# Do I need to cover at night?



## flippityjib (Dec 13, 2012)

I usually cover my budgies, and I think they like it, but when I went to cover my 2 baby cockatiels they seemed to freak out just a bit. Maybe they aren't used to it?
Do you cover? Or no? I have a hall light on so they are not in total darkness.
Thanks,


----------



## ~SarahJayne~ (Oct 14, 2012)

It depends on the bird I think. Munchkin gets covered and sleeps in total darkness. She doesn't have night frights and sleeps less than a metre from our bed. She's used to sounds, like if I roll over in the middle of the night, and she often makes a peep sound if I get up to go to the bathroom to let me know she's heard me. It works for us as I will know in a instant if she is awake or startled, but if she was in a different room I would definitely have a night light just to be safe.


----------



## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I don't cover mine...I have two night lights in their room and no cover for the cage. I've never had a need for one. But I do cover my brother's budgies at night.


----------



## Loopy Lou (Jul 26, 2012)

Smokey gets covered up at night, i think it provides an extra little bit of warmth. Plus it stops him shouting immediately as soon as it gets light. My upstairs neighbour's bedroom is right above my living room, so Smokey wakes him up at the crack of dawn unless he's covered.

My budgie has never been covered at night, she reallly freaks out about it.


----------



## Fredandiris (Nov 27, 2012)

I like to cover my birds. I don't usually wake up until 7-8 so it helps keep them quiet when the sun rises early. Plus it helps keep the hormones in check when you don't want them to be breeding.


----------



## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

If you can get the room dark enough, there isn't a need to cover the cage...but unless you have very thick curtains, uncovered birds will usually rise with the dawn. I'm planning on putting up blackout curtains, then I won't need to cover anymore.


----------



## t birdies (Jan 8, 2011)

I have always covered my first tiel, Bobby...I always thought it was good for him to be able to sleep in total darkness for his 12 hrs & to give him a sense of security & safety while he slept. - Now , summertime was a different thing...I thought it's too hot to put the throw completely over the cage so I'd then leave the front part of his cage open & just drape the sides & back...that worked fine until one night there were headlights from a car passed my apt bedrm window & he freak out from the I guess seeing the sudden shadows...so now I just keep my boys covered in the window with their throws for the added warmth & dark cotton material like a sheet in the summer. 

...but night frights often happen whatever you do...mine once had a night fright & it took me awhile to calm them...I couldn't understand what was causing them to not be able to relax again for a long time yet...next day I learned there had been a slight earthquake tremble (I live in earthquake territory) like 2 hrs away at that exact time 3 am in the morning!


----------



## t birdies (Jan 8, 2011)

meant to say I keep them covered in the winter...not the window!


----------



## parsley (Oct 15, 2012)

I have always covered. I guess for security for them, plus warmth in the winter, undisturbed snooze time. Lighter in the summer and warmer in the winter. Just what I do and have done.


----------



## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Yup, all the birds here are covered, and they have a night light to avoid any possible night frights too.

Try covering 3 sides for now – both sides, and the back.


----------



## BabyMoo (Dec 19, 2012)

BabyMoo has to get covered at night. That is how we have done it for her since she was a baby so she got used to it. For the last 2 years she doesn't sleep in her cage anymore. She used to fall and was hurting her wing so her vet recommended a fish tank. Yes, a fish tank  So .... she now has a bed ... lol!!!! I cover the tank with blankets and leave an area uncover for her to get oxygen and some light, which is not much light b/c I turn the room's light off. I check on her before I go to bed and she is always sleeping like a baby. She is so cute!! If I leave the light on too long she gets up and gets upset so I check on her very fast so she can continue sleeping. She has to get her 12 hours plus the vet recommended it. She loves her bed. If it is past her bed time, she'll walk to it and ask to get in it. Its so amazing how smart tiels truly are. 

Note: Don't ever place a bird of any kind in a fish tank without enough space to get plenty of oxygen. When my tiel is in her fish tank she has food, water, and even though she is covered, she has a big open space on top of it for oxygen. Her water is also positioned in a way that it will not spill and make her wet. She also knows how to use her water bowl efficiently to where she will not drawn. He veterinarian has looked at and approved of my setting.


----------



## t birdies (Jan 8, 2011)

BabyMoo: My Bobby sounds very much like yours...we started out going to sleep in the bedroom & of course, he'd get covered much earlier than I would get sleepy...so I'd spend my evening in the living room & go to bed when I was sleepy...well, some nights I might wake up & can't get back to sleep, so I'd turn on the light to read myself to sleep....

...not having it! he slept near his favorite little bell toy & when the lights went on he'd bang that bell up against the cage very angry I'd disturbed his beauty sleep...so I can't turn on my bedroom lights anymore at night.  and if I can't sleep at night...too bad...I have to take me & my book & go elsewhere.


