Kevin the Parrot

[jay1]

Firstly just want to introduce my new friend Kevin, I fostered him 2 days ago and so far he is very talkative and friendly with me. He’s a little hormonal at the minute but apart from the odd weird behaviour he’s been very good.

I’ve been a little worried as he is my first bird that I might do something wrong while taking care of him so just wanted to ask and clarify a few things.

I’ve seen many bird owners saying how their birds get 12 hours sleep no more and no less, feeding them at certain times per day, having specific play times and just seeming to have everything planned out. I personally don’t have the consistency to follow all these procedures as I work 13 hours some days (I have family so he is never alone for prolonged periods) it can sometimes be literally impossible for me to put him to sleep and wake him up in 12 hours time, I have him kept in my room and around our house is not quiet but certainly not loud either. I cover his cage at night but unsure if he likes it that way or not.

I basically just want to know if he doesn’t get that consistent 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep will he become an unhappy bird? He seems to dose off with the cover off his cage so I’m not if it’s needed as I only use because sometimes my TV is on and don’t want the light disturbing him. So I feel maybe without it he would be able to sleep freely as long as I’m quiet. I play and talk to him every chance I get and whenever he is in the mood to.

 

[texsize]

I have found birds do better with a regular routine.
When their routine is broken they get cranky.

Many folks here just use the natural day/night routine in their area , It’s what I do.
And my birds are covered but none are completely covered.
more like 70%.

 

[jay1]

I have found birds do better with a regular routine.
When their routine is broken they get cranky.

Many folks here just use the natural day/night routine in their area , It’s what I do.
And my birds are covered but none are completely covered.
more like 70%.

I can understand that, I don’t mean a massive skew in his routine, it’s just some days I work 9am-9pm, others 8am-9pm, sometimes 9am-5pm it just depends really, but if I put him to sleep at 10 let’s say I won’t be around to take the cover off at 10am and my family might not be home till 4pm-6pm depending on the day.

 

[texsize]

Some of my birds (the Twins) after nightfall They go to sleep.
They may wake up briefly but they don’t interact with us after they go to bed.

Bingo and Bella YNA and CAG.
even after nightfall they might sleep some but it’s with one eye open. If we eat or start doing something in the kitchen they perk right up watching everything.
they want to be a part of whatever is going on.
I couldn’t shut them away after dark, they want to be part of what we do .