Sleeping under newspaper

[Beautiful.brave]

Hi me again

Our green girl beauty has now started to walk underneath the newspaper at the bottom on her cage, and can set there for hours last night she fell asleep there so my partner opened the cage and tried to lift the paper to see if she was ok, but she kept moving and running away it was so funny, it was if to say I'm hiding leave me be. Then she popped back up after about half hour Sleeping down there.

Is this normal? Where trying to get a wire mesh to put across the bottom so she don't sit on her mess, when we do this should I leave her some shredded paper at the bottom so she can burrow?

Thanks

[InTheAir]

Hey,

I'm no expert, but it sounds like she may be trying to make a nest. Is she mature?

I'm sure someone with experience will pipe up.

[Beautiful.brave]

I got told she was 2 years old when we bought her, we've had her about just over a week now.

[Skyes_crew]

She may be looking for a safe place to sleep out of the open. Try draping a towel over half of the cage and see if that helps. I wouldn't give her shredded newspaper. It may induce her to nest and lay eggs. Sounds like it was very cute to watch lol.

[Beautiful.brave]

It was lol, but I got scared a little as I read that if they are on the bottom or the cage there most likely to be ill but I've been keeping a close eye on her and apart from being really comfy and not wanting to move she's fine. Ill try the towel and see how she get on, I've seen big hard tubes similar to the one you give rabbits to play with would one of these be any good do you think or would that make her want to lay eggs?

Thanks for the advise.

[Skyes_crew]

If she'll go in the tube, it's harmless. IRN's like to nest in deep nest boxes to mimic a hollowed out tree. So the tube should be fine my IRN's don't like anything real close quarters, but then again I have male birds.

[Beautiful.brave]

Ok great ill give the tube a try.

Thanks

[MissK]

After reading this, I took a sheet of paper and folded it like a tent. Then I hung this "tent" over a low perch to see what Rocky would do. Rocky removed the tent and put it on the floor, never to look at it again.

However, if your bird wants a tent and you want her off the floor, maybe you can put a pair of perches in the corner of the cage, on different walls, so they are perpendicular, with the vertical distance about 8 inches or so. Then you can try hanging your own paper tent from the higher one and see if she likes it there.

If hiding under paper doesn't hurt her and she likes it, why not let her? If you use the tube, remember she may slip inside and you might have to rough it up with some sandpaper.

-MissK

[Skyes_crew]

Rocky removed the tent and put it on the floor, never to look at it again

I found this very funny

Skye would have shredded it first and and asked questions later

[MissK]

He's probably taking his cue from my housekeeping style..............

-MissK

[Dean0]

Your bird may be tired and want to get off its feet. Do you have a platform in the cage it can lay on?

[Beautiful.brave]

No I don't would it be a good idea to get one?

[Dean0]

I've seen many birds that would lay down to rest, probably wouldn't hurt. I have a used huddle hut for birds in the past but heard horror stories about birds getting hurt so now will put a scrap of terry cloth on a small wooden platform mounted in the cage.

[Sherik]

My female IRN does this too at the top of her cage. We keep shoeboxes for her near her playstand with the two ends cut out she can run in and hide if she wants to. She alos has a tent in her cage and for the first couple of years she slept in it at night now its just a tunnel to run in and out of or when I have sewn a new one for her to go in and rip off all the fabric at the bottom so its just the plastic floor.

[jmlw7]

I've seen many birds that would lay down to rest, probably wouldn't hurt. I have a used huddle hut for birds in the past but heard horror stories about birds getting hurt so now will put a scrap of terry cloth on a small wooden platform mounted in the cage.

Is this true? Some birds like to lay down to rest? Is there an option we can provide for them in case they want to be off their feet all day? I cant imagine my 9 month old Remy sleeping anywhere except his perch snuggled up next to a birdie binkie, but I'd love to see him lay down!

[MissK]

I believe, in the case of birds, this is a situation of bending the joints and lowering the body until it contacts the floor, resting the legs and feet. The visual image is one of a bird in a nest. Rocky has two spots for this that he does not use, in addition to the entire floor of the cage. He loves to run the floor of the cage, but I've never seen him rest like that there.

The most birds I've kept at one time were 5 Canaries, 2 Budgies, and the Ringneck. I've never seen any but one Canary ever rest like that. He does it during molting season, and every time it freaks me out. I think he's sick every year, until I remember it's time to molt.

-MissK

[Skyes_crew]

I agree...none of my flock lay down ever. My ringnecks run around on the bottoms during the day too, but never to sleep. I would freak out too if they did. The only bird I have that occasionally does lay down is my rescued tiel. She has mangled feet with limited toe movement. But I made handicap perches for her that were wider so she could still "perch" like her friends. All of my cages have a grate between the bird and the tray for cleaning. But if my one ringneck was given newspaper to play with, he would shred it

[InTheAir]

Our bird lies down like a duck if he's having a nap on someones chest. He's really hard to remove then, he just hunkers his keel down and tucks his head further under his wing. I've never seen him do it on any other surface besides a vertical human. I suspect he does it to make us stay ;p

[Skyes_crew]

He has you trained Claire

[MissK]

Well, we did know he's a Genius!

-MissK

[InTheAir]

Haha I do believe he is a pretty good human trainer, he gets the results he wants. He has trained at least 5 humans to fetch on command. He is worse then a cat, to be honest ;p