How long do you spend on the morning bird care?

[Terry57]

Crimson, I am so glad that you mentioned outdoor bird feeders! I put one in one of my finch flights, and ended up not refilling it as they wasted so much! What kind do you use?
The timothy hay sounds like a good substitute, as I change the papers every day. Is that what is used for guinea pigs and such?
I also have paper towels in the 2 cages with diamond doves/button quail which I have to change twice a day at least. Those I am not sure I can do different since they are on the bottom of the cage so much.
Thank you for your help!!!

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

The nasty stuff gets cleaned up in the evenings, fresh water, food, paper, scrub. And, I lay a piece of newspaper directly under the sleeping perch, but above the grating. That way in the morning it just needs to be pulled out and, poof, clean cage.
So morning it's 1,2,3 in 5 minutes.
1 pull out the paper
2 fresh water
3 snacky and food from fridge

 

[Terry57]

Hi Crimson,
Here's the problem. I got all 4 Diamond doves who were being kept together, but the immediately fought when I got them home and started hurting each other, so separated them. My plan was to put the budgies all together, but I ended up with 3 males and 1 female so am afraid to do that now without adding more females(yikes). As for the finches, that is a good idea! The only thing I worry about is that there are 8 pairs of Zebras, do you think they would pick on my smaller waxbills? I wonder what size cage my hubby would need to build to keep them from being aggressive to each other.
It seems that I just having to keep adding cages as noone seems to get along like i had planned..lol

 

[Birdman666]

I spend about an hour on this in the morning, but that includes spending a few minutes with each bird. The macaws especially want to be handled in the morning.

But, I only have five...

I fill my outdoor feeders when I leave for work, right before I get in my car. AND DON'T THE WILD BIRD'S KNOW IT...

I exit the house, and "the flock sentry" alerts everyone else, and suddenly a horde decends to the 3-4 trees around the feeders...

I change water again when I get home from work, and then they get a little bit of what ever we are eating at dinner time (first!), so that they are "otherwise occupied" and we can eat in peace...

My weekend "breakdown cleanings" take about 3 hours!!!

 

[crimson]

Crimson, I am so glad that you mentioned outdoor bird feeders! I put one in one of my finch flights, and ended up not refilling it as they wasted so much! What kind do you use?
The timothy hay sounds like a good substitute, as I change the papers every day. Is that what is used for guinea pigs and such?
I also have paper towels in the 2 cages with diamond doves/button quail which I have to change twice a day at least. Those I am not sure I can do different since they are on the bottom of the cage so much.
Thank you for your help!!!

buy the ones that have a lip all the way around, so in other words the seed sits down inside more than 1/2"
I lay newspaper down in my aviary, then put the timothy hay on top.
I don't buy newspaper, I get it from the free stands that you see in the grocery stores etc....
we literally will clean an entire stack of papers right out the bins.....you should see the looks on peoples faces....priceless!

personally I think paper towels are a waste of money

substitute for newspaper, and you could even use timothy hay as well for them...since they are ground dwellers, they would love it. you could try that and see how it goes. Change it accordingly when soiled.
all my birds love to play with the hay as well.

 

[Echo]

I have 9 birds and I spend about 2 hours in the morning. I have more time in the morning so I do all the water change, fresh food and cleaning then. In the evening I do water change and feed the dry food so it's quicker in the evening.

Ps: I'm trying to get my teenager to earn some money by vacuuming the bird room daily for me.....haven't managed to convince him yet lol

 

[Megapixel]

I take care of things in the afternoons and/or evenings, but even with just 4 cages now, I don't do it all at once because I am easily distracted.

 

[crimson]

Hi Crimson,
Here's the problem. I got all 4 Diamond doves who were being kept together, but the immediately fought when I got them home and started hurting each other, so separated them. My plan was to put the budgies all together, but I ended up with 3 males and 1 female so am afraid to do that now without adding more females(yikes). As for the finches, that is a good idea! The only thing I worry about is that there are 8 pairs of Zebras, do you think they would pick on my smaller waxbills? I wonder what size cage my hubby would need to build to keep them from being aggressive to each other.
It seems that I just having to keep adding cages as noone seems to get along like i had planned..lol

I've had that problem...zebras can get territorial when nesting, same as waxbills, actually they are feisty little things!... I had to keep adding cages, and it got waaaaay out of hand.

if the aviary is large enough, you shouldn't encounter any issues.
mine is 5'long, 4' height, and 2ft in depth.....it took about a week for all of them to settle, they constantly fought, but now everyone is happy, including mum

can you reduce 2 of your male budgies?....see which one she likes then re-home the other two??....or re-home just her.

I just did a post last week (I think)....under cages....titled"my new aviary".

with finches and canaries, length is more important than height.

 

[BoomBoom]

Morning care for me is about 30-35 mins every day. After my shower, I feed him breakfast, new water dish, prepare veggie-fruit kabob, wash dishes, refill some of his forager, play/snuggle till I have to drive to work. After work care is a a different story!

Nice to read about everyone else's morning rituals!

 

[jugoya]

My morning starts at 9 am..
Porter starts making his Wake UP MOMMY noises...

And the Keets start the chorus.

So its Porter on the shoulder, a keet on each hand and me stumbling around exhausted.

Chopping up two slices of muffin for the birds cleaning water dishes and replacing seed and pellet mixes.

This takes about fifteen minutes.

THEN I fall back in bed until about noon.

The birds are quiet during this time but when lunch time rolls around.. its the birdie chorus and its time to chop up grapes, fruit veggies.. into a fine diced set up.

Goes on porter's dish.

Then its a slice of apple, carrot, broccoli and a few other things placed wherever in the keets cage as they don't like diced foods.

Clean the water dishes and the bottom of the cages.

This takes an hour.

Then dinner... Its a salad for the keets.

And porter eating with me.

Because of him I eat salad for dinner without dressing....

That's another half hour.

So not too bad... save for the four hours each week I spend making muffins and proportioning out veggies and such...

lol.

 

[Terry57]

Crimson, I did see your pics and love love love your new aviary! I don't think I could bear getting rid of the budgies, but I think I will get Hubby to see what he could do about a huge aviary for the finches and canaries...that would help for sure
I am enjoying hearing about everyone's rituals as well!

 

[Pinkbirdy]

Hi Terry [my names Terri also ] Love your flock !! I have a Hawkhead also . I think your flying [your doing all that pretty fast.I have 15 birds .I get up at 4:30 and leave for work at 7:30. That's feeding ,dish scrubbing ,and time out with them all. lots to do when I get home too.

 

[Gizmomania]

I chop up the fresh veggies first thing in the morning, or I prepare them the night before I go to work and stick them in the 'fridge. In the morning I do the veggies, fresh water, and in the late afternoon the pellets, seeds, and dried foraging toys, plus another round of clean water. I change their papers every other day, and clean their bottom grids weekly. The rest is done as spot checks, including vacuuming out the dust and fallen food. So...daily I probably spend around 1 hour preparing their stuff, and more time on those days when I thoroughly clean the bottom grates.

 

[Terry57]

HI Terri, Nice to meet you! Funny that we have the same name and also have a Hawkhead! I would love to chat sometime with you about her, I still have so much to learn about them!

 

[Reuben]

I do my food changes and such at night. It only takes me 15 minutes, since I only have one little budgie, but I clean her bowls every night because well-- I clean my dishes every night, so it's only right. I'm usually up early in the morning and have to run for school, or sleep in until the afternoon on weekends. (I do get up to uncover her and give her some cheek scratches before I go back to sleep when the sun rises, though.)