bird bed?

[lplummer52]

Fair enough.

 

[Laurasea]

Lord triggs, I respectfully disagree about conures lying down in the wild. These birds are cavity dwellers. And will all pile in a hollow to sleep even during non breeding. I watched a documentary a decade ago so I can't reference it here.... My conure hut is just fabric, not the furry fuzzy one. I don't want to put anyone at risk, nore do I refute the dangeres or past horror stories. But there are many risks with parrots, all those rope threads, chewed plastic bits ect.... These conures instinctual seek out secure places to sleep, I didn't train them, and mine only use them for sleeping, they never enter them during the day, again my own experiences. When I brought home my baby Quaker he had never seen a hut, I out him in his new cage the hut was up in the corner, he never explored it it seemed interested, then that first night as the sun went down he imbed up the cage abd went into the hut to sleep his first night. To me that is instinctual. Personally I would offer some sort of secure place to sleep for conures, be diy out of known safe materials. But it's nice to be part of a lively discussion with such heated sides and information of benefits and risks.

 

[itzjbean]

There's nothing sadder to me than a caged bird. Safe, but sad.

You know what's sadder.... coming home to a bird that has died trying to break free of the threads of these huts and hanging to death. And then the guilt of realizing the people warning you were right...

Also very sad.... on Instagram I used to follow a 'free roam' budgie, the owners also felt the same way about having their bird caged.

It ended up dying from ingesting part of the screen door. It suffered greatly and perished very suddenly. Only after they had a necropsy done did they realize the dangers of letting their birds free roam.

Having a caged bird kept SAFE is far more repsonsible than having a bird allowed the freedom of free roam and putting its life at risk of getting into trouble (eating screen doors, eating paint off the walls, biting wires and getting electrocuted, attacked by other animals in the house, ingesting carpet material, getting into the toilet and drowning, etc.)

 

[Laurasea]

It saddens me to hear these stories. And I will review how to safely offer sleeping options. Threads are definitely a risk in many ways, I agree! Perhaps a cardboard hut, it a three sided wood shelf. I just read some articles on the advanced orinthology website, about cavity dwellers use of cavities during non breeding season. In North America cavity dwellers use if cavities during non breeding season hadn't been studied much. Buth there are studies showing use by flickers, bluebirds, black capped chickadees, owls, and wood peckers, using cavity as shelter Durning non breeding season. As an aside wood encourage everyone to put up nest boxes for our wild cavity dwelling birds, there numbers are dropping rapidly, Cornell University has an ornithology web site with great information. Now back to our cavity dwelling conures, perhaps there are some safe non thread laden options we can offer them. In my opersvation of non parrot wild birds, they snuggle into deep vees of limbs to rest it deep shelter, they are not in an exposed perch or limb sleeping at night. I believe there is some psychological benefits to providing a protected place to sleep. I am not endorsing huts, or asking people to use them. But I am asking you to rethink done if your assumptions of parrot sleeping behavior. Parrots are under studied, and most certainly there behavior at night. Surviving isn't thriving. Yes certainly they can survive standing on a perch to sleep, but I believe they can thrive given some safe option to sleep off their feet.

 

[EllenD]

There's nothing sadder to me than a caged bird. Safe, but sad.

You know what's sadder.... coming home to a bird that has died trying to break free of the threads of these huts and hanging to death. And then the guilt of realizing the people warning you were right...

Also very sad.... on Instagram I used to follow a 'free roam' budgie, the owners also felt the same way about having their bird caged.

It ended up dying from ingesting part of the screen door. It suffered greatly and perished very suddenly. Only after they had a necropsy done did they realize the dangers of letting their birds free roam.

Having a caged bird kept SAFE is far more repsonsible than having a bird allowed the freedom of free roam and putting its life at risk of getting into trouble (eating screen doors, eating paint off the walls, biting wires and getting electrocuted, attacked by other animals in the house, ingesting carpet material, getting into the toilet and drowning, etc.)

Quite right and well said, Itzjbean...

Something that people tend to forget when having the "Birds shouldn't be caged, not ever" discussion, or that they simply choose to ignore and not take into consideration at all, is the fact that we're not talking about wild-bred birds here, we're not talking about someone going to Africa, Australia, South America, etc. and using nets and cages to trap wild parrots/birds and then put them into captivity. That's not something that anyone in this community believes in at all. We're talking about birds/parrots who were bred in captivity and that have been in direct-contact with people since they were little babies, and if hand-raised then since they were between 2-3 weeks old, and who have been raised to love people, bond with people, and depend closely upon people for every single thing that they need. We're talking about birds that if freed into the wild, even in their natural regions and habitats, most-all of them would die of dehydration, starvation, and even more-so at the hands of predators. These are birds that have had a "cage" as a part of their natural living environment pretty much since they were hatched...And those cages are full of toys and foraging activities and swings and food and water and treats and so on and so on (and if they're not then you shouldn't have a bird in the first place)...

