Bedtime troubles

[Two2Tango]

So I must sound like the worlds dumbest bird owner! I am recently having trouble with the two of mine not staying asleep at night. In the last month or so they wake up in the middle of the night as well as the butcrack of dawn. I keep them to a very strict sleep schedule and once they are "tucked in for the night" I try to keep the apartment quiet. I am not sure if one of the 5 kitties is waking them up or what but my husband and I are starting to loose quite a bit of sleep as well. I am not sure what to do to change their sleep patterns, since I am not sure what caused it in the first place. I know with the change of the seasons it is getting lighter earlier in the morning, but 4:30 am it is still DARK out, and outside birds are not even awake! I would appreciate any thought or suggestions! Thanks:confused:

[Mummieeva]

There is probably a sound or nosie that is waking them up. My birds will wake if they hear anyone flush the hallway toilet or in winter when heat comes on. Are your birds covered? If not that is an idea. My birds settle in for bed at 7pm and give a few contact calls. They wake at 5am when my daughter does. Birds here in my area wake early..lol. I can understand your pain. We are late sleepers and when Bandit was in our bedroom we got a bird song concert every day at 5am.



Steph

[Buy A Paper Doll]

Nope, not dumb at all! Mine also like to chirp in the middle of the night. I swear they can hear me roll over in the bed on the other side of the house!

If it's just a chirp or two, I leave them be. I think maybe they're calling to each other in the night - "Hey, you still there?" If it's consistent chirping, sometimes I will go stand in the doorway to their sleeping room and whisper to them, "shhh, night night birdies" before crawling back in bed. Does it work? Not always. :roll:

Over time I have adapted to be able to sleep through the chirping (more or less). I'm still aware of it, but I can sleep through it pretty well now.

[graushill]

Hi!

My birds sleep in our bedroom which for the most part has worked fine but I understand about waking up to the sound of birdie chirps at the crack of dawn. Like Steph suggested, I cover their cages with dark colored blankets and make the room as dark as possible. I also try to keep the bedroom windows closed at night because my birdies will start chirping if they hear outside birds. In days where I feel a bit more tired than usual, if I have to work at night for example, I will try to delay their sleeping time an hour or two, in the hope that this will make them sleep in a bit longer the next day. My adult birds will mostly stay quiet until I uncover their cages, but I have a pair of babies who are more impatient. The problem is once they start chirping, the adults will follow also, so I too, use the shhhshing method: "shhh Elmo (or Piccolo), go back to sleep baby" in what I hope is a soft, conciliatory tone. Surprinsingly, this method usually works, but I know that once they do this, I have at most another half hour before I have to uncover their cages.

Hope this helps a little,
Gloria

[LauraO]

I would suggest changing their sleeping schedules a little. I notice that my flock has been wanting to stay up later now that the sun is up later. So I have made adjustments and they are fine.....Everymorning I'm woken up by my CAG, Mijo. His wake up calls are always an adventure. If I'm lucky he will "hello" or "Goodmorning" me awake. On the bad days, he likes to scream loud or do his various whistle imitations:x :x .

[mjm8321]

My flock is on a natural light schedule at the moment and yes, that means 5 a.m. the chirping begins :roll: but I actually leave a radio on 24/7 for my lovebirds. I've found it works for them to have that consistent noise at night, so the little creaks the floor makes don't wake them now. Just my :2cents:

[Two2Tango]

Oaky after reading everyones suggestions I am at a loss for a really good solution, I already do everything you all have suggested. Maybe I do not have a really good cage cover-I had my mom make me a wonderful cage cover that I thought would be dark enough, but maybe not. I would appreciate any suggestions on what you all use as a cage cover. I was trying to save money by making my own and since my cage is an odd shape, but maybe I need to save my husband's and my sanity instead! Thanks for all your help and I will try out a few more tricks.

[Buy A Paper Doll]

Cage covers. I am still looking for an ideal option!

Some people like to use dark towels, but I am wierded out by the thought of birdy toes possibly getting caught in the little terrycloth loops.

I have a dark colored cloth cage cover that I made myself but the fabric is thin and the light shines through it at night.

The best one I came up with was a queen sized quilt that I had made for my husband when we were dating. The backing is black, as is the background, and it's fully lined. Nothing shines through this thing. However, problem number one, even though it's a queen sized quilt, it wasn't big enough to cover their ginormous Kings cage completely. Problem number two, I spent 8 months piecing and quilting that thing BY HAND and I was not amused with the thought of my darling birds chewing holes in it as they tend to do. (Miss Melly put a hole in my favorite pink polo shirt an hour ago.)

I was thinking about checking the clearance rack at the fabric store, to see if they have anything nice and heavy, or maybe pre-quilted panels or something. I really like the fabric I used for their cage cover, though, so depending on how stubborn I am, I might try to find a way to line it.

[Wheeliegirl]

I have the perfect solution: ear plugs! They work for me. They let me get extra sleep on the weekends.

[Mummieeva]

When my birds were covered I used a king size black sheet. I made sure it was just washed in very hot water before using. My birds have their own room so they are no longer covered. you cna go to a thrift store and find one most times.


