Early A.M. Scare

[ranchnanny]

Last night was no different then any other night light going out birds settling down everything quiet.... That was around 9:00 pm when I went to bed but around 1:30 am I awoke to wings drumming three different times. I finally got up to see what was wrong and upon turning on the light I find a flight cage in a complete uproar. Birds flying wildly back and forth clinging to the sides of the cage stopping for a bit then starting again. this happened several times. I don't have any idea what caused this nothing in the room was different. I finally had to leave the lamp on in the living room. I was sure that this morning I would find a few dead birds at the bottom of the cage BUT all seemed well this morning. I am scratching my head on this one......

Any ideas what might have cause this?

[G8love4finches]

Glad to hear all is well this morning!....If one bird startles in the flight, it can cause panic for all....A sudden or strange noise in or around the cage or animals, or vermin??....Not sure if where you live any nocturnal animals could be out and about snooping for food??.....Could have just been one bird startling that could have caused it all

[L in Ontario]

Night lights (several if necessary) can help prevent nightfrights. I'm glad none died in their misadventure.

[annague]

Sherry, that's a pretty dramatic instance of night fright. The only time I've heard anything like that was with my doves (they were outside) and a raccoon was bothering them...

You don't have any pet doors or anything do you?

[ranchnanny]

I do Anna 2 dogs but they were behind the closed bedroom door. No other animals in the house. The dogs were asleep as well.

[annague]

Sherry, I hope this doesn't alarm you but I've had a raccoon come in through my doggy door at night-- fortunately, I heard it--but I've had them kill some of the doves I used to keep outside and I know it came in because it smelled my birds and was after a meal.

My birds went ape and I went running downstairs and caught a glimpse as it went back out through the dog door -- I then locked the doggy door from the inside and I do it every night now --

You might want to secure the doggy door every night just to be safe.

BTW: my dogs were sleeping with me (one with me and one with my son actually because my husband travels a lot.) If I hadn't been a very light sleeper I wouldn't have heard the coon come in.

[ranchnanny]

No need to secure the doggy door Anna since I don't have one. I am the doorman for my two boys and I often say "I am going to put in a revolving door for you two" LOL!!! But there might have been one up on the front porch even though my place is fenced the critters still manage to get in ie: rabbits, skunks etc.... Let's see what happens tonight!!!

[finchmix22]

My birds have gone nuts at night, if one of my cats opens the bird room door. My cats are very smart and figured out how to pull the door open from the bottom with their claws. Now, we keep a blockade so they can't get at the door.

[annague]

Whew! You know, I was really nervous for you Sherry thinking about how I felt with that coon coming into my house -- It's silly but I was scared of it -- (something about it coming in at night was pretty spooky).

Nonetheless, I decided to fight the cursed thing to the death rather than surrender one more of my feathered babies to it!

[ranchnanny]

Glad things turned out well for ya......

[6finchfriends]

Just a thought.....It's that time of the year when mice start coming inside. They love seed and can climb and jump up anything. Maybe there's a mouse in the house. When you went to check on the finches, the mouse hid, then came back? Hope all is well now!

[ranchnanny]

Oh I hate mice .... We had no problems last night I will be checking around the house for signs of the little pests. In fact I will set a trap some where near the flight JUST IN CASE.....

If you are out there look out cause I'm comin

[6finchfriends]

I set a mouse trap in the bird room as soon as I put the cages in. I know the little buggers will get in the house. It's the curse of living in the country. all the seed is like ringing the dinner bell. Maybe your birds just got scared of a noise or something. Could be something as silly as one of your pups sneezing.