None of my birds spend any time locked inside their cages at all unless I'm not home, and that is simply for their own protection. And even though I've lived with birds throughout my entire life, 38 years, and even though I have taken every effort to "bird-proof" my home, do I fully, 100% trust myself to have made it absolutely impossible for one of my birds to hurt or kill themselves? Absolutely not. Most people don't let their young, human children at home alone with no supervision....why is that? Because they're going to get into things and do things that are going to hurt them, make them sick, or kill them (not to mention destroy the home).

So when people say something like "There's nothing sadder than a bird locked inside of a cage", it's just simply not an accurate statement. There may not be anything sadder than a wild bird locked in a cage and frantically thrashing and screaming to get out of it, but with the birds we're talking about and most of the environments provided to them by responsible, loving owners, the birds in these cages are actually quite happy and content.

And if you want to get into the much larger discussion about how people shouldn't be breeding birds into captivity or keeping them as pets at all, that they all need to be free and outside, well that's fine, but that's not the discussion that needs to be had here in this particular thread. People need to take this "Snuggle/Happy Hut" thing a hell of a lot more seriously than they do, because once again, these are birds that were bred into captivity and raised to rely upon us, their people, to meet every one of their needs and to protect them as best we can from danger and harm.

And while we cannot possibly protect our birds, our dogs, cats, reptiles, or our human children from everything that can make them sick, hurt them, or kill them, this "Happy/Snuggle Hut" thing is right in front of our faces, all of us, screaming at us from the writing of the hundreds, if not thousands of people who have quite literally had their birds die as a result of them putting those things inside of their cages. I mean, could it be any more clear for bird owners than reading the hundreds of horribly sad stories of people coming home to their birds laying dead inside of their cages, or hanging desperately from a thread of these things, choking to death or having lost a leg or a foot? And I'd be remiss not to mention the dozens and dozens of people who have written the famous last words "My bird has had their Happy Hut inside of their cage for over a year and has been perfectly fine", or "My bird doesn't chew anything, so he'll be fine with his Happy Hut", etc., and then suddenly, one day, out of nowhere they come home to a dead bird, dead years or decades before they should have died, and then they have a necropsy done only to find that their bird's GI Tract was stuffed full of purple, green, or yellow material that had been accumulating inside of them for months to years, and that finally killed them...and painfully at that.

 

[LordTriggs]

Lord triggs, I respectfully disagree about conures lying down in the wild. These birds are cavity dwellers. And will all pile in a hollow to sleep even during non breeding. I watched a documentary a decade ago so I can't reference it here.... My conure hut is just fabric, not the furry fuzzy one. I don't want to put anyone at risk, nore do I refute the dangeres or past horror stories. But there are many risks with parrots, all those rope threads, chewed plastic bits ect.... These conures instinctual seek out secure places to sleep, I didn't train them, and mine only use them for sleeping, they never enter them during the day, again my own experiences. When I brought home my baby Quaker he had never seen a hut, I out him in his new cage the hut was up in the corner, he never explored it it seemed interested, then that first night as the sun went down he imbed up the cage abd went into the hut to sleep his first night. To me that is instinctual. Personally I would offer some sort of secure place to sleep for conures, be diy out of known safe materials. But it's nice to be part of a lively discussion with such heated sides and information of benefits and risks.

Looking for info is hard on their wild sleeping habits but I remember a thing talking about how they sleep in hollows which if I am remembering correctly said they do so during storm season but yeah finding that info again has proved to be more difficult than I thought. I won't deny it's an instinctual thing to find a spot like that. It's not so much looking for a nice bed but more of an instinct to find somewhere hidden and secure. I would agree if you make a hut out of safe materials like seagrass or such then as long as it doesn't send them into hormone mode then that's where I would chuck the thing out. If there are truly safe versions of huts then if they 'must' be used then I would prefer a self-made safe one over a mass produced fluffy death trap

 

[SassiBird]

My birds have sleep boxes. They are like nest boxes but smaller so they aren't supposed to trigger nesting. Sassi used her's in the beginning. I notices she would scratch at the bottom. (I wonder if this is part of the problem with the fuzzy huts.) I put a balsa wood floor on the bottom thinking this would give her some scratching satisfaction, but after that she abandoned the sleep box for sleeping, but she still plays in it - even after removing the balsa wood.

