How do I help my new lovebirds sleep?

[Melophile]

So, I have two female lovebirds. They're a year and a half old, already bonded. I just got them yesterday, and I've been reading a bit about their light sensitivity. There are a lot of contradicting statements about helping them sleep — some said to put a sheet over their cage, while others said the dark scares lovebirds.

Last night, I lowered the lights around 7-8 with jazz/piano music playing in the background. I also had a desk lamp tilted towards the ground, allowing minimal lighting while keeping the room almost completely dark. They were awake a long time the first few hours, but that could be because they nap so often during the day. And I mean, they nap a lot (but don't worry, they're still healthy and relatively active).

Tonight, I did the same thing and tried lowering the music, but both my lovies flew down to the bottom of the cage and flurred their wings at me. I don't know if it was because of the dark or because I lowered the music, or if they wanted attention. They calmed after I talked to them and raised the music again.

Should I leave the lamp on, or lay a sheet over them? I'm hesitant to put them in darkness when they're still adjusting to their surroundings. But I don't want them to have bad sleeping habits either; for all I know, they could be day-napping because their sleeping schedule at the pet shop was late.

What do you guys do? I guess it's individual to the bird, but what's best?

 

[Xoetix]

You could try a few different things and see what works. For me, I cover my cockatoo because otherwise she's screaming the second that dawn breaks. The cockatiel and budgies do perfectly fine uncovered, with no light on (just a window) and a white noise machine going.

 

[Icey]

I cover my macaw and my cockatoo at night.
I have a routine that suits them both.
At 8pm my cockatoo goes in for the night and is covered after sing song and kisses. My macaw, who is in another room, goes in at 9pm and is covered after nightly sing song time and kisses.
I don't hear a peep out of them until the next morning, apart from their beak grinding
@Zara has lovebirds and would be the best to answer this for you.
Good luck

 

[Zara]

Tonight, I did the same thing and tried lowering the music, but both my lovies flew down to the bottom of the cage and flurred their wings at me.

You woke them up.
Also, silence usually means danger, so when there's a constant noise for a long time, and then suddenly the noise stops, to them it can mean danger is coming (think, wild birds in Africa). So they are getting their wings ready for flight, those rapid flutters are getting them warmed up, they also do that when you open the cage to let them out. They will warm up before coming out (or hop onto a hand and do it there). The bottom of the cage is probably the best place to warm up wings as there's usully the most space there.
And if they are not thinking danger, they are thinking, oh look she's coming to let us out the cage, better warm up our wings.

I never leave music on for the birds while they sleep. It is easier.

I used to have my birds in the living room, so I would cover them all at bedtime, and they would beak grind and fall asleep. I would have the lights on in the far side of the room to them so it was dimmer for them and their sheets blocked the rest of the light out. I never had a TV in my living room so there was only the sound of my keys on the laptop and sometimes a little quiet talking and they never really woke up.
Now they have a bedroom to themselves, so I don't cover them. I have a shutter that blocks light from outdoors so it does the same thing - drop the shutter at bed time, open it in the morning.