Heat lamps for Gouldians in Southern California

[mlaptin]

Hi,

I am brand new to finches. Two months ago I completed an outdoor walk in avairy approx 16 feet long, 6 foot tall and 3 foot wide. The whole avairy is 1/4 mesh with the exception of a breeding room (4 foot long) which made from thick plywood, no drafts, has a flight hatch/door, nesting boxes and heat light that comes on at night.

I have 10 Gouldians and 4 Society finches. The intent was that they roost inside in the warm breeding room however they all roost outside. I am fine with that but occasionally we get temps down into the 30s and I am concerned for the birds if they stay outside.

My questions are: Will they go inside if its cold or do I need to train them to do so? My heat lamp is red, do they prefer different colors? Should I turn the lamp off and not worry? Any suggestions?

For what its worth I have nearly finsihed an extrension adding another area of 10 feet by 6 feet, again 6 feet tall. I love watching the finches, this gives them more room and makes them easier to see from the house.

Thanks in advance.

Mark

[debbie276]

I have close to the same set up, a large wire area and a coop for them to go into. In the winter I move the food and water inside and use a source of heat to keep the coop around 55-60F. There is a little door for them to go in and out when they want. It is around 25F each night now and they still go in and out during the day but are all in the coop at night. I have owls, gouldians, forbes and a diamond dove in this aviary.

[paul-inAZ]

This raises the broader question of temperature tolerance of Gouldians.

Mine were raised by a breeder whose birds live outdoors all year. The Phoenx area is not as mild as out on the coast but we get a half dozen nights a year where it touches freezing, usually warming up 30 or so degrees quickly at daybreak. Of course our summers are notorious. Also bone dry pretty much all year.

My Goulds are on my patio well back from an overhanging roof edge in a place that gets cold but doesn't freeze. No plans at the moment to add heat but I suppose I could. I also have a separate flight with zebras that I'd love to replace with something else and have been wondering what species would work outdoors in those temps.

Maybe someone from Calif. or across the sunbelt has answers.

[gsjohnson]

Welcome...Sounds like a nice setup. Are your heat lamps emitting too much light keeping them from actually roosting? I use to have my aviary outdoors. I only had a covered area where they could get out of the inclimate weather of rain and wind. Rarely did it get into the 30s. I didn't use any heat sources for them and I didn't have problems. My Mother lives in Laguna Beach on PCH and it rarely dips into the 30s there. Do you have any pics of your setup you can share with us?
The link below are breeders of Gouldians near Castaic Lake and their temperatures will dip into 30s more often due to their mountain location. They advertise that they don't have any issues with their Gouldians in low temperatures. Hope this helps.
http://friskyfinches.com/

[mlaptin]

Team,

Thank you for all your input. I have decided on a Indus-Tool CL Cozy Legs Flat-Panel 150-Watt Radiant Heater from Anmazon
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009H ... 00_s00_i00.

I will post some pictures of the avairy pre extension

[D-Man]

Wow...everyone's Gouldians seem to be much more resilient than what I have experienced here in Korea so far. Although I do not keep an outdoor aviary, my two birds are kept indoors, in a room kept at 23.5 Celsuis (74 F). When the temperature has dipped significantly below 70F, their behavior changes markedly, becoming very sluggish. Perhaps my birds don't come from a strong genetic stock; I wonder if the genetic line here in Korea is somehow weaker than that in North America? I spoke to a local bird merchant today who said he avoids Gouldians in the winter due to problems with their reaction to the cold weather.

[debbie276]

Team,

Thank you for all your input. I have decided on a Indus-Tool CL Cozy Legs Flat-Panel 150-Watt Radiant Heater from Anmazon
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009H ... 00_s00_i00.

I will post some pictures of the avairy pre extension

That's an interesting heater. How are you going to set that up? Seeing how only the bird will be heated if directly in front of the heater will you face it at perches and/or nest boxes? (Radiant heaters emit infrared radiation that directly warms the objects in front of the heaters (rather than the surrounding air).) Can't wait to hear how well it works and how you set it up, please keep us updated.

Another thought, how do you regulate the temperature?

[mlaptin]

Hi Debbie,
With regards to setting up the Indus-Tool CL Cozy Legs Flat-Panel 150-Watt Radiant Heater it will be trail and error.
My intent is to mount it from a central spot in the ceiling, and put it on a timer. I will initially place multiple perches and boxes at various heights and distances from the heater. The birds don’t currently roost there they can choose a location that suits them. I will then adjust the perches and boxes accordingly. I will probably also experiment using a thermometer in various locations.
Mark

[mlaptin]

Here are some images of my aviary pre extension

[william]

NICE!!!

[juliocmartinez2001]

Hello to everyone.
'Im a new member here and i was reading all the comments regarding the tolerance of cold in winter times.
I have the same problem that "mlaptin" has, i don't know if is already solved.
I just finished my aviary outdoors with an entrance to an indoors enclosure. I have a variety of finches, 2, Gouldians, 6-8 Society, and 6 Shaftails, all of them spend the night indoors every night, the temperature is set to 40-50 degrees now. During the day they feed outside, play, take a bath, and fly in and out. no problem.
But I also have Zebras, white, and pied, around 8 of them which spend the night outdoors. Temps now are in a lows 30's and i'm afraid they can die if it get colder or wind start to hit in Southern California.
I can't cover the aviary with a tarp every night, that would be a hard thing to do every day. I can't make them go inside the coop. Does really Zebras, whites and Pieds are so resilient to cold weather? How can I be sure that as soon a strong winds come Zebras come inside?

Thanks in advance

[flyinverted]

I have 2 heat lamps in my aviary in So Cal. One is a red lamp that allows enough light for them to see at night. The other 100 watt unit is a ceramic bulb heater. Both are in the clamp-lamp Home-Depot style housings on top of the aviary pointing down. The aviary top has a think sheet of packaging foam with a packing blanket on top of that. I have a protective barrier above the heat lamps to prevent them from melting the foam. One lamp is directly above an angled 24 inch wide ladder perch. The other lamp is near another perch that the birds only use for sleeping. The heat lamps are on 24x7, and the flourescent lights are on from 6am to 5pm. (My patio gets 1-2 hours of sunlight this time of year) The rest of the aviary is wrapped in the 3mm thick foam. This keeps the drafts off the birds and does retain a slight amount of heat.

As luck would have it, I've had about 14 fledglings this past 30 days. They are all doing good. I have brought 6 adults in the house though that I observed sleeping during the day and they are doing well. Temps dipped to 39F last night and everybody is well, even the newly fledged. I've got owls, stars, cordon blues in the aviary and they don't sleep anywhere near the heat sources.

[juliocmartinez2001]

Wow!! that is very nice. I just bought an insulated plastic (kind a tarp) to cover the aviary
So far i have not had any casualties, when temperatures get to mid 30's. Zebras, white, pied, florida, are ok outdoors all the time. Owl, Gouldian, Shaftails and Society likes to be indoors at night only.
Too much to learn with this cuties!

The base of my aviary is made of concrete, it gets really messy with droppings, any suggestions what i should put in the ground? sand, white small pebbles?

[flyinverted]

My aviary is on concrete as well. About once a week I go in and sweep up the mess. Every other week, I hose out the floor by spraying right through the mesh. Luckily I have just enough slope that provides water drainage.

I just discovered 2 good looking clutches of 4 Goulidans that are about 3-5 days old. It's been in the low to mid 30's here at night for the past several weeks.

[finchlyn]

Very nice aviary !