Bedtime Rituals?

[kendrafitz]

Rosie does not like bedtime. She never has. She used to climb to the middle of my back so I couldn't reach her while I was trying to get her in her cage. It got so ridiculous that I would end up slowly rolling around on the floor to get her off my back. [emoji23] Little stinker!

As time has gone by we have found a routine that works best. Although Rosie still doesn't like going to bed, at least we don't look like some insane carnival act to anyone looking in my windows. About an hour before bed I take her in the front living room which is connected to her room (otherwise known as the dining room). We turn all the lights off and turn the tv on. After we wind down with some quiet tv time, I stand up and take her off the couch. With everything turned off, I cuddle her and rock her a bit until she is super sleepy. Then we quickly go to her cage in the dark and go to her perch. All in all it can be a 90 minute process. Unless it is chilly enough for us to have a fire going. Then she usually falls asleep on her perch on her own and I just transfer her to her cage without much of a fight.

Does anyone else have a bedtime routine with their feathered babies?

[froggij]

My Rose used to do the same thing, even though she's a different species! How funny. But as soon as I got her we started training her to "Kennel up" like a dog, and now all we have to say is either "Rosie, Kennel!" or "Night-night Rose" and she goes right in (unless she's being particularly stubborn, in which case she clings to mom for dear life and we have to towel her and mom has to take her shirt off with Rose on it in order to get her into her cage). But still, she won't settle in until we have both said night-night to her. She has two blankets (very thin and full of holes that she put in herself, she's very proud of them) for her cage, and we have to fully cover her up with them, otherwise she won't settle down at all.

Since Dori is a little bundle of energy, we've been slowly finding out that taking her out into one of the other rooms to play and run around and fly in a lot really helps get her ready for bed. So even if we're tired, we fish her out of her cage, let her run around a bit, smooch the life out of her, and she lets us know when she's had enough attention and runs right back to her cage and settles in for the night. Even if she's covered she can be a holy terror if we haven't worn her out before bed time.

Orsino has no ritual at all. In fact, he squeaks at me when he's ready to go into his cage, and again when he's ready to be covered. His cage is in my room, so some nights he likes to be left open so he can see what I'm doing if he wakes up during the night, but sometimes he demands his privacy and won't let me rest until he's carefully tucked in. He's a really easy going bird, and if I don't get to something fast enough, he just shrugs it off (like putting his blankets on - he gives me a few squawks and then just tucks like "ugh, mom!"

[kendrafitz]

Lol, maybe its the name?!?

[spiritbird]

My two budgies put themselves to bed by sitting on the swing. That is their roost.. Always the same swing too. Mostly the same time too, 6:30 pm.

[Lady]

The last meal of the day for Lady is about a teaspoon of seeds she gets shortly before bedtime. Once it is in her bowl she is on it! After a good 5 minutes she is done, the bowl is taken out and she is ready to sit for a little while and settle in for the night before she gets covered.

[Maddy]

Every night before I cover Jester, I sing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' to him, and he sticks out his foot and grabs my hand, and then I kiss his beaky through the bars.

The conures all gets treats and kisses before being covered.

[Mare]

Amigo flys in around dinner time, before sunset. I usually have Sassy on my shoulder while preparing their food, she likes supervising :). Chip is free to be in or out of his cage, he's really only in it to drink water or eat seed. I have a platform on top of Sassy's cage for his other munchies but he roosts on top of his cage at night. I put Sassy away so she can eat with the rest of the crew and when they are all done and ready for lights out..the chorus BEGINS! This is my cue to go in and say night-night to everyone, cover Sassy's cage and turn off the lights..see you in the morning! :)

[Macaw Lover]

After we have dinner and watch TV it is nut time. Nuts are in bowls and little birdies go into their condos for the nuts. They might have 1/2 hr or so before the lights go out but they are told, Mommy go to seep, Jody go to seep, Kalea go to seep, Donovan go to seep. Nigh, nigh and the lights go out.

Now Donovan is a little different. He is in the upstairs bedroom, next to the bedroom I work from and the bedroom that was used for his quarantine. When he was in QT I would always go in there and we would have our cuddle time and at night, it was the one last cuddle for the day. Little stinker is spoiled. After he gets his nuts he wants that one last cuddle still. If he doesn't get it he would start screaming to remind me of it. I would reply back "Is it cuddle time?' 'Cuddle time Mommy', not like he has ever said those words. He also learned if he just kept screaming the lights would go off and possibly the door closed too. One scream is enough as a reminder.

Bedtime around here has never been an issue.

Oh, one last thing. When a bird climbs to the middle of your back and won't get off, back yourself slowly into a wall or a door. Birds generally won't stay very long because they don't want to get smashed LOL