No way to give 12 hours of light/dark

[AnyaLyssa]

Title says it all. We have a pair of bonded male GCC, didn't know the birds needed 12 hours of dark when we purchased them, weren't told this by the breeder, and only just now found out after several months.

We're on opposite schedules, so someone is always moving through the common areas. There isn't a single room in the house where the birds could get more than 8 hours of dark without a cover, and there is no one here to un/cover the birds at 12 hour intervals.

 

[sunshinemama91]

If you can manage a way to at the very least decrease the lighting, maybe setting a timer for intervals and minimal disturbance when its off you should be good. We have no way either because of kids, we cover, but not perfectly. It's well enough.

 

[SailBoat]

Well, the common area will need to be set at a lower light level to use the Natural Sunlight Schedule that the outside birds live every day of the year.

So, during the Winter when the night is naturally darker, and much longer when the Humans are banging around the common area, you will need to set night lights in a limited number of ares where you need to be during that time of the year!

NOTE: This Natural Sunlight Schedule will assure that you have a well defined Mating Season (Hormonal Season) each and every year. Note, if you do not darken your home during the Winter months, you could suffer multiple Hormonal Events during the Winter.

Sorry Sunshine, didn't mean to Post over yours!!!

 

[noodles123]

Title says it all. We have a pair of bonded male GCC, didn't know the birds needed 12 hours of dark when we purchased them, weren't told this by the breeder, and only just now found out after several months.

We're on opposite schedules, so someone is always moving through the common areas. There isn't a single room in the house where the birds could get more than 8 hours of dark without a cover, and there is no one here to un/cover the birds at 12 hour intervals.

You can adjust them to YOUR schedule as long as they get the sleep they need. There were times when I woke up everyday at 4am and put my bird to bet at roughly 4pm. If I couldn't get there to do it, I would sometimes stretch it to 5 or call a friend to do it (easier said than done, I know).

 

[AnyaLyssa]

You can adjust them to YOUR schedule as long as they get the sleep they need. There were times when I woke up everyday at 4am and put my bird to bet at roughly 4pm. If I couldn't get there to do it, I would sometimes stretch it to 5 or call a friend to do it (easier said than done, I know).

They're my BFs birds. If I adjust them to my schedule he would get ZERO time with them, other than being woken by them in the night if they were awake when he was sleeping.

I go to sleep before he gets up, and leave for my first job 3 hours before he gets home, come home for 2 hours between jobs and leave again after he's gone to bed. The timing would be 10-14 hours. They can have 10 hours of one and 14 of the other, if covered.

Any time I don't have the 2nd shift job and need a nap before work, one if them goes absolutely nuts making all kinds of pitiful noises when I wake up to get ready, like he's doing right now and he's going to wake my BF up. If they can't hear me gaming in my room, they don't settle down to sleep.

 

[noodles123]

10 is fine for most species- you don't want to go under it at all if you can help it though. You could also gauge it based on how they act when you wake them up-- you could try 14 if 10 isn't cutting it (but 14 is sometimes seen in larger cockatoos and things-- it is basically the MAX so you will have to see how they do (if they are waking up 2 hours before getting uncovered then that would not be good long-term..14 is going to be too much for many birds). why are they randomly screaming at night?


turn down the volume on your system and wait for like an hour before gaming so they settle down first

 

[SailBoat]

FYI: I'm guess that having children is like never going to be in the cards... And, that is a Good Thing, as they can make a bunch more noise and be far more demanding.

 

[AnyaLyssa]

FYI: I'm guess that having children is like never going to be in the cards... And, that is a Good Thing, as they can make a bunch more noise and be far more demanding.

That's a rude assumption, and has nothing to do with the topic.

The owner of the birds works 13 hours a day felling trees, and only gets 6 hours of sleep at night. This has nothing to do with the birds. This wouldn't change if they weren't here. Him getting woken up at night could literally cost him his life if he falls asleep at work. Having the birds awake at night isn't an option for this reason.

They start up making noise when I leave for work an hour after he's gone to sleep, which is around midnight. If children are awake at that hour, that's bad parenting, not "kids being kids".

 

[AnyaLyssa]

10 is fine for most species- you don't want to go under it at all if you can help it though. You could also gauge it based on how they act when you wake them up-- you could try 14 if 10 isn't cutting it (but 14 is sometimes seen in larger cockatoos and things-- it is basically the MAX so you will have to see how they do (if they are waking up 2 hours before getting uncovered then that would not be good long-term..14 is going to be too much for many birds). why are they randomly screaming at night?


turn down the volume on your system and wait for like an hour before gaming so they settle down first

The don't settle down unless they can hear me. It's when I stop that they start waking up and getting active again. I'm on voice chat with my raid group. They hear me talking and that calms them. I'm using a headset so they don't hear the game at all.

 

[SailBoat]

FYI: I'm guess that having children is like never going to be in the cards... And, that is a Good Thing, as they can make a bunch more noise and be far more demanding.

That's a rude assumption, and has nothing to do with the topic.

The owner of the birds works 13 hours a day felling trees, and only gets 6 hours of sleep at night. This has nothing to do with the birds. This wouldn't change if they weren't here. Him getting woken up at night could literally cost him his life if he falls asleep at work. Having the birds awake at night isn't an option for this reason.

They start up making noise when I leave for work an hour after he's gone to sleep, which is around midnight. If children are awake at that hour, that's bad parenting, not "kids being kids".

Well, likely as rude an assumption of children and Parrots as one is much like the other. It's that being old enough to have fully experienced both, all the way to great grand kids, thing. But, that all likely a generational thing.