Travel cage? Big cage? Where should our conure sleep?

[KimberlyAnn]

When I was looking around the internet for information on Green Cheek Conures, I read a few posts about people putting their birds in small cages to sleep and big cages (as needed) durring the day.

Why is this done and what are the benefits? Or why would this be a bad idea? What affects does this have on the bird socially?

We have a pretty big flight cage (4.5x3x2), a mid sized cage (For outside), and a roomy travel cage. Also, one small Green Cheek Conure who is 5 months old. My husband and I work different shifts so the bird (Soon to be named when we find the perfect name!) Is home alone for about four hours a day. I really like the big cage because the bird seems so happy! So much room to spread wings and fly (Well, when feathers grow back) and climb. It's very comfortable with the travel cage too when we have made the small trips to the vet and to friend's houses to socialize the bird. Plus, the travel cage has a perch on top that we use if we need to put the bird down for a second...we still need to get a bird stand/play area.

Our Conure came to us friendly, outgoing, and trusting. Although we are doing training and it's going very well...we just want to make the right decisions so we can keep things happy through all the bird's stages. I would hate to do something to break this bond we have.

I have read a lot and I still have more learning to do about Conures, but my instincts say that sleeping in the small cage is better because I read that they like to sleep in cubby spaces...but "nest" type things in regular cages can sometimes be a bad idea because it promotes nesting behavior that can be bad if the bird is female. I also think that this might be like "crate training" for a dog or cat...but maybe this might not work for a bird? My husband seems to think that sleeping in the big cage might put a wedge in our close relationship with the bird because we can put the bird to sleep in our room with us. It is the quiet room in the house and the big cage won't fit in there. But once the bird is sleeping...its sleeping so I don't think it realizes if we sneak in to go to bed or not. He's also concerned that the big cage will make the bird unfriendly because it is so big...someone told him that once I guess. I just don't know, we could be completely wrong. I have not found a lot of information about this as much as I have on air quality, food and training. I hope you guys can help us.

[marie83]

Encouraging nesting behaviours shouldn't be too much of a problem with having a seperate sleep cage, there is one forum member who actually suggests sleep cages are better for this as parrots only stay in one place when they are breeding.

The benefits are if theres an emergancy during the night you can just grab the carrier/travel cage and go.
Sleep cages can be moved to the quietest location for undisturbed sleep much more easily if needed (say you have friends over or want to stay up late).
Birds which are prone to night fright have less space to potentially hurt themselves.

I cant really think of any drawbacks apart from perhaps extra cleaning.

I don't currently have sleep cages so they aren't essential but I will eventually I think, definitely when Harlie is ready for her bigger cage for the night fright reason, plus emergancies are generally unexpected, if very rare, and it will be easier and quicker in that case.

[KimberlyAnn]

The emergency point is a good one!

We put the bird (Can't wait to find a good name for him/her!) In the carrier tonight and things went well. One or two mins of "No! I want to be with you!" And then we heard grinding for ten mins, then nothing. Sounds like it approves!

[KimberlyAnn]

I just wanted to update this so if someone had a similar question, they could see what worked for me.

Sleeping in the carrier has been a great idea! Our bird knows it's time to sleep when it goes in the small cage. It knows it's time to play when it's in the big cage...we also talk to it of course. "Goodnight bird." I'm unsure if the carrier has helped with the routine, or if the bird is generally becoming more comfortable with the routine, but things are going great!

The small cage is where the bird talks the most. So we hear a little chatter, then beak grinding, then silence until we wake the bird up. So it definitely feels comfortable in the small cage and goes into sleep mode.

For me, I like the fact that we can move the cage anywhere. Any sounds and the bird wakes up. It grumbles "Goodnight goodnight" and as well as discontent chirps so we get the point. lol The bird gets put to bed in the quietest room that night! Bird sleeps in our room normally. Husband's allergies are making him cough all night? Bird gets to sleep with late teen daughter who comes in quietly late and gets up after we remove the bird. Lol Plus, we don't need a big cover for our big cage. That's about $100 more I can spend on bird toys! Lol

So personally...I would suggest the carrier for sleeping for a happy Conure. I can see how it will make the bird feel comfortable about traveling in the cage as well.