Sleeping cage? How can you tell if your bird is sleeping well?

[Zumaria]

So, I've heard many of you talk about how you have your bird sleep in your room with you. I'm considering moving Jenga into her travel cage and night and letting her sleep in my room, however I have a few concerns.

1) How can I tell if she is sleeping well? I live in Chicago and to be fair it is always kind of noisy here - cars driving by, people hollaring, gunshots, buses etc. Do birds get used to those things (she has been here three weeks)? Like me I just get used to it, will she or does she just worry constantly about every noise? She still gets startled while I'm holding her and the floor creaks. I do turn on a white noise machine but I wonder if maybe its not actually helping...

2) Because I'm in the city there is lots of light - and there are street lights that come into her room. I thought about covering her cage but she FREAKED OUT about the sheet monster trying to eat her.

3) So I'm thinking I might use her travel cage for sleeping and keep her in my room but my concerns are, I let a few episodes of Star trek play before netflix times out and I often have to get up and go to the bathroom in the morning or the middle of the night - think these things would be worse than her current situation?

How can I tell if I'm just over thinking this or if she actually needs better sleep?

 

[Featheredsamurai]

lol Both Rosie and Kenji's cages are in my room. I can tell if Rosie's getting good sleep because she's not grumpy, when she's not sleeping well she's short tempered and quick to bite. With Kenji he takes lots of naps during the day if he didn't sleep well the night before.

Keep in mind that African greys are super dusty, it's a good idea to get a air filter if you want to have him sleep in your room.

 

[laurend]

As you know, Missy has a sleep cage - I got her one for very specific reasons:

1. Noise. Our 'hood is pretty noisy, and I feared it disturbed her. Plus my room doesn't get all of that noise. Additionally, she is quite noisy herself when she's ready to get up and play! So that affecting my roommates also contributed.

2. Light. You'll see how bright my living room is - we have a wall that's almost completely windows. Because I was having such major issues with hormones when she first got here, I also thought it would be easiest to control her schedule in my room (which is super dark). I wanted to have her in bed 12-14 hours a day to make her think it wasn't breeding season. It works........... some days.

3. Temperature. It's impossible to keep our living room as warm as the rest of the house due to poor sealing of the big windows, and I worried about how cold it would be for her out in the living room.

While my room is the best option, it's not perfect. I go to bed after she does so she hears me come in sometimes, there's noise at times from the TV or socializing on the other end of the apartment, and I do sometimes watch Netflix in bed before I go to sleep.

She wakes up sometimes, and sometimes she will start talking to me or chirping at me, but she quiets down and goes back to sleep pretty quickly most of the time.

Lately, I've been having some issues with her being up and being noisy in her cage at night - I think it was because I wasn't wearing her out enough in the evening after I get home. We have now had two nights of peaceful sleep and she didn't even wake up to me coming into my room and feeding my kitties tonight, which has never happened!

I think if Jenga doesn't sleep well in your room, you'll know. I know Missy makes me well aware if she's feeling feisty! I know some people can tell if their bird hasn't gotten a good night of rest - I've read about grumpy birds! However, I've never been able to figure that one out with my girl. I do know she naps during the day some while I'm at work. I bet Jenga does the same!

Ultimately, if you don't want her to sleep in your room, don't put her in there (or try it out if you do want her there). She's okay as is. If you're just worried about light, you could always try slowly easing into covering her cage - see if she will let you just put the sheet on top of her cage or just covering one side of it. Ease into it if she will allow it.

 

[SoCalWendy]

Rio has a sleep cage in my room. As far as the noise, wild birds must get used to it so I can't see why yours wouldn't. I like the fact that if there is an emergency I can just grab her cage and go. She seems to like it too.

 

[Jewelz]

My bird is small so this might not be very hepful but my neighborhood is super noisy 24/7 so I put a small tabe in my closet & Felixs' sleep cage is on that & I cover him as well for extra noise control....

 

[goalerjones]

Hahnzel is a spoiled little guy, he has a living room cage and a big bedroom cage. As for covering him, I use a beach towel so its not a total cover, but it gives enough cover to let him relax. He can see us once the sun comes up and if I hear him fall in the night I can use a small flashlight to give him light so he can climb back up.

 

[MikeyTN]

As you know, Missy has a sleep cage - I got her one for very specific reasons:

1. Noise. Our 'hood is pretty noisy, and I feared it disturbed her. Plus my room doesn't get all of that noise. Additionally, she is quite noisy herself when she's ready to get up and play! So that affecting my roommates also contributed.

2. Light. You'll see how bright my living room is - we have a wall that's almost completely windows. Because I was having such major issues with hormones when she first got here, I also thought it would be easiest to control her schedule in my room (which is super dark). I wanted to have her in bed 12-14 hours a day to make her think it wasn't breeding season. It works........... some days.

3. Temperature. It's impossible to keep our living room as warm as the rest of the house due to poor sealing of the big windows, and I worried about how cold it would be for her out in the living room.

While my room is the best option, it's not perfect. I go to bed after she does so she hears me come in sometimes, there's noise at times from the TV or socializing on the other end of the apartment, and I do sometimes watch Netflix in bed before I go to sleep.

She wakes up sometimes, and sometimes she will start talking to me or chirping at me, but she quiets down and goes back to sleep pretty quickly most of the time.

Lately, I've been having some issues with her being up and being noisy in her cage at night - I think it was because I wasn't wearing her out enough in the evening after I get home. We have now had two nights of peaceful sleep and she didn't even wake up to me coming into my room and feeding my kitties tonight, which has never happened!

I think if Jenga doesn't sleep well in your room, you'll know. I know Missy makes me well aware if she's feeling feisty! I know some people can tell if their bird hasn't gotten a good night of rest - I've read about grumpy birds! However, I've never been able to figure that one out with my girl. I do know she naps during the day some while I'm at work. I bet Jenga does the same!

Ultimately, if you don't want her to sleep in your room, don't put her in there (or try it out if you do want her there). She's okay as is. If you're just worried about light, you could always try slowly easing into covering her cage - see if she will let you just put the sheet on top of her cage or just covering one side of it. Ease into it if she will allow it.

I'm glad that worked out for you!!! They're like little kids on sugar high that need some exercise and stuff to wear them out so you can rest easy.

 

[MikeyTN]

Birds will sleep even when there's lights in the room! If your around all day, you will see your birds nap throughout the day. I leave night lights on for my birds so it's never pitch black in my bird room nor in my living room where my birds are. I've been doing the same thing for years and all my birds gets plenty of rest, if they're tired, they will be cranky. I don't have that sort of issue! Just don't bother them while they're napping, just learn to read your bird's body language.

 

[laurend]

Mikey, to say Missy is like a little kid is so accurate! She's pretty special though. I've now had four nights of quiet rest though... at least until about 6:30-7:00! Thanks for the great advice!

 

[Zumaria]

Thanks again everyone - I've put Jenga's travel cage in my room on a writing desk and got her a cup of water mounted in there too. Last night went well I think and its nice for me too to know she's in there

 

[mrgoogls]

after a little while you can learn if they get enough sleep. cooper doesnt really get grumpy, but he naps a lot more if he didnt sleep much. but on weekdays everybody is in bed by like 11 so he gets a long sleep and usually isnt tired anyways. weekends he is a bit more tired because people are out later. you will just learn what your bird does when they are tired