Anybody use them? What are the benefits? What should it be like-small? Lots of cuddlies? Thanks in advance!
Doreen

I dont use them but bumping this up so someone that does use them sees this post

Hmmm, I don't recommend them, but many people use them here and have lots of good things to say about them.

I personally don't like them because of the aggression that can come from some birds who use them. Not all birds act this way, they work for some but not all. For some birds, they see it as nesting and will become aggressive when you want to take them out in the morning. I know someone who used one for their Grey; put it in a dark place where they could get their uninterrupted sleep, but became crazy possessive of it and wouldn't even let her owner touch her, it turned out she thought it was her nest.

We don't use them and Casey does just fine using her cage. They aren't a necessity, if you really want to use one you could try it out and see if it works for your bird, if aggression comes from it, go back to using the cage.

Bumping it up for other personal experiences.

this is the first time that I have used a separate room and cages for my birds to sleep in. So far, so good. When it is bed time I just take them in there and tell them it is time to go night night. I have been doing this since I picked them up from Betty's. The reason I am doing it is because their big cages are in our living room and Hubby likes the TV a little loud and I know that the birds won't get their rest. Hubby also wakes up sometimes during the night as well as he is an early riser. It is too soon for me to see if this will cause some kind of problem.

I'm going to try it when I move. I want to have the big cage out more where all the action is, but then I really like having Sylvia in the room with me when I'm/ we're sleeping. So... I'll see how it goes.

Thats kind of what I was thinking, maybe Punky would like to be in the same room as I am to sleep?
Plus the plucking tends to happen at night when I am asleep and she is covered in the other room. Maybe she is lonely?
Doreen

Why would someone bye a ne cage just to sleep. I see moving them into a quiet room but that is kind of expensive to buy separate cage to sleep. Try a happy hut.

I think for some people its difficult to move huge cages into another room so it becomes convenient to have separate cages for sleeping. I personally have a special room for my fids to sleep in with cages in there but not sleep cages per se and I also have cages and perches thruout the house as well as in the basement in case of bad weather. I am starting to think whats wrong with this picture as the fids have taken over perhaps they should be on the deed to my house.

I used to use their travel cages as sleep cages. We had them set up in our bedroom, until our Amazon begin immitating noises like my hubby's snoring. That bird also talks in his sleep. It can be quite annoying...LOL. Jojo, the too, did develop issues with his sleep cage. He began viewing it as a nest and refused to come out in the mornings, so we no longer use the sleep cages. When I had my qp, I used the sleep cage and it really seemed to help. He was a demanding lil guy, and if you so much as talked in the same room he was sleeping in he'd yell at you to "Go to BED!" and "Shut up!!!".

Sleep cages don't have to be very big at all, as all they should be doing is sleeping in it. I bought fold up travel cages and had them double as sleep cages for them.

My cage is rolly i could take him out and roll it by leave him to sleep. There is not mucj noise and he sleeps fine through noise. cockatoos thats another story.

I a new owner but this is my experience- I knew I wanted coci to be out of the cage and around us all the time- so I set aside a medium sized cage for him to sleep in or be in when I am not around- the first night he did fine but in the morning he was really aggressive which is not like him- he actually nipped me hard. By the afternoon the nipping wore off- the next day the same thing so we tried moving his cage with the other birds- which are all in one room.I close the door- remove anything that could get him in trouble and he sleeps on a cage or on his perch- wherever he chooses and he is doing great.
During the day I take him along into which ever room I am in and when I am away I put him in the bird room which he is free to roam.

I know -I go on forever If you have the extra cage that would be a good use but not if you need to go out and purchase one. Hope I helped some.

Rusty (CAG) and Taboo (U2) both have separate sleeper cages in a spare room that they go to every night. I got Rusty as a baby almost two years ago and I've always had one for him. Boo is about 12 or 13 years old and I got her almost two years ago. Since Rusty had a sleeper cage, I got one for her too. It took her a few nights to get used to it (I'm not sure if she'd even used on before), but now she loves it and both know that its definitely bed time and are pretty quiet when in there. I say "pretty quiet" because every once in a while, Boo isn't ready for bedtime when we put in it and she'll scream for a few minutes. But it's our routine and I think they appreciate being away from the noise of the living room and into the safety of their own little space.

Each cage is a medium sized wire travel cage, just big enough to flap their wings in (Pic of Taboo and her cage below). They each have a dish of food and water, but no toys. They are placed side by side, or sometimes across from each other if we have to move them, and are covered of course. They go to bed around 9pm and are woken up whenever my husband and I get up for work (between 6 and 9am). The room is kept dark and they are happy with the routine and arrangement.

I started using sleeper cages because their larger daytime cages are in the living room and my hubby and I definitely don't go to bed at 9pm. So the birds go into another quiet room and we can still have the TV on in the living room. Then I came across an article that said separate sleeping cages make the birds less territorial of their own day cages. I don't know about that, but I know they just like the peace of another room to sleep in.

A new African grey came to me 3 months ago from a person who loved her dearly but is very sick She's 3 years old and used to going to bed several hours before the 6 others in my sunroom, so I take her to a sleep cage in my bedroom upstairs at her bedtime. She's never shown any aggression in the least. Her sleep cage works beautifully for our purposes.

Many captive birds, and especially quakers, need to be in the center of activity all day, where their humans can give them plenty of attention. But they need more sleep than we do, so a sleep cage in a quiet place makes perfectly good sense to me. It doesn't need to be large at all. My grey girl's has a water bowl, a single wooden perch, 2 small toys, and a cover that's just over the back and top. Easy! If it weren't for the blasted fireworks scaring the poop outta her, I'd be smiling.

gail