# Cockatiels sleeping on top of nest box?



## dshiro2012 (Feb 4, 2013)

Patience and Jersey have begun sleeping/standing/ on top of the nest box instead of the perches...

Has anyone experienced this before and should I be worried?

Thanks!


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## dshiro2012 (Feb 4, 2013)

Now they're in the nest box and making strange noises...I don't know if it's coming from the male or female, but I have never heard it before...It's 3 high pitched calls, then in a 1-2-3 fashion high-low-high tone.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Is the box inside the cage? Its a flat surface so its easier to stand on then a perch. All my boxes have been outside the cage, so I've never had this issue with a breeding pair standing on it (now my other birds have stood on the nest boxes before). Don't know what the sounds mean though, just birdy noises.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

If the top of the nestbox is higher than the perches that might be another reason they want to sleep there. Birds like to sleep in the highest place available, and mine would sleep on top of the cages if I let them.

The calling inside the nestbox might be the male courting the female. As long as it doesn't sound like they're having a fight or some other kind of problem, I wouldn't worry about it.


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## dshiro2012 (Feb 4, 2013)

They only did it a couple of times. It sits on the bottom of the cage, I think they don't like me checking it. They'll hiss and back away though, but don't lunge or bite.


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## Fredandiris (Nov 27, 2012)

My birds did that, so I think you should be fine. It was mostly my female who would sit on the box. However, my male would do it too, but I think that was mostly because he was guarding it from his mate. When the box wasn't ready yet (according to him) he would keep his mate away by sitting on it and chasing her off. (No one ever got hurt)

He would also court her by doing a little chirping song inside the box. He did the same song going in I guess to tell her that it was just him coming in. He never got pecked when he sang before going in.


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