Routines

Open the cage door of the Meyers parrot, let him do whatever while I shower. I usually move the budgie cage into another room, and let them out (though these guys really like their cage and sometimes don't leave it for a full day). My Linnie goes to my desk before I start work, and he's allowed to roam about as long as he stays close enough and the Meyers is not at my desk.

I clean a bit, give them fresh bird food, organic produce and water, get one of my ipods and connect it to a baby mirror I put it the Meyer's cage, and play Chopin. Pepé(who I'm still thinking of renaming, but it's been his name for 10 years from previous owners) likes his Chopin. He's new to being allowed to fly and run around on the carpet, so by the time I'm all done showering and getting ready to get to work, he's gotten some serious exercise and ready to take a nap to the music.

I work at home, so I get to hang with my birds all day. Between the budgies noise level and fact that they can't handle a big bird bite should that occur, they usually get moved to the another room that I don't work in.

Cool thing is none of my birds mind being shuffled around one bit. I could bring them into my garage, and the blue budgie would be the first to lead them out on exploration.

These birds are a lot of work. LOL.
I have 4 Boston Terriers too.

Milie & Niblet wake up usually between 7 and 7:30am. We uncover the cages and take them in the kitchen. Lately they've been sleeping in Millie's cage but we take both because Niblet has the bigger cage and bigger water and pellet dish. They grab a few pellets and then want out. Sometimes they run from cage to cage, other times they want to join us at the table, usually on a shoulder. Millie lately wants to fly. She flies to my curtains, onto the counter, onto someone's should, back to her cage. Wings will be clipped on Thursday.. too dangerous and unfair to Niblet.
After breakfast I take them upstairs while I get dressed for the day. They love to run around on our king size bed and hide behind any one of the eight pillows.
Then it's time for music. Ted and I have our computers in separate rooms and he will take one bird and I the other, we try to alternate. We play mp3 music that is already on the computer. This can continue for anywhere up to an hour but usually after about 30 minutes Millie wants to go for her seeds.
I give them each a tablespoon of seed and attempt to get them into their own cages as Niblet is a bullie with the seeds and he usually won't let Millie near them.
They stay there until around noon when we go down into the kitchen. I open both cages and they play and often nap until around 1pm when I made their veg platter.
We eat early and they join us on the shoulder usually while we eat. By early I mean by 4pm.
Millie and Niblet join me while I clean the bottom of the cages, first one and then the other. Sometimes Millie will prefer to stay with Ted while he does the dishes but I don't allow Niblet to do that because we think this is where he might have been injured.
Then with fresh food and water they are closed usually in Niblet's cage. Once or twice a week we take them upstairs for a shower and rub down.
Around 5:30pm they want out again and join us in the family room and run along the back of the couch. Recently Millie has been teaching Niblet how to get to my shoulder. Other times they just preen each other.
By 6pm they're ready for sleep. Millie insists that they sleep in her cage so once they're settled I put the blanket on and that's it until the next morning.
Obviously there are times when appointments change or eliminate something in the routine.. usually the music but otherwise as we have the time for them and love doing it, it remains the same.

My budgies and I have a routine when I get home from work. They start calling me when they hear me come in from the garage. I open the big door on their cage. Then, they kind of line up and wait for their turn to come out. Pippa is usually first. He steps up, and I talk to him for a minute and tell him how pretty and good he is. Then he flies off and lands on the play top.

Luigi usually comes out next. He will stay on my finger longer, but usually Pippa flies back and chases him off out of jealousy. Then, of course, Pippa flies off again immediately.

Marusha is usually the third one to come out. She will stay on my finger for a quite a while. I usually have to put her on the play stand to take out the next one.

Eli is the tricky one. When she was molting, I didn't even try to get her out every day. I could tell she was miserable and wanted to be left alone. Now, she usually wants to come out. I offer her my finger, and she'll usually lift one foot onto it....then she waits and decides whether or not she really wants to come out. When she does, she will step up, and I transport her to the play top.

