My parrots are doing fine :)
- I have a 30 year old yellow-naped Amazon and two 11 year old conures, who have always lived in the warm climates of south Florida and south Texas. This year I moved north to Pittsburgh and am experiencing my first 'real' winter! I was worried about my birdies and how they'd take the cold, but they've done marvelously in adapting. What I've done: -Keep them in a warm, draft-free room with good sunlight. I insulated the windows in that room with a kit that I bought from the hardware store. -The temperature inside is kept at 68. I do have two space heaters in the room that I plug in on particularly cold nights, but during the daylight they seem warm enough without them. -I don't cover their cages because my birds have never liked their cages covered. If your bird does though, it may be a good idea to do so. -However, all my birds were given cloth bird tents (Happy Huts) and/or cardboard boxes to crawl into. The conures LOVE the bird tent especially. -As usual, a good diet of premium pellets and a mix of fresh fruit/veggies, nuts, and other treats like pasta and rice. If they're healthy on the inside, they'll tolerate the chill better! That's about it. I just watch them and if they puff out too much I make adjustments to the heaters or move their cages a bit. :)
- —Guest Kiwi_Mango
Pixie
- I heat up those bags that you can put on sore necks that heat up in the microwave. They have some kind of grain in them, so when they've been heated up, they get put right on top of our love bird's cage. That gets covered with blankets and a jacket, and it keeps the temp nice and cozy.
- —Guest Rita
Power Outage Problems (Solved!)
- I live in an area that has power outages every winter. This year it was scary because I couldn't get out to drive. I looked up some info online and found a couple of good ideas. There is a power inverter which you can get a car batter, a specific type of jumper cable and a small appliance. Read the directions, it's perfect for me to heat the bathroom while I work on the second stage of heat. take a large green garbage bag, put yard waste (leaves twigs etc...) and damp newspaper and close it up. Place the bag in a metal trash can and cover it. In a few hours (that's ok, I have my power inverter which should last up to 12 hours) you should be able to feel the can heating up from the compost action going on inside. One you can feel the heat it should be good for several hours as well. I am thinking to get two so we can stay in a bedroom instead of the bath.
- —Guest J
What I do
- I just put a warm big blanket over her cage and set the temp. to at least 73 75 Degress and it gets hot enough for her
- —Guest Bebelover
long time bird person
- After a brief look-see at the suggestions by bird fanciers on this site, I wanted point out that heat isn't the only factor to consider when attempting to keep your treasured pet warm and comfortable. Parrots have extremely sensitive sinuses and airways. Heat dries the air thus dries the birds resperatory and feathers which can lead to illness. Adding a humidifier can be a risk since they are a breeding ground for bacteria. It certainly is a double edged sword...on one hand, we don't want to freeze our birds...on the other hand, drying them out is extremely unhealthy for the birds. It has been our experience that a well acclimated parrot can withstand temps in the 40's. My advice is to only heat the air if absolutely necessary. I f your bird isn't healthy he/she probably won't be able to tolerate the adjustment. Always seek the advice of a veterinarian before making drastic changes to your birds environment. Good luck.
- —Guest julie
keeping my lovebirds warm enough
- I live in florida. I will probably move to indiana sometime next year. I have 2 lovebirds and I'm very concern if they will be able to handle the change of weather. Here, their cage is in my living room and the temperature with a/c is about 70 -75. If I move, will I be able to keep my birds? I know for sure they cannot be outside in the cold weather, but if I have them in the living room, will they be ok even during winter? Thanks, Lina
- —Guest Lina Rivera
But What if the Power Goes Out?
- I used to live in a house that had a woodstove, so on the occasion the power went out during winter, I could move all my birds into the room with the stove, keep their cages half-covered to prevent drafts and we'd be OK till the power came back on. But now I no longer have my house and live in an apartment that is all electric heat. Being in the Northeast, I am very concerned about an extended power outage during winter. I have tried to think of a contingency plan should this occur, but I can't think of one. We don't have or can afford a generator, we're pretty far from any motels/hotels, and the risks involved in even taking the birds out in cold weather, getting them to the car to take them someplace is also a big factor. Not to mention that may not even be possible in the face of a major ice or snowstorm. Does anyone have any suggestions? Are there any alternative heat devices that don't run off of electricity or fuels that contain harmful vapors? I've tried to find something that might do the trick, but have come up empty.
