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What does it mean when they are afraid of the dark....

CheekyBird

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Rose
My sister and I each have new green cheek conures, and of a night time when we turn all the lights off or cover their cage to go to sleep, they start screaming like crazy! They quiet down after a few minutes, but sometimes it sounds like we’re strangling them..... and my mums eclectus does NOT like the screaming.... so he starts screaming as-well... just curious is this normal, and if so, is there a way to stop it? Or reduce the noise they make, because when one person is sleeping and they start screaming... it wakes everyone up. Thanks
 

Mockinbirdiva

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It's normal for them to be unhappy with sudden lights out... some are more vocal about it than others. In the wild... the sun gradually goes down, they will fly to their roosting spots and settle down as the sky darkens where they feel safe from predators. You might consider dimming your lights or turning them off one at a time and have the last one on a dimmer switch where you can gradually turn the light off. Same with the cover, only cover half and gradually pull the cover completely over so it's not an all of a sudden cover that disturbs them. Try it and let us know how it works for them... and you.
 

Mockinbirdiva

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You can get smart LED lights and set them to slowly dim before they go out. Mine take 15 minutes to go dark. That gives them time to settle before the lights go out.
Share where you buy those and the brand you have. Thanks for sharing!
 

BrianB

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Share where you buy those and the brand you have. Thanks for sharing!
I use Phillips Hue lights and WeMo smart outlets. The Hue lights can be expensive, but there are other options out there. A friend of mine uses Lifx bulbs, there are also bulbs by Cree. You can get Hue & Cree at most home improvement stores like Lowes or Home Depot. I've never seen Lifx in retail, but I know you can get them online.

I have lights in the room and I have lights on the cage. The room lights are smart bulbs, and I use them together with the smart outlets. For the pet birds in my office, the room light starts to come on at 7am, and takes 10 minutes to reach full brightness. When that happens, the smart outlet turns on the cage lights. I work from home, so I'm usually in the office and already working when this happens. In the evening, the opposite happens. The cage lights go out, and then sometime later the room light starts to dim. That takes 15 minutes to go dark. I keep them on a solid 12 hours of light each day. I do something similar with the breeders, but they follow sunrise and sunset. The overhead light starts to go on 10 minutes before sunrise. When it is fully bright, the cage lights start to turn on in 2-minute intervals. This prevents them from being startled with all the lights just coming on with no warning. Once the cage lights are on, the overhead light serves no purpose so it turns off. In the evening, the overhead turns back on, and then in 2-minute intervals, the cage lights start to go out. When they are out, the overhead light takes 15 minutes to dim before going dark. Normally this works very well. It's all controlled by my phone and I rarely need to do anything manually now that it's all scheduled.
 

Mockinbirdiva

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I use Phillips Hue lights and WeMo smart outlets. The Hue lights can be expensive, but there are other options out there. A friend of mine uses Lifx bulbs, there are also bulbs by Cree. You can get Hue & Cree at most home improvement stores like Lowes or Home Depot. I've never seen Lifx in retail, but I know you can get them online.

I have lights in the room and I have lights on the cage. The room lights are smart bulbs, and I use them together with the smart outlets. For the pet birds in my office, the room light starts to come on at 7am, and takes 10 minutes to reach full brightness. When that happens, the smart outlet turns on the cage lights. I work from home, so I'm usually in the office and already working when this happens. In the evening, the opposite happens. The cage lights go out, and then sometime later the room light starts to dim. That takes 15 minutes to go dark. I keep them on a solid 12 hours of light each day. I do something similar with the breeders, but they follow sunrise and sunset. The overhead light starts to go on 10 minutes before sunrise. When it is fully bright, the cage lights start to turn on in 2-minute intervals. This prevents them from being startled with all the lights just coming on with no warning. Once the cage lights are on, the overhead light serves no purpose so it turns off. In the evening, the overhead turns back on, and then in 2-minute intervals, the cage lights start to go out. When they are out, the overhead light takes 15 minutes to dim before going dark. Normally this works very well. It's all controlled by my phone and I rarely need to do anything manually now that it's all scheduled.
It's a great system... thanks for explaining it!
 

Just-passn-thru

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I use Phillips Hue lights and WeMo smart outlets. The Hue lights can be expensive, but there are other options out there. A friend of mine uses Lifx bulbs, there are also bulbs by Cree. You can get Hue & Cree at most home improvement stores like Lowes or Home Depot. I've never seen Lifx in retail, but I know you can get them online.

I have lights in the room and I have lights on the cage. The room lights are smart bulbs, and I use them together with the smart outlets. For the pet birds in my office, the room light starts to come on at 7am, and takes 10 minutes to reach full brightness. When that happens, the smart outlet turns on the cage lights. I work from home, so I'm usually in the office and already working when this happens. In the evening, the opposite happens. The cage lights go out, and then sometime later the room light starts to dim. That takes 15 minutes to go dark. I keep them on a solid 12 hours of light each day. I do something similar with the breeders, but they follow sunrise and sunset. The overhead light starts to go on 10 minutes before sunrise. When it is fully bright, the cage lights start to turn on in 2-minute intervals. This prevents them from being startled with all the lights just coming on with no warning. Once the cage lights are on, the overhead light serves no purpose so it turns off. In the evening, the overhead turns back on, and then in 2-minute intervals, the cage lights start to go out. When they are out, the overhead light takes 15 minutes to dim before going dark. Normally this works very well. It's all controlled by my phone and I rarely need to do anything manually now that it's all scheduled.
Thank you for the in-depth details . I have to let this new knowledge sink-in to fully comprehend what your describing about the lighting , it's basically like a timer with dimmable/ bluetooth capabilities? I like the concept , will have to do some research on this.
 
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BrianB

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Thank you for the in-depth details . I have to let this new knowledge sink-in to fully comprehend what your describing about the lighting , it's basically like a timer with dimmable/ bluetooth capabilities? I like the concept , will have to do some research on this.
thats pretty much it in a nutshell. You can configure it to work with an Alexa device if you want. It’s all scheduled and controlled from your phone or tablet so once you get it setup and configured there really isn’t much you need to do with it. There are lights that are controlled with a hub or Bluetooth so it’s really flexible. You don’t even have to use the same products I’ve described. I did it with Hue lights because I already have quite a few of them in the house and it was easy to just repurpose a bulb I already had. Hue can be expensive but you can find something to fit just about any budget. Good luck!
 

CheekyBird

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Rose
Last night I tried just half covering their cage and then fully covering their cage, and that worked just fine for them, they didn’t complain about it at all, but I think I’ll still look into getting those lights, thanks.
 
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