Fernando is always very shy, but he will step up and comes out when I ask him to. I think his main motivation is the hope that his best friend, Prometheus, will join them.

Once the five are out, I go to the other room where Prometheus and Persephone share a cage. They are already communicating with the other birds and letting me know they want to join the fun. They wait for me to invite them out of the cage, but then they fly straight to the play top on the big cage.

This is our daily routine every afternoon when I get home from work. I read somewhere that the budgies shouldn't just be allowed to fly out on their own (not sure why), so we follow this ritual every day and they wait their turn to come out. I leave the cage door open so they can return when they are ready. Often Prometheus and Persephone go into the big cage too. It's a treat for them to spend time in there. Persephone makes herself at home on the highest swing and no one challenges her right to be there. She and Prometheus are usually moved back to their own cage at night. Sometimes they get to spend the night in the big cage, but then they go back to theirs for the day until our afternoon ritual begins again.

Our birds don't have a fixed routine, really.

They get uncovered around 7.40 so I can say hello before I leave for work. Then my bf takes away their food dishes and gives them their veg - we're still trying to persuade the 'tiels and boy budgies to eat it, but Misfit and Gizmo love their veg. My bf's a student so his timetable varies. They get their pellets back after a couple of hours, or when Tom has to leave for uni. Normally they'll always have at least a couple of foraging toys to play with, and Tom will fill up the 'tiels foraging cups/bucket just as he leaves. If he's around at lunchtime, then the 'tiels will get an hour or so out with him then.

I get back from work around 5.00, and all the birds come out. The 'tiels will hang on the sofa with me and "help" make toys, or go floor foraging. In summer, they liked to sit on their gym and look out the window, but it's too dark for that now. And we get cuddles and scritches. The budgies are semi-tame - we can handle them, and they'll step up to go in and out the cage, but that's about it. Mostly they'll sit on the boing, or on top of the cages. Sometimes they'll forage on the floor, and Misfit sometimes comes to see what I'm doing. Akio needs rescued a few times - he can't fly, so when he jumps/falls off the boing we sometimes have to put him back on. He has a ladder to climb up the cage though. Birds go back in around 8.00 - 9.00 when we eat and get their couscous and veg, and lights out is 10.00 - 10.30.

On Fridays the birds all come upstairs to the "study". The budgies occupy the parrot tower, and the 'tiels sit on us or play on the desk until teatime.

On Saturdays and Sundays, we sleep in as long as the birds will let us. They're silent until they hear us moving upstairs, so usually about 10.00 the 'tiels'll hear us and start calling. The 'tiels will come upstairs for a few hours by themselves until we go out or decide to have lunch, then later on in the afternoon/evening, we'll have all the birds upstairs again.

Okay, so everyday I uncover their cages, and let them chirp for a while when I get dressed. I then wash out their water dishes and give them more water, and then refill their seed dishes. I let them eat for a while, then I open their cage doors so they can come out and stretch for a little bit. I finish getting ready for school, put them back away, turn off the lights and leave.
When I get home, the first thing I do is greet all my birdies. I wash out and refill their water dishes, and then feed them their fruits and veggies. For most of the rest of the day, I let them out and usually spend a lot of time hangin' with my Minnie.


I have a very detailed schedule for my birds that I stick to. Here it is:

On Mondays I replace the spray millet as well as taking the birds outside for some sun. Tuesdays and Thursdays I replace the liner at the bottom of the cages. On Wednesdays every other week, I do a quick wipe down of perches and some toys, wiping off poop and dirt with a wet paper towel. I also rearrange toys on all Wednesdays. Every Sunday I sweep seed and feathers from the floor around the cages as well as giving all the birds baths. On the 20th (or sometime in the middle of the month) of every month I take the birds out of the cages, take the cages outside (unless it is winter) and I completely spray down and scrub all the cages, toys, perches and everything else. On the 27th of every month, I take a trip to the store and purchase a new toy (whether I went other times that month or not; this is just to add more of a variety of toys when I rearrange and rotate toys, as well as to replace old ones).
I might have forgotten a few things, but this just gives you an idea of my schedule.