Steph

[Oscar]

hehe, oh the cute little chirps they do ! Oscar chirps when me and my boyfriend kiss each other goodnight ( i think he likes the smooch sound haha) hehe its very cute and jeff (my bf) says, hes just jealous and wants a kiss too haha. Oscar is also very very protective of me, and will lunge at jeff if he comes near me when oscar is down my shirt or on my shoulder.. I think that sometimes makes jeff jealous of oscar haha.. Oh i love my lovie..
What i normally do is make sure oscars cage is covered by a dark quilt and my blinds are dark to have limited light in the morning, that normally works. As long as he cant see the light hes sleeping like a baby :).

[Two2Tango]

hehe, oh the cute little chirps they do ! Oscar chirps when me and my boyfriend kiss each other goodnight ( i think he likes the smooch sound haha) hehe its very cute and jeff (my bf) says, hes just jealous and wants a kiss too haha. Oscar is also very very protective of me, and will lunge at jeff if he comes near me when oscar is down my shirt or on my shoulder.. I think that sometimes makes jeff jealous of oscar haha.. Oh i love my lovie..
What i normally do is make sure oscars cage is covered by a dark quilt and my blinds are dark to have limited light in the morning, that normally works. As long as he cant see the light hes sleeping like a baby :).

I too try to keep the cage covered with a quilt AND keep the blinds turned down at night, the sun does not even come up on our side of the apartment building in the morining-All the noise that they make lately is in the DARK! I have no idea what has happened in the last month or so to change their behavior and sleeping patterns but I wish I could figure it out because once mine are awake for the morning-they do not go back to sleep-cage cover on or not.

[shylevon]

Perhaps it is too dark for them now. Birdies are blind in the total darkness, and maybe they are waking up and seeing nothing at all and are freaking out. I'd scream my bloody head off if I awoke and discovered I could see nothing at all.

Point I am trying to make is that each birdie is different, and it may take many tries to get it right. My birds used to scream in the night until I stopped covering them altogether. I live in a townhouse complex, and a bright flood light shines right into my living room and directly onto the bird's cage. They are lit up all night, and they seem to kinda like that. They will chortle momentarily in the night, but they go right back to sleep. I don't even close my blinds at night, because they don't like to be without that darn flood light shining in on them. (Well, and I do enjoy freaking out my neighbors by walking around naked in the dark)

You may want to try not covering them for a few days. But, any change you make in their arrangements will have to be tried for a few days. It takes a while for them to get used to something different.

I also keep my flock up fairly late at night. Their light is on a timer, so their schedule is strict. I don't change it with daylight saving time either. I know they nap in the afternoon, but they are quiet in the night. The timer light is right by their cage (bright thing that it is), and when that goes out, they wander back into the cage and begin to wind down for the night (late night snacks, find a favorite sleepy spot...). I don't worry about the other lights in the room if they are further away from the cage, or the TV. They just get used to it and doze off anyway.

[LauraO]

I'm with Shy. I don't cover any of my birds cages unless their is an unusual amount of action or noise. Of course, most of my birds live in their own room but I don't hear anything at night. My schedule for my birds changes with the season change. I mostly put them to bed these days about 7pm, which is right after dark. If I don't they start getting loud and cranky and searching for dark holes to inhabit for the night. This works well for me since I have Mijo because he stay up til' about 10pm and I have those few hours where he's the number one birdy8) 8) .

[Buy A Paper Doll]

I forgot about that ... perhaps they are taking naps during the day and don't need as much sleep at night? It might be worth trying to keep them up later.

[Two2Tango]

I forgot about that ... perhaps they are taking naps during the day and don't need as much sleep at night? It might be worth trying to keep them up later.

I already mentioned that they stay up until 9 or 10 pm. I cannot keep them up much later since I go to bed at that time. I will try the no cage cover idea and maybe get another cage cover if that does not work. Hopefully it is just a phase they are going through and it will get better soon, or maybe like someone else mentioned they are just checking to make sure one another is there. I will keep trying all the ideas and let you know which one works for them.:p

[sdgilley]

Well, and I do enjoy freaking out my neighbors by walking around naked in the dark:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
serves them right for looking, right?

My birds were ALWAYS quiet at night... until recently. Now they are chirping and talking to me every time I turn over. I suspect my hen is hormonal and therefore not sleeping as well. OR the change in the seasons is affecting how they sleep - either pollen or hearing birds that were gone for the winter....
Or they may have seen the videos that Shy's neighbors took...:omg:

With lovebirds, you always have to be the detective.:)

[shylevon]

Perhaps my birdies are too frightened to make a peep in the night. Momma runs down the stairs in the dark, hair all messy, bare bum naked and gives the cage a good shaking.

Birdies catch a sight of that, just once, and they are quiet as church mice forever after.

[Bella]

Oaky after reading everyones suggestions I am at a loss for a really good solution, I already do everything you all have suggested. Maybe I do not have a really good cage cover-I had my mom make me a wonderful cage cover that I thought would be dark enough, but maybe not. I would appreciate any suggestions on what you all use as a cage cover. I was trying to save money by making my own and since my cage is an odd shape, but maybe I need to save my husband's and my sanity instead! Thanks for all your help and I will try out a few more tricks.

Might your Mom be able to make you another one out of a thick dark denim material?

[Two2Tango]

Might your Mom be able to make you another one out of a thick dark denim material?

I never even thought about denim-that's a great idea thanks!:D