Hi! I've been clicker training a new parakeet and I noticed something two days ago. I wake up around 9 and go to bed around 9, etc, and that's when I clean his cage/ change water, etc. Lately, he just won't go to bed. I thought maybe it was a two day thing, but I'm not sure. Any advice?
There’s numerous factors that tell a bird when it’s time to rest; the hours of light they get (artificial lighting can mess with this), diet (high fat diets are an indication of it being time to breed, different resting hours), hormonal irregularities, social changes (what time the household wakes up and rests), sounds they hear (one person being awake later than usual, something outside), temperature (cooler temps are an indication of longer nights), and many more. Check a variety of factors to ensure nothing has changed that could be throwing them off their regular schedule.
Another important factor to look at is the cage itself, is the cage large enough or a bit cramped, is the cage associated with positivity or is it associated with being bored, punishments, lack of enjoyment, is the cage interesting or the same old boring layout, are the perches comfortable or are they all dowels, what do they get out of going in the cage? Is it possible they’ve managed to see the cage as somewhere they don’t want to be? When you put them to bed before what would happen? The common answer is that the bird would get put in the cage, door would close, say goodnight and that’s it, what does the bird get out of that experience? They get their fun interactions leaving, nothing interesting and new from the cage, no treats or really great experiences that they can usually get outside of the cage. The cage at this point is seen as a place where all the fun things they enjoy don’t exist and over time this causes them to dislike their cages, if everything they enjoy is outside of it why go in it? The way to counteract this is to make the cage fun again, change up the layout, add new toys, comfortable perches, move perches around, or even hide a few treats in the cage whenever you put them in it so they have something to look forwards to. Through this the birds get something out of going in the cage, they get fun experiences that they can only get from going in it, now rather than seeing the cage is a point where all the fun things leave it’s a point where great new things can happen which causes them to be much more interested in going in and having some fun.
Take a closer look at the behaviour, ensure there’s no environmental factors affecting it and maybe make some cages to the way bed time is viewed, make the cage a bit more fun, give them a reason to enjoy that experience.