Flying into walls!

[moisheweiss]

My male Ringneck Parakeet (Popeye) has been waking up in middle of the night and flying all over the place bouncing into walls. Is he sick? His feathers don't look ruffled. I have lights on in adjoining rooms so they are never in complete darkness. It is possible that my female Ringneck Parakeet (Olive) is biting or chasing him and he is flying away. But that doesn't explain the wall-clunking. Also they usually get along. I got them as a pair from a bird shop as turn ins. They told me that Popeye (I renamed him) was not salable and they were selling them together because they belonged together. So that should mean they should get along. They have been getting along for a couple of years, but recently Olive has been chasing Popeye and I caught her biting his tail once. Are these issues related? Both of them seem otherwise calm and well groomed. In the past, when Olive chased Popeye, it was because I was paying attention to him, so I have been careful not to do so too much since he doesn't prefer it anyway. I am not sure why she is chasing him now, except maybe boredom. That also doesn't explain why Popeye is smacking into walls and windows when he flies around.

 

[EAI]

Is Popeye sleeping in a cage?
He probably has night frights..or both are having night frights. It's strongly advised that you have your birds sleeping in a cage at night. More so, a sleep cage if your birds are being prone to night frights so they don't hurt themselves. It's also advisable to be keeping your birds in a different cage at night.

Just because birds are bonded does not guarantee that they will never fight. My parakeets will occasionally have tiny outbursts but never full fighting.

What kind of toys do you provide him? If it is boredom foraging toys will really help him out. But as they are a bonded pair, it's safer to not use any shreddable toys since it's stimulation for breeding.

 

[weco]

Sounds like Popeye doesn't like taking orders from Olive, if that's what's going on.....

Is there a chance that cars/vehicles driving bye are flashing headlights on the walls of their room & the noise of the passing vehicle is waking them ? ? ?

I had a problem like that with some new neighbors, but the got caught selling beer & liquor after hours and to minors, so the traffic problem was short lived, but that could be part of your problem too.....traffic noise & lights flashing in the windows.....

Our companion birds don't have good night vision, so if it's not well lit in the room, he probably can't help running into things he can't see.....there's no a chance that you might have other night visitors is there? Mice & other night visitors are known to excite sleeping birds, especially if the birds can see and/or hear them scurrying along the floor.....

Good luck.....

 

[MikeyTN]

I keep light on in the same room they're in. Although there's lights on in adjacent room, they're still prone to night fright. If they don't like each other why don't you just keep them separated? Where they can still see one another. And I know it was asked above but are they not in a cage?

 

[moisheweiss]

Thanks.

They are in a cage with open doors. Their cage is near a window because I thought this was more interesting for them than keeping them nearer the middle of the house without anything to look at when I'm not around. I have a thin dark blanket that I throw over the cage when I want them to settle but hardly ever use it.

I can close the doors to the cage more often, throw the blanket over it at night or move the cage away from the windows. I do not know what a sleep cage is.

I have a smaller spare cage but because of their long tail feathers it is smaller for them than I like.

I did recently move some furniture around - less than a week ago, but 20 feet away from their cage. Still this may have them jittery. The weird thing with Popeye is he flies out of his cage, more than 50 feet through two rooms before spinning around in the last room and bumping into walls in the last well lit room. Is he bleary eyed from the change in light? After he autorotated to the ground he got back up and head-butted the wall before flying off to a higher perch again. Olive followed half an hour later (this was 2 in the morning) and they spend the night singing to each other, Olive on my shoulder while I was on my bedroom computer and Popeye on top of the bathroom light fixture. This is the first time it was this complete loss of night time-ness but about the third time I saw Popeye fly into the bedroom bathroom and bump into walls in the well-lit bedroom and bathroom.

I have tried them on various kind of toys, but the only things they like are cardboard food containers, styrofoam cups, tissues and bottle lids. I had a few toys that I was sure they would like but no: a cloth yellow doll with a squeeky in the belly, a wicker ball with holes to squeeze food treats into and this clear plastic thing that gets filled with seed and they have to turn the layers to make the seed spill out. They just back away from all these things. I also put together a playpen for them and they are still avoiding it after nearly a month.

 

[moisheweiss]

Another issue is that getting Popeye to go in the cage is a bit tricky because he panics if I get nearer then 5 feet to him. I have to circle around the cage to get him to go inside while backing away from me. Once he is in the other room my only option is to chase him until he lands on the floor out of breath and then throw a shirt over him. He is calm enough if I hold him next to me in the shirt for the minute it takes to get back to the cage but that is it. If I try to work with him more, Olive gets nippy and Popeye gets aggravated-screechy.

 

[EAI]

Yes, it would be wider to shut the cage door because it gives them the option to fly outside hitting who knows what. If also be covering the cage at night so they won't see any outside commotion that would startle them and help keep the inside of their cage as quiet as possible. A sleep cage is a smaller cage your bird sleeps in at night, this is not their permanent home but used only for sleeping.
It might not be your cup of tea but I'd highly suggest clipping their wings so they can't slam into the walls at full force. There's stories out there of parrots hitting windows and walls too hard resulting in death.
Also, please never tire out your bird, this will cause a phobia to humans and that's the last thing you would want. Could you place treats inside their cage so they would voluntarily go inside? There's techniques on training your bird to go inside on command as well.

 

[moisheweiss]

Thanks. I will start shutting the cage door and covering it when they go inside at night.

As for treats, Popeye has played a pretty solid hand of poker. I really have no clue.

My backup cage is only about 18 inches cube, I think. I intended it for when I am cleaning the main cage, but in fact I have just been letting them fly free. Is this too small for a sleep cage/backup cage?

 

[MikeyTN]

The existing cage is fine for sleeping, but please do keep the doors closed. It would be wise to either close the curtains on the windows at night or cover the cage with dark blankets on the side towards the windows as the glare from a headlight would cause them to freak out.

 

[SilverSage]

Everything people have said so far is valid, but I did not see anyone mention vermin in the cage. In my experience the most common cause for night frights in birds that have not had them in the past is something in the cage, be it actual mice or even small bugs. If they move in the cage, it scares the bird. It could be a seasonal thing and does not even necessarily mean you are not keeping it clean enough, though please make sure you are. To protect against this it may be wise to sprinkle diatomaceous earth around the bottom of the cage, which will kill bugs but is safe for humans and birds. If there is a chance there are rodents involved that is a whole other fight.

Also, I am all for free flights birds being given free reign of the house, but only if those birds are tame, or at the very least trained to go back into the cage for a treat. Having birds out that you cannot control without chasing is a huge no-no and is begging for something to go tragically wrong. Please contain your birds until you are able to tame them, for their own safety. Plus, think about how much happier they will be when they are tame. Can you imagine living with a creature you are terrified of? If they are afraid of you but live with you, they must be every stressed.

Also, IRNs do not mate for life. It could be that Olive is sick of POpeye. Also, the breeding season in India is just now starting, the males are getting cheeky, but the females mostly are not in the mood yet. I don't know how your area would compare, but it could be that he is just being a bit too friendly for her taste. If they are not getting along through, there is no good reason to house them together, and as they do not mate for life it is not even like you are splitting up a couple who is likely to pine for one another. Though they do say absence makes the heart grow fonder...