----------



## delawaregirl (Dec 2, 2011)

My little guys do not get covered. There cage is in the living area and they go to sleep with me watching TV. Sometimes Roscoe will wake up and need one on one time out of cage. When I go to bed I leave a lamp on dim so that they can see. This works for us. I also have a cage in the computer room and sometimes I will put them in there to sleep if I have company and it is bedtime.


----------



## Shayla Fortune (Nov 29, 2012)

I've always covered my budgies and have been slightly covering my 'tiel baby's cage with a towel (only until I get a decent blanket to cover the cage) and she does fine with it. It helps prevent night frights, lets me sleep longer, keeps hormones in check, and helps block out any possible drafts.


----------



## flippityjib (Dec 13, 2012)

I wanted to mention Shayla, that you have some really pretty budgies! What a variety of colors!


----------



## hanna (Apr 14, 2012)

Normally I cover Joe and he got a night light too. Only yesterday evo it was the first time I didn't cover him because it was so hot at night stil, we're in summer here atm. He seemed to handle it very well and chirps and hangs out on my shoulder atm, no different behaviour


----------



## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

my guys don't mind being covered, but i'm bad at remembering to uncover them. :blush: so i keep three sides and the top covered at all times and leave the front open and i have a nightlight plugged in.


----------



## nassrah (Feb 27, 2012)

Our birdies get covered to ensure proper sleep and privacy.Currently,were in the height of the summer,so we are only covering half of the back of the cage and one third of each side,so hot it is at night.They do fine X x


----------



## JennyLynn (Feb 13, 2012)

I cover mine in cold weather, i have a night light in the room and it helps with the night frights.


----------



## flippityjib (Dec 13, 2012)

So, do your birds sleep on perches or on a flat surface? I have one platform type perch and I know they fight over it, but now I am wondering if I should have more perches like that for them to sleep on. I was especially interested in BabyMoo's sleeping arrangement and got me to thinking about this. I assumed, as birds, they slept on a perch.
My husband is going to make them a couple more platform perches since he thinks it would suck to have to balance on a rope all night long  Would oak be ok to use?


----------



## flippityjib (Dec 13, 2012)

Well, I just answered my question about the wood. Oak would not be good I guess, according to this one website. Why is that? Too hard? Splinters? What would be something he could make a platform perch out of? He's a carpenter and could make them just about anything I want.


----------



## t birdies (Jan 8, 2011)

@ flippityjib: I was told & I would suggest you ask your husband to maybe visual your bird in the wild in his natural habitat...I say that b/c often we tend to imagine how we would feel if we were our animals. I had always been told to provide a variety of different sorts of perches in size, texure, etc. & like a natural tree would have...who knows if they would choose a skinny branch or a fat one, right? 

In my birds' cages they sometimes perch on their rope perch, other times the manzanita (which btw I know is a safe strong wood), & w/ all the wood I've offered they prefer the rope perch! My budgie sleeps all night on a plastic link chain I've ran across a corner of his cage or his swing!  He loves that thing!

Usually it's a sign of good health for your tiel to perch on one foot w/ the other tucked away hidden under him...but if he's resting on both feet or favoring leaning for support on a flat surface, it's not a good thing necessarily & often a sign of illness (unless there's a special health condition he has that you didn't mention here). I would think it would be difficult for your tiel to perch on a flat surface & that's wouldn't be perching, but resting...unless of course, he needs such accommodations.

Re: BabyMoo's sleep arrangement...I thought it was a special needs setup b/c of the tiel being prone to falling from his/her perch at night. Do you have a similiar situation?

My ex-boyfriend loved carpentry as well as made a shelf for my tiel to forage for his food, which is a healthy accommodation for them or you could place his dishes of fresh or cooked food on a shelf for him/her. that's an idea.


----------



## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

flippityjib said:


> Well, I just answered my question about the wood. Oak would not be good I guess, according to this one website. Why is that? Too hard? Splinters? What would be something he could make a platform perch out of? He's a carpenter and could make them just about anything I want.


Oak is no go bc its toxic to birds. Pine is safe.


----------



## BabyMoo (Dec 19, 2012)

flippityjib said:


> So, do your birds sleep on perches or on a flat surface? I have one platform type perch and I know they fight over it, but now I am wondering if I should have more perches like that for them to sleep on. I was especially interested in BabyMoo's sleeping arrangement and got me to thinking about this. I assumed, as birds, they slept on a perch.


Hello. No, BabyMoo doesn't sleep on a perch when she sleeps at night. When she is in her fish tank she sleeps on a bed like place with a blanket covered with paper towels. When she sleeps during the day, she sleeps on one of her perches and she might lift one foot up here and there. BabyMoo hurt her wing once from falling at night and it took a while to get it back to normal. She kept falling at night so the vet recommended the fish tank. She loves her fish tank for the night and her perches for the day time. BabyMoo is an older tiel and for many years she slept on a perch at night, she has been sleeping in her tank/bed for about 2 yrs now (maybe more). She is not sick and could probably sleep on her perch but if she starts falling again she could keep getting hurt so we stick with the tank/bed.


