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Need Advice on Sleep Schedule

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Need Advice on Sleep Schedule

Postby asrielshaven » Wed Jul 03, 2019 7:00 pm

Hi all!

It's currently summertime where I am, meaning the days are longer and the nights are shorter. I just got my new IRN Asriel, and of course I'm being a worried bird mom. I want to make sure he gets all the sleep he needs.
I installed some blinds in the room his cage is in since he's right next to a window. The blinds aren't super effective, but help block out some light. At first I was planning on covering his cage, but after reading about night terrors and his breeder advising against it, I'm not so sure anymore.
I also know that birds don't always need complete silence to sleep since, of course, in the wild, the environment is never dead silent.

We're still in the adjustment period, but I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can so that he feels comfortable. If anyone could describe their own bird's sleep schedule, and maybe they're evening/night routine, that would be great. Helpful for me to get an idea of what other bird owners are doing.
asrielshaven
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 2
Number of Birds Owned: 5
Types of Birds Owned: Parakeet/Budgie, Indian Ringneck
Flight: No

Re: Need Advice on Sleep Schedule

Postby Pajarita » Thu Jul 04, 2019 9:19 am

Well, all birds are photoperiodic which means they need to follow a solar schedule (like the chickens, basically, wake up with dawn and go to sleep with dusk). I open the blinds at 5 am this time of the year (because there is already light in the sky by then) and turn on the artificial lights at around 7 am when there is already rays of sunshine coming into the room through the windows. I turn off the ceiling lights at 6 pm and give them dinner at 6:30 pm (I could actually do this a bit later this time of the year but this time works out better for me because I also rescue dogs and cats and need to feed them, too plus clean litter boxes, pick up beds, take the dogs out, cook dinner, etc) and I close the blinds at 8:30 pm -again, depending on the room, I could do this a bit later but I get up before 5 am and need to go to sleep early. Keeping a bird at a strict solar schedule is the only way you can keep them healthy (because a screwed up endocrine system means a depressed immune system) but it's VERY hard on the human because you need to get up super early in the summer and, in the winter, you can't turn on any artificial lights from 3 pm so, if you, like me, have birds in the living room or the dining room, that room becomes unusable in the evenings all winter long.

Now, I would recommend you do not ask a breeder how to care for a pet bird. Breeders need breeding birds that produce babies while we, bird keepers, avoid hormonal birds like the plague so the conditions they keep their birds under are not the best conditions to keep a pet bird.

PS I don't believe in night frights. Well, it's not that I don't believe they happen, they do. I just don't believe that they are natural to birds -nmeaning, if you care for them properly, they don't have them.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes


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