Winter daylight hours?

[Khizz]

It's now coming to winter, and currently the sun seems to go down at about 5 and comes up at 7. So I was wondering approximately what time your birds go to bed, especially those looking to discourage egg laying and hormonal behaviour. Currently I can tell when they are getting ready for bed as they start to get grumpy and bicker for perches.

Also, do you use natural sundown times or put a light on when it starts to get dark?

 

[sunnysmom]

I keep my birds on the same schedule year round. Elvis goes to bed at 9. Scooter goes to bed at 8. They both get up around 7-7:30. And I do have lights on until they go to bed (and Scooter has night light).

 

[AutumnRain]

I don't have a set bedtime for my female cockatiel. Emery gets put to bed whenever I notice her starting to get sleepy. I do turn on lights once it gets dark. When she goes to bed, I let her sleep anywhere from 10-14 hours. I let her sleep in the bedroom for 14 hours if she's acting really hormonal. I use blackout curtains to keep my bedroom dark for her, and a white noise machine so she can sleep better.

I've been doing this for almost a year, and it helps significantly with hormonal behavior. I also never feed her any warm mushy foods, like oatmeal, vegetables, etc. to avoid a hormonal response. Emery also has a nightlight on all night.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I keep the same schedule for my birds all year. Bedtime is between 6:30 and 7:00, wake up is about 8:00-8:30.

 

[Mizzely]

Ripley's light goes on at 9am and off at 8pm. However he usually wakes up around midnight to 1am to eat before going back to bed, and instead takes a nap around 1 to 2pm

 

[Khizz]

Thanks for your replies everyone! I don't know why but I felt weird about using my bedroom lights when it was dark outside. I think I'll try some regular hours. Not that there has ever been a problem. I actually quite like them waking me up, it's much cuter than an alarm clock and they aren't particularly loud

 

[JoJo&Loki]

This is the first winter I’ve had my birds, and I’ve been feeling bad about them wanting to go to bed so early these days! But it’s just nature and it’s what they want, so I just go with it. Now that it’s getting dark early, they start roosting around 6 and it’s lights out around 7.
I got some “daylight” bulbs for our room and I keep them on until I sing their lullaby at bedtime.
They get up early with hubby, since he gets up wayyy before me to go to the gym - he changes their water etc and opens their door around 6 am.