that anyway.
They have sufficient food / water and cage covers where needed. We really can't keep them anywhere else, we don't have the space.
I've tried wearing them out before bedtime with play and flying around, but it's not always possible when I've got work / house stuff to do (and Pearl isn't always up for it, ie; bites me instead).
At night I put them in a smaller cage and take them upstairs to a quiet dark room. The 'bed cage' I put them in is a small one, which Pearl is SUPER territorial over. She's like this with every small cage. Makes loads of aggressive noises when she jumps and and will literally throw herself at it to get to it.
So my issue is this: They have been wanting (ie: screaming) to go to bed at like 5pm this summer. I can't work it out. Every day they just get so loud wanting to get out of the room and upstairs to bed. Nothing seems to calm them down, and Pearl gets really irate and bitey when she doesn't get what she wants (Lovebirds!) so I always just relent and take them up. I have neighbours and don't want the birds to disturb them, especially as so many people are stuck at home right now.
The problem is that they are then in bed for like 14 hours, and they wake up really early and and also irate when I let them out! I can't win!
Does anybody know why they are doing this? They never used to, they'd only get loud when they could see it getting dark outside. But now they're screaming for bed in full daylight !
Do you think I should take them up for a nap in the day time? Is that a thing?
At a loss here :confused: and it's starting to affect my partner's sanity! (he's very patient but the constant screaming does upset him).
Any ideas please let me know!
Thank you
Jane x