Cage Covers

[Mom's Animal Preserve]

I cover my birds because they need 12 to 14 hours of sleep and there is definitely not 12 to 14 hours of darkness here in the summer. Even though there are more hours of darkness in the winter, we cover them as a matter of habit. When they are covered, they know it is time to settle down. We only cover the birds for sleep, never any other reason. Calvin, our Severe Macaw, even says "good nite, I love you!" when he gets covered. How sweet is that?

When birds don't get enough sleep, they can have issues like being cranky, plucking, etc. Even if there is activity going on in the room where they are, we keep it to a minimum (typing on computer or t.v. on, but kept low) so that they can settle down and get some rest. Works great for us, we have happy birdies and no one seems cranky from lack of sleep.

We cover our cages with dark sheets (with really good, tight thread count) and fleece blankets. They work great, are easy to wash and the elastic in the ends of the sheets helps keep them fitted around the cage corners.