bedtime

charisma · Post by **charisma** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 8:07 pm

I have a question.
I used to be the owner of budgies for year and always covered the cage up at night.
Now that I have finches...is it still necessary to cover the cage at night?

thx!

lovemyfinch · Post by **lovemyfinch** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 8:55 pm

No it is not necessary to cover the cage at night.
Although most of us here do leave them a night light of sorts just in case something frightens them during the night.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 9:00 pm

Right on, Janine!

charisma · Post by **charisma** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 9:45 am

Thank you for your response

I often spend my evenings in the same room and thought the
blanket would give them more privacy and I wouldn't distract
them by walking around or being on my laptop.
If you don't think they need it though then I won't bother.
Maybe they'll get used to me being in here in the evening and
settle right down anyhow.

lovemyfinch · Post by **lovemyfinch** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 4:51 pm

Personally I would be apt to think that if you are wandering around in the same room as them, and they are covered, they would be more likely to get startled. At least if they are not covered, they have a chance to see what any noise might be caused by.

charisma · Post by **charisma** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 6:02 pm

haha...yeah makes sense.

Thx for your thoughts

franny · Post by **franny** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 5:07 pm

My cage is in my living room, and I watch tv or work on my painting, or on my computer late into the night. I have a light on top of my cage that is set on a timer, and when the birdcage light goes out, even if all the other lights are on in the room, they go to their roosting perch and settle down for the night. They don't seem to be bothered by me at all.

When I do tur

n everything off and head to bed, I leave the stove light on in the kitchen, as a night light for the birds. I agree that they would be more startled by noises, if they can't see what's causing them.

charisma · Post by **charisma** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:24 pm

Thanks for your thoughts Franny.. Its hard to get out of the habit
of covering the cage at night. The darkness under the blanket seems to keep them from getting up too early in the morning wanting fed before I can get to them to replenish it. In the summer they'll be up at 6 am with the early morning light I'll assume. Won't the cover be good for those times that I'm not up as early? What do you do about that when you hear them wanting fed?
Another question on feeding...
I give my two finches one tablespoon of finch food first thing in the morning, and egg food a little after that. Every other day I introduce them to a new fruit, or stick to the basic apple since they don't seem to like much more than that.
Is one tablespoon enough finch food for the day or should I be giving them more than that or more often?
Thank you

poohbear · Post by **poohbear** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:31 pm

Don't restrict the seed like that...give them a pot full.You can't measure out seed to birds safely, they should always have too much than too little.If you've got Hecks I'd stick with apple and eggfood as supplements.Wild seeds and greenfood will be popular too.

franny · Post by **franny** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:33 pm

charisma wrote:Thanks for your thoughts Franny.. Its hard to get out of the habit
of covering the cage at night. The darkness under the blanket seems to keep them from getting up too early in the morning wanting fed before I can get to them to replenish it. In the summer they'll be up at 6 am with the early morning light I'll assume. Won't the cover be good for those times that I'm not up as early? What do you do about that when you hear them wanting fed?
Another question on feeding...
I give my two finches one tablespoon of finch food first thing in the morning, and egg food a little after that. Every other day I introduce them to a new fruit, or stick to the basic apple since they don't seem to like much more than that.
Is one tablespoon enough finch food for the day or should I be giving them more than that or more often?
Thank you

What kind of feeders do you have? I would never restrict my finches to only 2 tablespoons of seed. It could be very harmful to have so little food in the cage, if for any reason you can't get there to refresh the food, as you said. The only food I would restrict is the moist food such as eggfood, or greens, to an amount that is small enough to dry up rather than go moldy if you don't get a chance to remove it right away. The regular finch food (seed/pellets/dried commercial eggfood) should be IMHO available to them at all times, an unlimited supply.

In fact, I use a tube feeder, and many folks use seed hoppers, so that you don't have to worry about seed husks covering the good seed. That way you don't have to refresh or blow husks off and worry about the finches not finding seed when they want it.

If you are concerned about them possibly getting too fat, then the best thing to do is get that larger cage/aviary ready as soon as possible!.

lovemyfinch · Post by **lovemyfinch** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:52 pm

Franny and Poohbear have given you very good advice. Use either or the seedhopper/tube feeder. Restricting them can be a very dangerous thing as we cannot be sure how much they need to eat from one day to the next.

charisma · Post by **charisma** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:17 pm

Wow thanks for the advice everyone! Gee...
again I guess its the transition from budgies to finches that's thrown me. My budgies always seemed to have enough food with that amount of food. Mind you they always dug to the bottom where finches won't. Okay ....time to look up what a seedhopper is and look into getting a new way of feeding them.
Right now I have three stainless steel dishes that I can get to from the
outside of the cage. One holds water, one holds egg food or treats and the other holds their seed. Its quite a large cage and houses these two guys comfortably.
Now I feel awful that I may have been starving them! uggggggg

lovemyfinch · Post by **lovemyfinch** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:30 pm

Please don't feel bad

We all "learned" what we have. At least you are asking questions, some people wouldn't.
One thing about having food readily available is, if and when you decide to breed them, you will have a much better chance of them being good parents if they feel that the food is plentiful.

charisma · Post by **charisma** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 8:23 pm

Yes.. thanks lmf...

I am thinking now that's why they tossed their first clutch

This time maybe it'll work out. I saw one egg in the nest this morning....so it begins again

I'm glad I found this out before
they hatched this time

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 8:33 pm

Ok...I know we have had this discussion a few times before.....so here is my opinion...again.

I have always covered up my birds being they are in the dining room and I am moving about ...watching TV or working on the computer and the nightly trips to the bathroom. I just feel they are less disturbed by being covered up.

Others here have encouraged me to not cover my birds (you know who you are

). I really did try not to cover my finches and when the usual time that I cover the birds came and went.....my finches just sat there and I could tell they were waiting to be covered up. They didn't go to their usual roosting spots and acted restless. So after an hour I caved in and covered them up.

I could hear them go right to there night spots and settle in. I am sure they were thinking " what was up with our Human...she sure took long enough to cover us up!"

Hello...my name is Deborah and I am a Coveraholic...and I like it that way!

Just do what ever works for you and your birdies Charisma.

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