Wakey wakey...

[jackih]

Hi, I'm Clover the CWP's other parent! We've only had our bird, a little canary wing parakeet, for a few weeks and he's only 12 weeks old.

This might be a dumb question, but how do you know when it's time to get up in the morning? We cover the cage at night and I usually wait until I've heard some "bird sounds" like shuffling, wing flapping, movement, etc before I open the cover. This morning around 6:30 (I'm up with the dog) I heard some shuffling and beak grinding sounds, so I went to take a peek and the hackles went up, so I closed the cover and it was quiet for a while and I've heard beak grinding every once in a while for the last hour.

I do wait at least 10 hours, I know they need around 12 hours of sleep. He went to bed around 8 last night. One time he actually squawked, so I knew he was ready! But he's usually pretty quiet.

 

[Birdbabe]

If he's up and ready to be uncovered, he'll let ya know. Sounds like a cutie!

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

I've heard They do need 12 hours too. But I think naps would count towards that. My guys take naps so as long as your guys do too, and they are not showing signs they are sleep deprived I think you're good

 

[JLcribber]

Birds get up at the crack of dawn and start to roost at dusk. That bird is up way before you (if it's already daylight).

 

[jackih]

It's kind of hard to see daylight here sometimes, we're in a forest that shades a lot of our place. I know the outdoor birds are up chirping before 5 am and are still making noise until 10 pm now that it's summertime. We get about 16 hours of daylight in the summer and only 8 hours of night, but I guess I'd expect a bird that is originally from a more equatorial region would be expecting closer to 12 hours of each? Conversely in the winter it's only 8 hours of daylight, which I know isn't enough, so we do have a full spectrum light as well.

 

[schnitzle]

I did an "experiment" today. I got up at 7:30 (sleeping late on the weekends! Yah!) got the veggies and fruit ready, got a cup of coffee and sat in my spot by the bird cage. It was an hour before I heard any stirrings. I waited 15 more minutes and didn't hear anything, couldn't stand it anymore and uncovered him.
There he was, sitting on his sleep perch looking at me. So I put in the fresh fruit and veggies and we went about our normal morning routine.

I kind of think (right now anyway) that as long as he goes to bed and gets his 10-12 hrs, we'll uncover him so we can get some time in with him before work and get him fed and watered etc.

 

[cassiesdad]

Sleep time is a bit scrambled in the summer...sunrise here is 5:40 AM and sundown 9:00 PM...so now only 8 hour, 40 minutes of darkness. We still cover the birds up to achieve 12 hours of "rest time"...but it's difficult for them to settle down because there's so much daylight for a longer time.

That being said, Milton starts with his "hello...hello...hello" about 5:30 in the morning. As long as he doesn't get a response from us, he usually settles down after a few calls...