I have two new fully flighted young green cheeks. They refuse to sleep in their cage. (Have you ever tried getting two fully flighted birds into the same cage?) Anyway, they sleep on my curtain rod right now, but I'm hoping to lure them down with a nice new sleep box. (photo from Feathered Companions Aviary, birdcompanions.com)
http://birdcompanions.com/_FCA%20Sleepboxes%202006.pdf

 

[Hyacinth69]

You aren't seeming to want to agree with the bird owners, so let me tell you what I think about the parrot beds. I have a sun conure and a cockatiel. The sun conure is a busy thing all day long. I thought that having a furry bed was a prerequisite and I poo-pooed what other owners said. We love laughing at Ruby and how he tears his bed up. He removed the insides as well as the platform that is sewn into the bottom. I kept the debris picked up. One day recently, Ruby got caught in a set of threads and hung himself by the neck. My son happened to be right in front of the cage and saw what was happening and yelled for help. My husband got Ruby undone, I clipped the threads, and removed the bed. Even though the tent/beds are popular, it isn't worth the heartache or fear that I could be responsible for killing my bird. I am searching for something else to appease Ruby, but until then he has to perch it. :22:

 

[itzjbean]

I have two new fully flighted young green cheeks. They refuse to sleep in their cage. (Have you ever tried getting two fully flighted birds into the same cage?) Anyway, they sleep on my curtain rod right now, but I'm hoping to lure them down with a nice new sleep box. (photo from Feathered Companions Aviary, birdcompanions.com)
http://birdcompanions.com/_FCA Sleepboxes 2006.pdf

I'm a little confused by this. I have three fully-flighted bids and I get them into their cage just fine. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do, towel them and put them back in their cage.

You are the human and you have the power to put them back in if you really wanted to. What if there was a fire in the house and you had to get them out? But wait, they are on the curtain rod and flying around, cant' catch them to bring them to safety with you.

You should really reconsider putting your birds in cages to sleep, they can 'refuse' all they want but YOU are the owner and you get to decide where they sleep.

If I let my birds be out and not in cage all the time, they would be cat lunch in a day...

 

[EllenD]

I have two new fully flighted young green cheeks. They refuse to sleep in their cage. (Have you ever tried getting two fully flighted birds into the same cage?) Anyway, they sleep on my curtain rod right now, but I'm hoping to lure them down with a nice new sleep box. (photo from Feathered Companions Aviary, birdcompanions.com)
http://birdcompanions.com/_FCA Sleepboxes 2006.pdf

I'm a little confused by this. I have three fully-flighted bids and I get them into their cage just fine. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do, towel them and put them back in their cage.

You are the human and you have the power to put them back in if you really wanted to. What if there was a fire in the house and you had to get them out? But wait, they are on the curtain rod and flying around, cant' catch them to bring them to safety with you.

You should really reconsider putting your birds in cages to sleep, they can 'refuse' all they want but YOU are the owner and you get to decide where they sleep.

If I let my birds be out and not in cage all the time, they would be cat lunch in a day...

I had to shake my head at this post as well, because I've had birds/lived with birds/parrots literally since the day I was born, most of which have been "fully-flighted" their entire lives (including my 4 guys now along with my current 8 Budgies living in an indoor-aviary), and I have never had any issues at all with "getting them into their cages". I don't at all understand the statement " have two new fully flighted young green cheeks. They refuse to sleep in their cage."...How can they "refuse" to sleep in their cage? This statement or rather the attitude behind it is akin to people saying things like "My bird only eats Sunflower Seeds and that's it." As Itzjbean already stated, pet birds cannot go to the store and buy the sunflower seeds, or the peanuts, or the junky seed-mixes, nor can they open up the containers and feed themselves...That's the nice thing about being their owners, we have 100% control on what we feed them, where they sleep, where they live, where they are allowed to fly in our homes, etc.

If your 3 fully-flighted Green Cheeks "won't sleep in their cages", I'm assuming that means that they cry or scream when put into their cages to go to sleep? Unfortunately if they are let out of their cages once they start to scream/cry, then you're only reinforcing to them that by crying/screaming they will get whatever they want. You just have to let 'em scream! I promise you, 100% guarantee you that if you just put them in their cages at bedtime, they WILL sleep in them! I'm sure that you can gain control of your 3 birds, fully-flighted or not, otherwise you have a much larger problem on your hands that needs to be addressed...

