It is officially summer, which means a lot of daylight! I tonight’s sunset is about 9:13 pm. On our longest day in Michigan, we get something like 15 hours of daylight. To a budgie, those long days can only mean one thing: time to make more budgies!
This can lead to Budgie Drama. About 2 years ago, I had Pippin and Stormy Day fighting over Cricket. It got so bad, I had to separate the boys from the girls for about 4 months before they could be in the same room. After that, they all get along, and Cricket and Stormy Day are a couple (with a 7 year age gap).
Lentil also relentlessly pursues Quinoa. He chases her around, dances for her, feeds her, tries to mate with her. It’s exhausting. She’s constantly running away from him, sometimes flirting back. Again, exhausting.
Lentil has also struck up a “bromance” with Cedric. He absolutely adores him! He’s very protective too! If I take Cedric outside of the cage, Lentil will fly to where ever Cedric is to make sure he’s OK. Cedric seems to like Lentil too. They feed each other and preen each others’ feathers. It’s quite sweet. Lentil sometimes gets carried away and tries to mount his big friend and Cedric lets him know (pretty loudly) that he only likes him as a friend and is not into that kind of thing. And then a few minutes later, everything’s cool again.
In an effort to keep those hormones under control, I put the birds to bed early enough to give them at least 12 hours of darkness. That is a bit harder to do in the summer when there seems to be light streaming in the windows at all hours, but I do my best to maintain a consistent schedule. I close the blinds around dinner time and cover the cages around 7:30pm. I usually uncover them in the morning around 8:30am. So far, mostly good.
I could definitely do better. I’d like to find a cover that blocks out more light. Right now, I’m using a flannel queen size bed sheet and a fleece throw blanket. I have two cages under there. It’s a big set up!
It’s interesting the way the budgies all have their usual sleeping spots. Stormy Day, Cricket, Valentine, Pippin, and Sparrow usually sleep all in one cage. They find a swing or perch they like and get cozy as soon as I grab the blanket and start covering them. Lentil, Quinoa, and Cedric usually sleep in the other cage. Sometimes they invite Pippin to sleep over, which always works out just fine.
After I cover them, it might take a few minutes for them to settle down in their sleeping spots, but eventually, the chirps die down and make way for sound of eight tiny beaks grinding. Someone once commented to me that budgies are “cat software on bird hardware” and I think about that a lot. I keep finding examples of how this is true and this is one of them. Where cats would purr, budgies grind their beaks. When I hear this in the evening, I know they’re relaxed and content. They were doing it almost the whole time I have been typing this, but now things are quiet. Goodnight, budgies!
Budgie Adventures! 
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