Changing The Cage Around

[Rainbow 0]

I have been having a little problem with the birds at bedtime lately. During the day, they get along just fine. But once I cover the cage for sleeps at night, they morph into something else entirely and it sounds like something from a horror movie in there. They apparently need LOTS more personal space to sleep at night than they do in the daytime. :glare: I will be honest with you, I hear sounds that I have never heard a budgie make before.......and it sometimes goes on for 30 minutes or more. I have to go in and check on them sometimes, it is that bad. And only at night. I don't get it.

 

Even though there is plenty of room on that top perch for all of them to sleep, they disagree. The funny thing is, that there used to be more birds in there than there are right now, and there was never a problem until my flock became smaller! I guess the boys must have buffered some of that estrogen. Anyway, since the top perch was the cause of irritation, I have removed it. I tried to empty the cage out a little (it was really crowded with toys and perches) so they would have more room to move around too. I'll let you know if removing that perch makes any difference as it was hard to make sure there were 4 seperate places to sleep at relatively the same height. I still think it might be a little crowded, but I have to make sure there are places where they can all be far, far away from each other at the same time. This is only a stopgap measure I think, because I'm pretty sure they just need a larger cage since there are only hens now. If anyone has any other ideas to make bedtime more peaceful until that time, I'm all ears!

 

 

I thought I'd post a few pictures of the new setup, and also some little foraging toys I put together.

Here is the whole cage. I tried to keep most all the perches fairly far away from each other so they would have to exert some energy to get from one part of the cage to another. :wine Exercise is good for pudgy budgies.

 

Here is a view of the food. I purposely kept a perch away from the front of most seed cups so they would have to use some new muscles to get at it instead of having such easy access to it. So far they don't care. Also, the ball at the bottom has a millet spray INSIDE it...so if they want it they need to use their heads. Maybe some exercise inside the ball crawling through the holes may ensue. I hope.

 

Here is a foraging ball I made. They love shredables, so I put a bunch inside the ball with parts of them sticking out. They have to stretch from the nearby perches to get at it somewhat, so we will see if they still like to shred if it isn't sitting in front of them. :devil:

[Elly 0]

Wonderful to see your set-up and your birds it has been awhile very cool. I remember Pretty and Merlin would do that too they want that same perch :glare:

[Guest Phoebe]

:glare: Now who wouldn't be happy there? Those girls!

[Boomberry 0]

Ann, I have a cage a zillion times bigger than that with the same amount of budgies in and they still fight at bedtime grrr. Its the hens that fight too the males are usually happy to sleep anywhere - but even in a huge cage the two hens want to same spot.

[Rainbow 0]

Well, they still weren't happy last night. I don't know.

 

I came home tonight to find 1/2 of the food cups on the ground, and most of the shredables gone from the foraging ball, LOL, one of them was floating in the water dish...the furthest one from the ball! What a mess that was. And all the millet was gone and halfway outside of the ball that was on the cage floor, so I know somebudgie was busy today, and not too scared to get into the ball for food!

 

Silly birds...

Does anyone have any suggestions about what to do at bedtime? Yeah Booms, they don't want another bird NEAR them once the lights are out and the cage is covered. The noises are worse than fighting tomcats!

[Boomberry 0]

Well lucky for me Ive 2 very large budgies cages and I had to swap birdies around until I got the right mix who didn't fight. Youve got 4 hens so its not as easy as splitting them and housing them with half males like Ive done.

 

Could it be hormonal time for them and thats whats making them more misbehaved than usual?

[Elly 0]

You know spring is springing (somewhere under that frozen ground of ours) (Laughing out loud) and I wonder if this is causing all the attitude toward I want this and that Ann. I mean maybe they think they are roosting hens or something and protecting their spot you know. Then they are wrecking and shredding because that is all nature's call.

 

Have you thought of covering them 1/2 way first for an hour or so they can get settled (unless you do that already) and then a complete covering? Also adding more higher perches then their are birds (but you probably have that too huh?). Maybe turn the cage in a different direction too would encourage a different enviroment?

[Rainbow 0]

I think the destructiveness may be tied to the season - that is a good point. But the grumping at night has gone on for awhile now. It may be worse now because of the seasons though. I think having male budgies must have buffered a lot of that, because as I said before this didn't happen when I had them. I think I will try partially covering the cage at first, that is a good idea. I'll keep you posted on what happens tonight.

[Boomberry 0]

Either that or buy a bunch of males :offtopic:

[Rainbow 0]

Either that or buy a bunch of males

 

 

Oh yeah right.... LOL

 

Well, I tried covering the cage last night partway to allow them to settle down. Wouldn't you know they ended up all being near the front of the cage (the uncovered part) either hanging on the bars or all vying for the perch that happened to be in front???? Talk about sounds of hate and discontent...... On the plus side, I got to watch them in the semi-dark, and know who the witchy ones are.. I ended up moving the rope perch I had draped at an angle to where it was fairly level. They ended up being a little happier about that because they weren't all fighting for the same small space at the end of the rope perch (which was the high point in the cage). Plus since they could still see out in the dim light, they were in no mood to try to go to sleep. It kept them up, not having the cage covered all the way. At least I know. It was a very good idea and I had to try. I covered them up all the way, and there was silence after a few minutes. (thank goodness...!) When I uncovered them this morning, one was was on the ladder, one was on the rope perch, one was on the hanging foraging ball (ha-ha!) and the 4th was on another perch in the back. We'll see what happens tonight......Silly budgies, they all could spread their wings and not touch another bird....You'd think they would just settle down for the night. OY! I'm going to try partially covering them again tonight to see what happens, and will keep you updated again.

 

Does anyone besides myself and Boomberry have such contrary budgies at night?

[Guest Phoebe]

How about music directed at their cage before bed time, nothing soft and dreamy but country and western or big band sounds? :(Laughing out loud):

[Elly 0]

Merlin and Pretty would be naughty too every once in a while. Covering them partly they will get used to it and I notice mine perch in the front too for night time vs the back odd uh? Anyways at least you know who is being naughty and who is being nice

[Rainbow 0]

Well, the girls have a new cage.

 

They like it so much they don't want to leave it...I leave the door open, they come out, they go back in, LOL. They still grump at night, but not as much, and not as long. Whew! I don't have any pictures yet, but hope to get some up soon. The cage is 34" x 22" x 43". They can fly in it, even though I have it stuffed with perches and toys. It's scarey that I had the same amount of stuff in their smaller cage.....!!!

 

Anyway, since the new home, they have been much more active, flying around inside it, making lots of happy birdie noises. I am amazed at how often I see "tail wags" in there! I think if I could find another special type of perch (I have two but forgot where I got them!) it would take care of all the grumping at night.

 

It does seem to have been a "personal space" issue. But what they have now is perfect for 4 budgies.

Edited May 7, 2007 by Rainbow

[Elly 0]

Good to hear and I await pics

[Guest rexy]

love to hear of happy budgie stories and see their nice cage setups.. look forward to pics..

[Bea 0]

Glad the new cage has settled things down! Can't wait to see photos.