GCC sleeping cycle

[Gizmo The GCC]

Hi!

I was wondering if it’s really necessary to have a routine with your bird, especially the sleeping routine.

Can I have the bird stay with me until late at night since I’m busy doing something else during the day?

Also, when it’s sleeping time, do they need to eat? Cuz mine always dump her food to the bottom of the cage leaving nothing in the morning.

 

[Mizzely]

@AkasyaEllric I know keeps her birds on a more evening schedule. It can definitely be done!

They do not tend to eat at night; I leave some in there just in case I sleep in, but if she is dumping it then I would just remove it or figure out a way to keep her from doing it. I have a bowl dumper too and a platform perch under his bowl stops him!

 

[AkasyaEllric]

Yep, I totally have a weird schedule for mine. My husband works second shift and I'm up with him usually, so our guys are on a noon to midnight routine. Up at noon, covered at midnight. If you want to do a night schedule just pick a 12 hour time frame that works and stick to it as close as you can. My guys are all happy and healthy and known when bedtime is coming, I even get told about it if they aren't covered at midnight now.

 

[karen256]

They don't really need a routine... for the most part, they are adaptable and happy with a variety of schedules just like us.
The problem is only with hormones. With some birds, an increase in day length will increase hormone production and can lead to behavior issues or egg laying. So for these birds, covering them for a consistent 10-12 hours od darkness at night can help a lot.
Are GCC's a species that are sensitive to daylight though? I'm not so sure. They are a species that lives relatively close to the equator. They also tend to live in tropical dry forests which are much warmer in the wet season (summer) than the dry season (winter). My GCC always gets hormonal in the summer but it seems like this is in response to the warmer temperatures and not increased daylight.
In any case, as long as your GCC seems happy and behaving normally, and is getting enough sleep (they like naps during the day, too), I wouldn't worry too much about keeping her up late.

 

[Lady Jane]

The natural sleep cycle of a bird is to sleep at dusk and dawn. That way they are not subjectable to predators. That is about 12 hours. It makes for a healthy bird.

 

[BrianB]

I keep a GCC and Blue Crown in my home office with me. I try to keep them on a regular cycle and I find that they can be grumpy if it deviates too much. I get up at 5:15 and logon to work at around 6am. Sunrise is about 6:40 at the moment. I have smart lights that come on really low at about 6:30 and fully brighten over 10 minutes. When the lights are at max then I open the blinds, uncover the blue crown and get fresh food and water for both of them. Then they either come out onto play stands or I open the top of the cage. My blue crown is a plucker so I try to get his medication ready by 7am. If he doesn't get enough sleep, he can be really anxious the next day. Some days I need to spend a little extra time fussing over him as reassurance. At night, I cover the blue crown around 9pm and the GCC goes back into her cage. The light starts to dim automatically then and takes about 10 minutes to shut off. In general they get about 10 hours or quiet and dark at night, and I give them an hour or two of cage time in the afternoon so I can do other things. It's like putting a toddler down for a nap.

 

[Gizmo The GCC]

@AkasyaEllric I know keeps her birds on a more evening schedule. It can definitely be done!

They do not tend to eat at night; I leave some in there just in case I sleep in, but if she is dumping it then I would just remove it or figure out a way to keep her from doing it. I have a bowl dumper too and a platform perch under his bowl stops him!

She sleeps in my room so I can hear everything. As soon as I cover her cage and turn off the light, I can hear her dumping the food to the bottom of the cage. I've never checked on her when she does that, but I'm guessing she won't stop until there's nothing left in the bowl.

 

[Whoviana]

Sunflower keeps her own schedule. She snuggles around 8, goes to bed around 9, and wakes up around 730. Sometimes I wish she would sleep in, but she has other ideas.

 

[Gizmo The GCC]

Sunflower keeps her own schedule. She snuggles around 8, goes to bed around 9, and wakes up around 730. Sometimes I wish she would sleep in, but she has other ideas.

Mine is rather quiet these days. However, when it comes to covering her cage, she’s always been quiet. Even since I first got her.

 

[Monica]

I never keep my birds on a 12/12 schedule... they wake with the sun and sleep with the sun. I don't live near the equator, either, so the amount of daylight varies depending upon the time of year. This has, I feel, helped to keep hormones "in check" because any birds that do become hormonal are not hormonal year round.

Birds who do not get enough sleep though may be extra grumpy would could result in being more nippy or aggressive.

 

[Parakeet88]

Yep, I totally have a weird schedule for mine. My husband works second shift and I'm up with him usually, so our guys are on a noon to midnight routine. Up at noon, covered at midnight. If you want to do a night schedule just pick a 12 hour time frame that works and stick to it as close as you can. My guys are all happy and healthy and known when bedtime is coming, I even get told about it if they aren't covered at midnight now.

I don't really have any tips but this is good to know. I work night shift right now (which has worked out great for my birds) but I want to get out of my current work place. I've been looking to fill out applications but almost all of the positions I've found are for evening shift and I was worried about how my flock would take to that kind of schedule. I'm still debating it but it's good to know they can be ok on an evening shift schedule.

My birds (and myself) do better on a pretty consistent schedule. I don't go super crazy making sure everything is exactly perfect all the time but in general we do the same things around the same time everyday. I think having a schedule is important but what that schedule is really depends on you and your bird. If you're going to be up late then you've got to let him sleep late and you should put him to bed and wake up up around the same time each day.

 

[RosieR]

My birds - a GCC and a Budgie - thrive on routine. They go to bed when we do at 9:30pm, the light is turned on at 5:45am before we leave for work but I do not wake them or talk to them, and on weekends we do not interact until they start chirping which is usually around 10am. That means that they regularly get around 12 hours of sleep a night, because they do not wake up when I turn the light on. If we keep them up late they get super moody around bed time, and God forbid we try to get them out of their cages after bed time because we get told off and they refuse! LOL

 

[tka]

It's totally possible to have your bird on a different schedule to the sunrise-sunset schedule. However, I wouldn't vary the hours too much - it's a bad idea to get them up at 6am one day, noon the next, 9am the next day etc etc.

 

[AkasyaEllric]

@Parakeet88 It takes some adjusting at first, mostly cranky tired birds, but its fine after a while. Slade, our newest addition, adjusted in about a week, my other two about the same.