How to make budgies shut up early in the morning??

[livi]

Right. So off I went and purchased myself four cute little budgies. Furthermore built myself a very large, but less handsome, cage. The little critters seem to love their new home and my kids are thrilled.

Unfortunately, the little buggers have swiftly developed a habit of singing out real loud starting early in the morning, waking up everyone.

I think I saw an old pirate movie once, where said pirate simply put a blanket of the cage in the evening, at which point the parrot went silent and fell asleep. Any truth in that ?

As always any input much appreciated.

[Moneyguy1]

My daughter has a large parrot. THe blanket works quite well.

[buttjoint]

Put em on the bar-b in the evening. !!!!

[TerryH]

If budgies are birds, then keeping them covered will convince them it's still night. Birds sing for breakfast at first light.

[buttjoint]

Sorry, I thought they were shrimp.....

[livi]

Thanks for confirming ...and for making me laugh!

[fingpilot]

People here forget that 'the South of Sweeden' may have a day that is 20 hours long this time of year. Convincing the birdies with a blanket might be tough.

Certainly worth a try.

[livi]

Good point. They may not go for a sudden 'black-out' already at eight in the evening and I suppose it needs to be ***** dark in order for them to miss day brake by several hours.

[cstreit]

The tighter the blanket, the more quiet they will be. Repeat untill results are satisfactory.

[dhoward]

I was going to suggest a shotgun, but that would have been in poor taste with the loss of so many pets on OT lately.

I feel shame.

[cashflyer]

Sit in front of them eating fried chicken. They'll get the message.

[livi]

This is starting to drift into John Cleese territory..longing for the fjords and all that.

[scottmandue]

Polly... HELLO POLLY... (BANG BANG BANG) WAKE UP POLLY!

I had a small parrot when I was a kid and the blanket thing worked well.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by cashflyer

Sit in front of them eating fried chicken. They'll get the message.

Which calls to mind a joke...

Lady goes into a pets store to get a parrot, but the only one they have was owned by a sailor who taught it a lot of foul language. Lady had to have a parrot, so she buys it anyway. Gets the bird home, "Polly wants a fuchin' cracker, what are you fuchin' lookin' at" it is loud, foul and endless. Finally, the woman, at her wits end, yells at the bird, we will see how you like it in the freezer, you can't come out until you behave and pops the bird in the freezer. He squawks and curses, then goes quiet. The woman opens up and asks if the bird is going to behave. Shivering, he replies, "Sure, I will be good, just one question.

What did the chicken do?"

[slodave]

The blanket should work at any time of the day. Skyler is on my schedule and sleeps in until noon at times, never chirping until I take the blankets off

Dave

[Danny_Ocean]

[sketchers356]

A black garbage bag or two blocks out the sun better than a blanket.

[livi]

Tobra

Dave if it works with your hours, it must be fool proof!

Garbage bags yes, but I built the cage so big I would need to tape together at least half a dozen.

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[sammyg2]

An old man with a patch over one eye was lonely so he went to the pet store. the pet store owner sold him a talking parrot to keep him company.
When he got home he took the cover off the cage and the bird said, "F you one eye".
The old man called the pet store to complain. the owner said the bird doesn't know what he's saying, he's just repeating what he heard somewhere and that the man needs to train the bird what to say and what not to say.
he said to put the bird in the refrigerator for a few seconds every time he said somethnig bad. The cold air will act as a mild deterant and train the bird.

The old man lifted up the cover and the bird said "F you one eye".
the man put the bird in the refrigerator and closed the door and counted to three.
When he opened the door the bird said it again so he closed the door and counted to 6.
When he opened the door, the same thing except the bird had a slight shiver to his voice.

He closed the door and started counting to 12 when the doorbell rang. He answered the door and told the persistant salesman that he didn't want any. Eventually he got the salesman to leave and then he remembered the bird.
He ran to the refrigerator and opened the door.
There stood the bird, stiff as a board holding a wing over one eye and flipping him the finger.

I'm not sure why I posted this, it just seemed like the thing to do at the time.