African Grey Keeps Waking My Wife

[curtis]

My wife is a very light sleeper and always gets up after me. Understandably, when our male African grey hears me moving around in the morning, he chirps and whistles to get my attention. These calls wake my wife. She got the grey long before we were married and has instructed me to leave the birdcage covered and not to play with the parrot before she gets up because she wants to keep sleeping.

I'd appreciate any suggestions you might have. For example, might there be a way to assure the grey that it's me that's walking around and to train him to remain quiet until "Mama" gets up?

Alas, the obvious solution of adjusting the humans' rising times is proving difficult. "Mama" wants to sleep in and won't get up when I do. And on weekdays, I have to be at work by the time she gets up, so my getting up later isn't an option most days.

What do you think?

[GreenWing]

I understand your dilemma as I'm a night owl and love to stay up, however, I am changing this for the benefit of my bird. Can you try to get on more of a solar schedule, and go to bed earlier, so that when your bird wakes and calls it's not an issue?

Also, could your wife get up and play with the Grey for a bit, feed him breakfast and then go back to bed for a nap -- do you think this is possible?

Lastly, it may be worth a try, but get some oscillating fans, they drain out noise, and it's not a guarantee but your Grey may not wake when you get up due to the fans.

[curtis]

I hadn't thought of putting fans near the birdcages at night. My wife uses them by the bed at night for white noise, but it isn't enough to drown out the calls. Maybe more fans would help.

I didn't understand the suggestion that I go to bed earlier but would like to. How might that make the morning calls not an issue?

[pennyandrocky]

how late is your wife sleeping in? is it possible to move the birds into an area of the house where they won't hear you getting up in the morning? not sure what would work since in my experience they know what time it is no matter what you do. every night mine fly back to their cages for bedtime if i don't get right to their normal routine they scream. they pretty much wake up the same time every morning too even if they hear me, my son or his father they might say what are you doing? /whistle but they go right back to sleep.

[GreenWing]

I hadn't thought of putting fans near the birdcages at night. My wife uses them by the bed at night for white noise, but it isn't enough to drown out the calls. Maybe more fans would help.

I didn't understand the suggestion that I go to bed earlier but would like to. How might that make the morning calls not an issue?

I meant that if your wife went to bed earlier, she could get enough sleep and your grey waking would not affect her in a negative way. Unless there is a reason she has to stay up... such as work commitments? She could always take a nap later in the day, if she needed an extra hour of sleep. Trust me I love to sleep in, too, but my husband wakes me every morning, so I just go back to bed later for nap when he leaves. In my experience Greys -- as well as my sennie -- didn't mind having quiet time... Stick a millet stick in the cage or a foraging toy if the bird acts like he had a few cups of coffee in the morning ^^

Also don't put fans near the cage, that would make the bird cold, disperse a couple more throughout the house.

[curtis]

Thanks, that makes sense. I'm adding a fan that's blowing away from the birdies, and maybe a treat in the morning would please the grey and keep him quiet awhile.

[Pajarita]

Birds need to follow a solar schedule in order for their endocrine system to stay healthy and in tune with the seasons and that means a chicken schedule (up with sunrise and to bed with sunset-the scientific term for this is photoperiodism). Also, in order for the pineal gland (the 'master' one that activates all the other glands) to set the body's internal clock, the bird needs to be fully exposed to dawn and dusk (it's the change in the solar light spectrum as the sun goes down that does it). You can keep a bird alive even if you don't follow a bird's schedule (think of the birds in the trees) but the immune system will become depressed and the bird will be more prone to disease as well as become hormonal and, eventually, sexually frustrated (and that means screaming, biting, plucking, self-mutilating, etc).

Parrots are not easy pets because they don't belong to domesticated species. They don't adjust to our life and schedules, we need to adjust to them and that's why so many are given away after a number of years.

[curtis]

Thanks for explaining this. How dark should it be for the birds after sundown. Bedtime dark? We've left a dim orange lamp and a short strand of Christmas-tree-style lights on through the night for them. Or is it OK to leave on lights in neighboring rooms?

[Pajarita]

No artificial lights whatsoever. They've done several studies on country versus urban birds (which are exposed to the street lamps) and found that even the ones that live in the periphery are affected by the artificial light at night. People talk about cockatiels needing a light on at night to avoid night frights but I think it's counterproductive at worst and useless at best because mine never had any and the only time they had night frights was when we first moved back from the country to the city and I couldn't figure out what was causing them as I was keeping them to a strict solar schedule until, out of sheer desperation, I slept in the birdroom and saw that the light of a street lamp at the corner was shining through the window (my house was the third from the corner and the lamp was across the street right at the corner so the light was very, very faint) where the tiels cage was placed and was disturbing their rest. I immediately bought black-out curtains which I would draw once night had fallen and open before dawn and they never had another night fright again (this was three years ago). Birds are VERY sensitive to light! So much so that nature made their cranial bones so thin that light can shine through them and reach photo receptive cells deep into their brain (mammals only have them in their eyes).