And I'm not saying this to be rude, harsh, mean, or critical of you, neither is Itzjbean I'm sure, but to try to help you realize that your solution to the problem is not only dangerous to their physical health in the long-term, as providing any type of "box" to a Green Cheek or any parrot is just the idea of "NEST! NEST! NEST!" in their brains and causing their sex-hormones to go instantly crazy, but it's also just reinforcing once again that they can get whatever they want if they just keep "refusing" to do what you want them to do or ask them to do...They have the intelligence, reasoning, and logic skills of a 3-4 year-old human child. What happens when your toddler starts screaming because they want something, and you give it to them to keep them from screaming? You know the answer to this question, and the same applies directly to your Green Cheeks.

And this isn't just about training your birds or having control of them, but more-so about being their owner and the person who is responsible for their lives. As such, you have to keep them safe and make choices for them that will keep them physically and psychologically healthy. And providing them with either a "Hut" to sleep in that has killed thousands of pet birds or providing them with nothing more than a "nest-box" to sleep in that will 100% cause their sex-hormones to rush and eventually cause follicle/egg production in any females every time she enters the "box" is not keeping them healthy at all. Sometimes we have to do things for our pets that they don't like or that they even hate and maybe yes get a little "stressed-out" about, especially with parrots and their intelligence, because not doing them could potentially hurt them, make them sick, or kill them.

This is a pretty cut and dry/black and white concept, which is why I will NEVER understand purposely putting a "Snuggle Hut" or "Happy Hut" inside of your parrot's cage, regardless of your reasoning or excuses to do so. Literally THOUSANDS of pet parrots/birds have been killed in numerous different ways by simply having those "Huts". This is FACT, it's well-documented FACT, to the point that the two largest manufacturers of the "Huts" actually put "Not Intended For Use With Conures" on the front of the their packaging because so many Conures have been killed by them (thousands of other species of parrots as well, but Conures are so popular and sold by Petco now, and are probably the most popular pet parrots/birds currently and have been for the past decade)...I mean, why isn't just knowing that thousands of pet parrots have been literally killed, as well as permanently-disabled/maimed by these things enough for EVERY PET PARROT OWNER to get rid of them immediately? I've yet to hear a single reasonable explanation for this. Not one. Boggles my mind.

***There are SO MANY reasons that our Fids die long before their time that we as their owners cannot control, no matter what we do or how careful and attentive we are...This is something that we can easily and instantly control and make certain will NEVER hurt our birds...Why take the risk? If your bird is dead it doesn't matter that "he loves to sleep in his Hut" or "He loves to sleep on his back" or "He'll be stressed if I remove it"...Won't matter one bit, will it?

 

[noodles123]

By refuse, do you mean that they bite or fly when you try to put them in? Try dimming the lights/shutting them off and see if they naturally go back in their cage to "roost"---assuming it is already nighttime. My cockatoo does (puts herself to bed and bobs up and down for me to cover the cage). There have been times when she hasn't wanted to go in (during the day) and I have been bitten, and/or she has flown, and/or clung to the back of my head, but at the end of the dispute, she went in, and now we don't argue about it like we used to. I wasn't rough about it---just more stubborn than she was. A routine and trust also go a long way. Worst-case-scenario---she (my "Too") clings to her perch when she knows that a trip to the vet is coming--travel cage issues-- and with enough persistence, she will eventually step up (after avoiding and/or walking away/and/or "pulling out" all of her cute "I -love-yous"). Persistence is key in some cases--gentle and calm, but persistent.
Hint- block the bird before it can climb up your arm. Also, avoid wearing woven fabrics that they can cling to easily. You may need a 2nd person (one that the bird tolerates) to block certain areas on or around the cage.

Depending on cage size, you might try covering the metal wires surrounding the cage door where they would grab on and pull up (making it into a sort of cloth hollow and then removing the cover as soon as they are perched--this is literally the only time I would ever advocate for putting your bird into a dark hollow and it should last no more than 2 seconds--long enough to shut the door). I have to do this with the travel cage, because my bird would try to latch herself onto the outside (right as we were entering the doorway). Also, consider placing a preferred treat in the cage ahead of time and see if your bird won't go in to get it---don't close it every time, or your birds will connect the treat to the cage shutting--make sure that they can go in and out the first couple of times you do it. In general, you should make sure that they are able to come and go as they please (open cage door) for a few hours each day, as long as this can be done safely.