Parrots and Shift Workers

ShaunaR

Supporting Member
Jun 5, 2014
152
0
Alberta, Canada
Parrots
Pixie the White Bellied Caique
Hi Everyone!

Rick and I have hit a dilema with our 1 year old Caique Pixie. We both started working exclusively the night shift in January. Rick works PT so probably 15 shifts in 4 weeks and I work FT or 19 shifts in 4 weeks. We are most often working on the same nights because we commute. We get home every morning and have her out of her cage for about 2 hours, feed her, then we go to bed and leave her in a large cage with plenty of toys (changed out weekly), and either the TV or radio playing for around 6 hours. She is caged right next to Steve, our Canary and has 3 dogs to watch. For the first 4 months she was great but recently began to scream while we are sleeping, particularly when we first go to bed. Nothing has changed in our routine but she has been losing feathers now for almost 2 months. I am finding maybe 2 feathers per day and some days none. Since we only saw Steve molting we have no idea what this looks like for a parrot, or if she is simply pulling feathers in frustration. The feathers are intact and not chewed so I am leaning to the fact that she is molting and perhaps her screaming is part of that? She also gets much nippier and short tempered if we leave her alone rather than take her into our room. She knows full well where we are and if we put her in a cage in the room with us she is quiet as a mouse. The trouble with that is we need to leave the curtains open so that she gets some sunlight, which hampers our sleep.
What do other shift workers do with their fids during their sleep time?
Should we invest in a cage for our bedroom and is there any risk we could be causing more issues by doing that?
How long do molting behavior changes last?
Thanks Ahead,
Shauna/Rick
 

Rockford

New member
Mar 2, 2014
113
0
USA
I do nothing but sleep while the birds do whatever they do and there's nothing to worry about.
I really seriously doubt that she's plucking. She's a year old and molting is a yearly thing - it had to happen sometime. I'd leave the bird where she is with the radio or tv. She may want you when she knows you're home and in bed, but she certainly doesn't need you. IMO, too many people don't know the difference between a birds needs and wants and they treat almost everything as a need. That's a problem.

On a side note:
I think learning to sleep with light and noise is one of the best things anyone can do for themselves.
 

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