- —Guest Lenoir
Keeping birdie warm in winter
- I never even thought of keeping my birds warm, but at night my birds stand and play area are in the lounge where we watch tv and where the heater are cloce so he likes sitting with us, but at 22:00 he goto he's cage on he'sown and we throw a blanket the cage, he's not infron of a window, but just next to it. I'll defenately move little bace. shame. I wunder if there isent another way tokeepthem warm in their cages at night?
- —Guest Amy
Mom's got us oh-so-toasty!
- Mom (Patty) has us, now down to 40, in the biggest, sunniest, best room in this big ole 1849 farm house. Around Halloween she puts plastic on the windows, and turns the forced-hot-air up, keeps the mini blinds totally up during the day, at night she brings the mini blinds down completely, turns on the little old fashion looking furnace space heater for added warmth, keeps the door to our room closed at all times, which I think helps keep us even more toasty. It has worked now for 4 years since we moved here to Maine. Gets real cold up this way but we don't know it. She used to cover us but this way, we can arise earlier than she and start our singing and chatting with one another. That always gets her up & coming into get us set for the day. Maybe this will help someone on the comfort and cost of keeping their bird warm thru the coldest of Winters. Our Winters get down to -10 often and stays there for days. But no matter how cold it is outside, we are oh-so-toasty and happy inside!
- —Guest Swanee
keeping your bird warn
- I have my four birds (2 parakeets & 2 lovebirds) in the warmest room in the house, but I still cover them anyway just to be sure thay are warm. ~Nancy Dorman
- —Guest Nancy C. Dorman
Keeping Parrot warm at night
- Before going to bed I warm up my timnehs cage with a small heater, I also put a brick and a rock near the heater to get them hot. Then i put the rock in his cage and the brick underneath the cage on the floor, they stay warm for several hours. I also have baseboard heaters, so I leave our living room set to 72 at night so I'm sure he stays warm.
- —Nona111
how to keep birds warm
- We have an African Grey and a Cockatoo and to keep warm we use the EdenPure heater and a full spectrum light. We always cover them at night as their normal bed time routine.
- —Guest valerie_
Keeping your parrots warm in winter
- I used Avitech heat panels and keep them away from windows I also have lights on them if they want extra warmth when heat panel is off. Mother of one timneh grey, sun conure, three lovebirds, four green cheek conures and two budgies also two human children!
- —Guest Terri
Keeping Birds Warm
- We have two yellow-naped Amazons and a yellow-crested Cockatoo. The family room where their cages are located can be rather drafty in the winter. We converted our wood-burning fireplace in that room to a gas furnace and kept that going for several years. Now we have discovered the Eden Pure electric heaters and am sold by how well they work. We now have two of them. Above their cages is a light bar with three full-spectrum bulbs. In the winter, I put a ceramic heating bulb in the middle socket. I have used different types of "huts" and things to cuddle next to but they don't use them much. When I had conures (sun and blue-fronted) they loved any kind of enclosure and hopped in together. They were continuous snugglers. I've had heated perches and the birds liked keeping their feet warm. Unfortunately, they also liked to get out and chew the wires. Plus three adapters on an outlet is a lot. I cover their cages well at night but drafts can still get in--thus the heaters.
- —Guest Linda_Brown80909@Yahoo.com
I don't do anything special.
- I have a quaker parrot. I keep him in my bedroom. I have baseboard heater which I set to heat enough to take the chill off the room. Since, the heater is located below the window, you can only guess how much good it does. I give my bird extra food and cover his cage at night. He has always passed his well bird exams each year.
- —Guest djnova
