FINCHforum

Trixie has an abundance of perches of varying sizes and textures and a little basket nest that I put shredded newspaper in for her. Yet every morning when I uncover her cage, she's snoozing in the corner on the floor. She hops right up onto a perch after I uncover her and usually heads straight for her breakfast. Should I put the nest on the floor of the cage? My pigeon, who "experts" say won't sleep on a perch, always sleeps on a perch, and my canary sleeps on the floor! My birds delight in ignoring the experts.

Siobhan
Hi.
Not sure what to say. It is unusual to say the least, for a bird to sleep on the floor, unless there is something wrong with it. Have you looked at her feet, to make sure there are no abnormalities with her feet or toes? During the day, does she perch normally? Or does she spend time on the floor as well? And another quick question, has she always slept on the floor, or is this something recent?

In nature, birds who sleep on the ground become very easy prey, for any predator, so it's not a 'normal' place to be.

I would keep a close eye on her. Check feet and legs, and also keep an eye on her droppings, and make sure her vent is clean.

~Elana~

She perches perfectly normally during the day, hops from perch to perch, plays on her swing, eats and drinks and poops and chirps. Sings when she's in the mood and makes kissing sounds at me when I talk to her. Plays with her toys, at least the ones she likes. Her vent is fine. She uses the floor as a pit stop between two of her perches and her bath tub is on the floor, but she mostly just drinks out of that. She also drinks out of her water dish. And she's a very neat little bird, so when she drops seed on the floor, she goes down after it and picks it up and eats it. She spent so long in a pet shop, with that awful bedding they use and only one perch, that maybe she's just excited to have a smooth floor that she CAN walk on (newspaper). She's on her perch when I cover her at night, so maybe she just hops down to the floor when she hears me coming to uncover her, because as I said, she hops off her favorite perch to the floor and from the floor up to her food dish.

Siobhan
As long as all is well with her, then let her be wherever she wants to be. Any pictures of your girl? I'll show her to my boy Luciano, and see what he thinks lol.

Here's my handsome boy.

~Elana~

I think she gets scared of the cover and or darkness. Why do you cover her cage?
I have kept pigeons for many years and all of my pigeons loved to sit and sleep on perches.

I cover her for two reasons: Ringo the starling has to have a nightlight or she gets night frights and I don't want Trixie to have to try to sleep with a nightlight if it will disturb her. The cover is only over the top of the cage, so she can be in the dark if she likes but can still see dimly if she wants a snack or drink in the night. The other reason is, Ringo is an owl in a starling's body and won't go to bed as early as Trixie wants to, so I cover Trixie to let her go ahead and snooze on her own schedule while Ringo is still barreling around wide awake. I cover the parrots and Maggie at night, too, in their room. Ringo is the only bird whose cage isn't covered at night because she freaks out.

This morning I overslept and when I went to uncover Trixie, she was already awake and having her breakfast. Like all my other birds, she can tell time. "It's morning, I'm hungry, I'm going to EAT even if Mom hasn't taken the cover off yet!"

There is a difference between a sick bird sleeping on the floor and birds roosting on the floor of the cage.

Many of my zebras in several different flights roost on the floor at night or during the day.

When I had a flight of shaft tails I would routinely at certain times of the day find them all sitting as a group roosting on the floor. The first time I witnessed that I was concerned but all were happy and buzzing around the flight soon afterwards....it became a daily ritual with them.

As long as your bird is healthy, no outward signs of illness, droppings look great, no puffing up, going thin (going light) and they are eating well I would not be to concerned especially if this is a routine.

If Trixie's cover does not cover the entire length of the cage she may be sleeping on the bottom to see out. Or she has moved during the night and due to the darkness of her cage with the cover she may find it difficult to maneuver her way back to the top and just settles in on the floor.

Try leaving a side open so she can view the room and have a bit of light, see if she will remain on a perch vs sleeping on the floor of the cage. Also offer different size and shaped perches for her to roost on, the change in shape and texture exercises the feet and they become less sore standing in one place for a while.

I agree with cindy, I wouldn't worry if she appears to be healthy and happy.