----------



## BabyMoo (Dec 19, 2012)

t birdies said:


> Usually it's a sign of good health for your tiel to perch on one foot w/ the other tucked away hidden under him...but if he's resting on both feet or favoring leaning for support on a flat surface, it's not a good thing necessarily & often a sign of illness (unless there's a special health condition he has that you didn't mention here). I would think it would be difficult for your tiel to perch on a flat surface & that's wouldn't be perching, but resting...unless of course, he needs such accommodations.


t birdies, 
This is very interesting. BabyMoo perches during the day but she does love resting on a pair of shoes. She is healthy but your comment has gotten me thinking. I hope she is not feeling sick in some way. She has been doing it for a while and at her last check up her vet said that she was doing fine. Could it be that BabyMoo just likes resting a lot? She perches and lifts a foot up here and there when she does it but she also seems to want to lay down on her shoes or on her food bowl. Could it be that she is doing it b/c that is what she does at night? I'm a little bit worried now  What is usually wrong with them when they prefer to rest? She did injure her foot once and broke a toe. I wonder if its that. She is fine now. It happened many years ago. She started screaming and my sister ran to see what was wrong and she had blood on her leg/foot. She rushed her to the vet and the x-rays showed a broken toe. We don't know what happened. All we can think of is that she got caught somehow doing the thing they do when they turn upside down. She has healed since and walks normal but I wonder if it still bothers her some times. Could that be why she likes to rest? Like I mentioned above, she has slept in her tank for 2 years (or maybe a little bit more) and she has had her shoes for ~ 9 months  When she lays/rest/perches on the shoes she does it from the back edge of the shoe. Almost like perching. I have seen pictures of other tiels doing the same thing even on their perches .... kind of laying down without lifting a foot up. Maybe I'm just being paranoid and she is fine but your comment got me thinking and looking at pictures of other tiels and their perches.


----------



## t birdies (Jan 8, 2011)

:huh:

@BabyMoo: I think there's a bit of confusion here...flippityjib was addressing her ?? like a poll for all of us...she was particularly interested in your bird's sleeping set up & maybe trying it for her bird...however I wanted her to know that if her tiel is healthy & has no issues perching than providing a flat surface for sleeping/perching would not be a good idea. 

....often it's a sign of sickness (maybe not in your case) if a bird favors resting on a flat surface or a special health condition like your bird...I guess I should have said a special health concern (as constant injury to her wing would not be healthy for her).

There are tiels for instance who have no toes that would warrant special platform or flat surface for sure b/c no way can they perch...and would be called a special needs bird not a sick bird. Sorry for the confusion. :innocent:


----------



## t birdies (Jan 8, 2011)

@ BabyMoo: just read your last reply late after posting mine.

My tiel has suffered a broken wing which never was treated yrs ago. He had never been able to fly distances w/o tuckering out...so I'd think that injury can cause problems for them definitely...but 2 yrs of resting? it's gotta be something else going on...birds don't show signs of sickness I was describing until it's very serious or too late. 

Is her vet an avian vet? 

I wanted to add...I don't want you to be alarmed...I'm not at all that knowledgable to address this...but I would suggest maybe posting this as a concern on the health forum here & perhaps a moderator or more knowledgeable tiel owner can help give you some ideas of what may be going on. I wouldn't want this to get missed if there is a health concern.

I believe that if you provide a resting area birds will of course rest there...e.g. cupped to your chest for affection, preening on the sofa w/ you...so resting is not necessarily bad...but do try & get more feedback, okay?


----------



## BabyMoo (Dec 19, 2012)

Hello *t birdies*,

Thank you for your replies and for your concern. Yes, her vet is an avian vet. More specifically, he is an exotic avian vet. He sees other animals as well but he sees exotic birds and he even owns one that he has had for 24 years. We trust him a lot and has been BabyMoo's vet for many years. He has helped her through several things. He just saw her in Nov. and all was fine then. I really think she is probably just so used to resting now that she likes to do that. I was watching how she perches on the shoes. She doesn't really lay down all the way. She holds on to the edge of the back of the shoe like if it was her perch. When she sleeps in her tank though, she lays down like when they nest. In her cage she uses her perches. Some times she likes to hold on to the side of her food bowl but she does the same thing she does with the shoes. She loves attention and likes to be held but does not like laying on our laps. 

Thank you for your concern. I'll post it in the health section to see what the moderators think about her behavior. Please look my post up over there. 

Thank you again


----------



## thewandererw (Aug 22, 2011)

I cover my budgie bam-bam.


----------



## flippityjib (Dec 13, 2012)

I do go in before I go to bed to check on them. I have noticed lately that they are sharing a rope perch the last few nights. I have a cottonwood branch in there, they will sit and groom while on that one, and then they like to climb on the platform perch when they are playing with some toys I have located near there. I also give the toast by another very small platform, and they like sitting there while they eat and sometimes use the toast to sit on. 
Thanks for all the helpful input. I learn new stuff here every day!


----------

