Schedules for birds

After reading Bird-Dude's thread about getting a new baby and the schedule that has been put together and then reading all of the responses, it made me wonder how many people on here actually follow a strict schedule for their birds. I personally don't have a "schedule" for my birds other than the approximate times they get fed and the approximate time for going to bed and getting up. I go to many avian seminars for work and was told that it is not a good idea to put them on a "strict" schedule unless you were very sure there could never be a deviation from that schedule. Not many people can garantee that. Just curious.

I have the same sort of 'schedule' that you do. Meaning, I just have an approximate time for most things. I do this because I also agree with you that there could be some event in my life that causes me to deviate from the schedule.

Me too. I have the same routine in the morning but the rest of the day depends on when I have clients or commitments with the kids.

I don't have a strict schedule. As long as I give Alcatraz plenty of time to sleep and cuddle time, he seems happy.

I certainly don't have a 'schedule' per se, but we do have a lot of routines. We do not follow a clock - but there are patterns. In my view patterns or routines are more important that precise schedules - but a schedule is a useful way to get into a routine... just as long as the schedule is allowed to grow and change as the relationship with the bird does.

My schedule with Mishka goes according to HER.
Dinner time is a MUST at 5pm otherwise she makes the sound of the microwave continuously, which can be most irritating.
We have to change our routine to fit in with their life style.

Our bird schedules really just depend on work schedules and family schedules. M-F, feeding time and a little conversation and scratching before we go to work. Then, first thing when we get home from work - it's out of the cages and on to family time. Weekends - they're out of their cages all day unless we're out of the house. They're put to bed about 8-9 every night.

We almost never put either Max or Jade in their respective cage when we're home. Max is more of a "home body" and prefers to stay in his cage some days, but with the door open just in case. If Jade starts misbehaving and not listening, she'll get "time out" in her cage...I kind of hate doing that because I don't want her cage to be "negative" in her mind, but sometimes that the only thing I can think of to calm her down.

With me being away at school most of the time, Dusty isn't on a set schedule. I tried to get my parents to cover and uncover his cage at certain times, because Dusty started getting some behavioral problems back in december. With the day/ night schedule his behavioral problems dimished quite a bit. Unfortunately when I went back to school his day/ night schedule went back to a "whenever my parents remembered to cover him" schedule. Dusty behaves a lot better when he has a little bit of routine to his day. When I am home and have him back with his routine he behaves a lot better than when I am not home. Or so this is what my mom says. Dusty has quite a bond with me so I know part of that good behavior he has when i am home is because of well me being home. Though I do know from the summer and such that he really likes his day to play out certain ways ^^ For example at 7am every morning, if his cage hasnt already been uncovered he will start chattering and screaming. He expects to be out of his cage at 5 everyday (when my parents get home from work). I dont know where the 5pm thing started. I generally have him out of his cage all the time when i am home and my parents dont take him out till maybe an hour or two before they go to bed. I think that he wants out when the house gets lively again during the day which is 5 pm.