Lots of my birds stay on the floor at night. Some of them may prefer certain sleeping spots and would stay in the same place even if I transfer them to a new cage. A hen may often stay at the bottom if she is about to lay if she does not like the current location of the nest you give her. Try to relocate the nest and see what happens. Generally, I would not be worried if she is healthy. Some alarms may be set off if she dropped eggs on the floor instead of in the nest. It is a sure sign that she does not like the current nest location and there is no other options like food dishes for her, so relocate it. I did it and it worked instantly. The real big alarm is if she appears to be sick or if something or someone disturbs them at night. You girl may be freaked out, flies all around the place to escape, and when everything is settled she cannot find the way back to the perch. Rats would be the prime suspect for such thing. They creep with ease into almost any cage. Their target is the seed and egg food. But if there is none of them and the opportunity is perfect, they will have your birds and eggs. They normally eat the brain only, so it is not a nice scene to see. Trust me, I've been through it.

We don't have rats, so that's definitely not it. I've covered and left her uncovered both and if I go in the room early enough, she's still snoozing with her head stuffed under her wing and on the floor. When she wakes up, she hops right onto a perch and goes to her food dish for breakfast and is active and energetic all day, so she just must prefer sleeping on the floor. The night light is enough that she could see to get back to a perch if she wanted to -- Ringo does -- and she hasn't laid any eggs so that's not what she's doing down there. She has five perches, all different sizes and shapes and materials, so surely if she wanted to sleep on a perch she could find one to suit her taste. I've moved the nest several times and she still only uses it as a way station on her trips from one side of the cage to the other. I tried hanging a toy near it but she just isn't interested. Two of my birds, both parrots, have happy huts (fuzzy three-cornered tents that hang from the top of the cage) that they sleep in, but none of my other birds ever wanted those. Would Trixie like one of those? They come in all sizes and a budgie-sized one would be about right for her.

I now have two birds in separate cages in my living room. Mango, a canary, and Maestro, a canary x european goldfinch hybrid. I cover them both fully when it gets dark because I tend to stay up late and Mango had one previous experience with soft moult which I don't want repeated. As I'm covering them, both hop to the highest perches in their cages where they sleep. Is Trixie's cage very high up? That might be a factor since she obviously feels content and secure on the cage floor.

I uncover them as soon as I wake up in the morning, usually a little after sunrise. Maestro is always still on his sleeping perch, but Mango is often on the cage floor, calling out and trying to peer under the cover. He seems to know instinctively when it's daylight and is impatient to be uncovered, but I'm certain that he doesn't sleep there. It would be very unusual for a canary to sleep in a happy hut, but why not give it a try, she seems to be full of surprises and it sure would be cute!

I agree with Cindy.

If the cage is high up, that may also be a factor. They seem to be more apt to sit on the floor when they're in a high cage.

I'd see how she does without the cover. I too think she may be hanging out down there to peek out.

Or maybe that's just where she feels secure!
I have a society finch who loves hiding in the back corner of the cage. The foliage falls just right to create a little hidey hole.

She just feels secure there, I bet.
As long as she's healthy and happy otherwise, I wouldn't worry.

Her cage is on top of a dresser, but it's not that high up. I got her a happy hut and I moved her nest to a different spot to see if she'd like it better and she does like the nest in the new spot, but doesn't sleep in it. She just sits in it as an alternative to perching sometimes. I put the happy hut on the floor next to her sleeping spot and she doesn't sleep in it, but she sleeps next to it. I think she just likes to sit on the floor of her cage to sleep. She spent so long in the pet store, with one skinny perch and no toys, that it's possible her feet are damaged. The floor may just be comfortable. She tucks her head under her wing and sleeps soundly like that. When she's awake she zips around and eats like a horse and sings and plays, so she's not sick. She's just weird. LOL

Siobhan - Well, she sounds like she's happy overall, so I think I too would chalk it up to just being weird.
I've got a few of those myself! The quirkier, the better, I believe!

Sometimes birds do things that seem counter intuitive.

I just caught my cockatiels napping in a basket on the floor, which should also be uncomfortable for them. But they seem to love it.
It's a tall, rectangular wicker basket. They discovered it and started chewing it up and putting hay inside. I just peeked into the room and saw them cuddled up getting ready to take their afternoon nap in there! (Though I need to keep an eye on that to make sure it stays a napping and chewing spot and not a baby-making spot!) You wouldn't think they'd like it since it's on the floor, but they don't seem at all bothered by it.
So yeah. Sometimes they're just odd!