Food at night

[birdgirl]

should I leave Taco and Barkleys pellets in their cages at night? I always have but was wondering if I should try taking the food bowls out at night.

['too crazy]

I always leave my birds food in the cages too. Just in case they wake up and want a little snack. They are still ready for whatever I make for breakfast.

[dlaura]

at night. I remove all the seed at night and leave pellets or a bit of dry cereal for them in case they get hungry. We went through a terrible bout with those moths that hatch from seed -- they were almost impossible to get rid of! So, now the seed gets frozen for a few days before we use it and it gets disposed of and taken right to outside garbage that same night. It was awful ........... you would have thought we were breeding moths for a while. hmmmm....... guess if you think about it - we were! LOL

[Jenny]

There's really no right or wrong way to do it but if you take them out at night they might look forward to eating in the morning more, esp. if you're trying out a new food on them. Lots of people suggest just feeding the birds twice a day and leaving the bowls in for 30 mins. or so which I think is the best, but I'm too lazy for that. After washing bowls in the morning, chopping up fresh food and other stuff for their meals, giving fresh water, etc. I usually just end up leaving the cups in all day.If they've eaten plenty in the day though you shouldn't need to worry about them getting hungry at night. Even though there's usually a little food left over in my birds' cages at night, they never wake up to go eat.

[Love Bird B]

I take Argo's (tiel) food out at night because we have a mouse problem and the buggers climb in and around his cage. However lovebird Perky gets to keep her food because she'd bite a mouse in half if they got into her cage. That's my little girl!

[Squawksx3]

LOL B!

We also leave the pellets in their cages at night, but take out any other food. They get fresh water in the morning and again at night. :)

How many of you cover your cages at night?. Just curious...we cover all our guys with sheets.

[krazy4birds]

Good question Jan. I don't cover mine unless it's really cold out. I know the majority of books I've read say to cover but I just never have. And I leave their food in there all the time. Hmmm maybe I should make some changes? :o

[Jenny]

LOL about Perky! I don't know what my lovebird woudl do if a mouse got in his cage...probably run out of the way doing his "help help" chirp! About cage covering, I used to when I had just one cage but now I pretty much don't. Sometimes I do, especially if people are going to be staying up late with lights on, but overall no. They seem to get just as good a sleep covered as uncovered, plus the green-cheek and lovebird have "Happy Huts" which are nice and dark and cozy!

['too crazy]

Oh B that's so funny about Perky! :) I only cover Skye, the new 'too. It helps quiet the nightly screams! ;)

[Love Bird B]

Gads, I thought I should explain our mouse problem. You're all so sweet in not mentioning anything about my failure as a housekeeper, but our whole block has them. Plus, I'm not such a good housekeeper. We live in center city where there's constant drilling and digging up the streets, and doing I-don't-know-what, and the little 'meeses' just run wild. Well, they are wild mice. :D Argo used to freak out when he saw them so we got him a night light after reading that suggestion some place. His cage isn't covered at night, at least not fully. He sleeps in a corner where there's fabric draped over for that Hollywood effect. Perky gets a sheet early every night because I'm trying to curtail her egg laying. I say anything that works. :p

[dlaura]

all of ours get covered. The goffin is usually the first - sometimes 2 hrs before the others as she will get up on the upper perch and let us know she is ready for bed. Didn't cover Taz for a while - but one night when we covered all the others at same time -- he started to scream, so we covered him and he immediately stopped. It seems he wanted to be treated like everyone else and get a cover-up at night. LOL

Barb - that is funny about the mice. Did I ever tell you about the hamster Jason had even though we had told him no more pets. Well he snuck it into the house into his bedroom and kept it in a 4x6 cd case when he wasn't home .......... but it got out. One evening I heard him searching around his room and when I asked what for he said just looking for something but wouldn't tell me what. After work one night I was standing in family room talking to Bob and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw something scramble across the room...................... Bob said it was just my imagination. The birds were agitated and making a warning noise as if they had seen something also. Hmmmmmmmm The next day it scampered across the room and both of us saw it --- thought we had a mouse ---- except this was a furry fluffy looking orange brown creature. What in the H--L was that. The missing hamster of course! Needless to say Jason caught a lecture for that.

[Love Bird B]

I really can relate to Jason, as usual! One time I brought a frog back home from our trip to the mountains and didn't tell my parents. What's in the box? What box?

I also happen to like rodents but my mother flat out refused to allow me to keep any, saying that they 'drew wild rodents'. Well, mom was right about that, especially if rodents happen to be in the area. They just have to drop in!

[birdgirl]

I've always wanted a pet rat or ferret but my mom hates them both and wont let them in the house.
I cover both my birds cages at 9:00pm-9:30pm and always have.

B I can understand the mice problem my cat use to catch mice live and set them free in our house just to see us freak out and try to catch it.

[Kaye]

Lots of people suggest just feeding the birds twice a day and leaving the bowls in for 30 mins. or so which I think is the best, but I'm too lazy for that.

I could never do that with Oliver and Aleda. They have to eat every 20-30 mins it seems, so their pellets are in their cages ALL day and night. Fresh food gets put in the cage once or twice a day if I can manage and seeds once a day.