morning screams

I realize that parrots shriek in the morning by instinct, because they're flock-calling to make sure the whole flock made it safely through the night.

However, Rocky is screaming at 6 a.m. every morning and we don't have to get up at 6 a.m. And he's refusing to settle down until after 10 p.m. at night. We're exhausted and he's obviously not getting enough rest, either. Any suggestions?

Hi have you got curtains/blinds etc and close them at night? Also a dark cover for Rocky's cage? Covers and drawing blinds etc seem to work here even with a very noisy conure.

We do cover him and we pull the curtains at night, but they don't keep out all the light so he wakes up when the sun comes up, though my husband would probably swear that Rocky never sleeps at all.

In your particular case, I'd try making it darker? Darker cover? Put to bed later (is he going to bed too early)? I'm so fortunate my birds never got the memo for morning screaming lol, though Griffin starts talking.

Siobhan said:

We do cover him and we pull the curtains at night, but they don't keep out all the light so he wakes up when the sun comes up, though my husband would probably swear that Rocky never sleeps at all.

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Use a big, thick opaque blanket, something that keeps ALL the light out. Sounds like he is just responding to morning stimulus, and is trying to let y'all know hey, its morning, time to wake up. Ely is a terrible screamer, but he never starts in the morning until after he realizes we are awake.

Have you considered black out curtains for the windows? I've had a couple friends who worked overnight shifts and absolutely loved how dark things got when they put black out curtains up. I don't know how well they'd work for parrots, but the humans who have used them give them two thumbs up.

Unfortunately, I don't have any other advise. I'm a bad sleeper, so I don't go to bed before midnight, but up by five, and then a mid-day nap, so the morning birdie chorus never bothered me. MrC sleeps with earplugs so he doesn't even hear it.

We're under a dangerous heat advisory in this part of the country and we don't have air conditioning. I can't cover him with a heavy blanket right now. We have to leave the blinds a few inches from window sill to allow air through the open windows. I'm trying to figure out if there's a room where we could roll his cage at night to keep him from noticing sunrise without also suffocating him from lack of an open window.

I can commiserate with you on the lack of a/c. Most of the time we do fine without it, but there are a handful of days in the summer when it gets miserable. We have predicted highs in the upper 90's today and tomorrow, and those are the days it gets to about 80 inside the house. A few days in a row of overnight lows above 70 and this house can get miserable, especially on the top two floors*. We sometimes have to escape to the bottom floor to stay cool. Blackout/thermal curtains may be your best bet, as they'll help keep thermal heat from coming in during the day.

*The house is a tri-level split that forms a capital T. The top bar of the T is two floors stacked on top of each other like a normal two level house, with the main floor forming the vertical bar of the T set in between the other two floors. So you walk in the front door and there's an entry way with 9 stairs that go up to the four bedrooms upstairs and 7 stairs going down to the 5th bedroom, 3rd bathroom, laundry room and gigantic rec room. The main floor is the living room, kitchen, and both dining rooms. I describe this so the rest makes sense. On these super hot days we do a couple things to stay cool. First, as soon as the outside temperature is equal with the inside temperature on the top floor, we open up all the windows on the top two floors and put a fan in the entry way aimed up the stairs. What this does is create circulation and pushes the hot air up and out of the house. When the temperature outside is finally below the middle floor temp, we put fans in the widows on the middle and top floor to bring the cool air in, paying attention to what doors need to be opened to create the best cross breezes. At first light we (meaning me) get up and slam all the windows shut so the cool air stays in. On really, really hot days we can also draw the curtains to keep thermal heat from getting in, but we don't have thermal curtains, just really heavy regular curtains. If it gets too stuffy in the bird room we just run a regular fan on low to move air around. This generally keeps the house from getting hotter than the upper 70's, even when the outside air temp is over 100. It's a lot of work, but a little planning and those heat waves can be mostly managed. A few days last year we actually broke down and stayed in a hotel, but that was less for the birds than the fact that one of my kids had just had reconstructive surgery on his arm and the cast was getting so wet from sweat that the infection risk was high.

Hmm can see your predicament. I cover Plum with an old valance sheet and then use two dark bath towels on the ends of his cage and this seems to work with him. Could you use a couple of these type of sheets as will be lighter than a thick cover?

The only other suggestion is a black out roller blind which is 1) good for keeping some of the heat out during the day if pulled down (fully or partially) and 2) for making it dark in the evening even if not all the way down for air flow it sure helps. I had one made when I worked nights/slept days, brilliant.

The other saving grace with Plum is he has a type of comfort blanket and just goes to sit by it. Anything Rocky attached to?

We have play routine, cuddles and then singing (well if you can call it that?) and then bubbyes. Works most of the time.

When I just had Plum he was restless for a while and I used to go see him talk to him and then say night night again. Took a little while but no bother now, unless we have the Conure staying!!!

Wishing you some luck with Rocky 'too.

yes, the common complaint that I hear from my husband is Pooka's screaming in the morning... she usually doesn't start until 9am though and sometimes she doesn't at all... we have her pretty well covered with black out window curtains and she still screams...

sometimes she won't scream if we remain perfectly still

let us know if you find an alternative way though...

Rocky is attached to me, but since I have to come to work every day, that doesn't help much. And while I theoretically could fit in his cage, it would be uncomfortable to spend the whole night in it.

Siobhan said:

Rocky is attached to me, but since I have to come to work every day, that doesn't help much. And while I theoretically could fit in his cage, it would be uncomfortable to spend the whole night in it.

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Don't you know that your comfort matters not? You should curl up in the cage despite the pain to make Rocky happy! (Kidding, I swear)

Siobhan said:

Rocky is attached to me, but since I have to come to work every day, that doesn't help much. And while I theoretically could fit in his cage, it would be uncomfortable to spend the whole night in it.

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Yes it probably would be a bit uncomfortable for you. My meaning (well intentioned) is a toy, swing, etc.

I know. LOL But he doesn't seem to have a favorite inanimate object he loves. I keep trying to find something, and he'll accept new toys and things and even play with them a little, but there are very few things he really LIKES.

Siobhan said:

I know. LOL But he doesn't seem to have a favorite inanimate object he loves. I keep trying to find something, and he'll accept new toys and things and even play with them a little, but there are very few things he really LIKES.

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Oh I see. Would Rocky like something like Poppy's (Allee) swing? I just glad that it might only be a tatty piece of wood but it rocks as far as Plum is concerned. He sits there swaying with it.

He has a swing and an embarrassing number of toys. He has a child's xylophone and a basket full of plastic animals and stuffed toys and phone books and junk mail to tear up and wood to destroy and cups to throw and a play stand. He just doesn't have a favorite toy. His attention span is about a nanosecond long.

Siobhan said:

He has a swing and an embarrassing number of toys. He has a child's xylophone and a basket full of plastic animals and stuffed toys and phone books and junk mail to tear up and wood to destroy and cups to throw and a play stand. He just doesn't have a favorite toy. His attention span is about a nanosecond long.

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He sounds like a kid in a candy store, can you blame him?!?

Unless you can simulate total darkness, it will be hard to eliminate the morning screams. Fortunately I am an early riser, and have gotten used to the routine.
(waves white flag of surrender!)