HEAT LAMP QUESTION

[vienneparis]

Hello finch friends,

For those of you with outdoor aviary and use heat lamps to provide heat during the cold months, how many heat lamps to do use and where do you mount the lamps?
Thanks

[Rox]

For mounted heat lamps, I place mine so that they are facing the favourite night time perching spot. I place it that there are perches pretty close and then moving out, so that the birds have a choice of how much heat they want.

I also use an old asbestos pot which I ran a cable through for a globe. It's a normal 60watt globe (go smaller if the pot is smaller) and it's over a paver. The birds sit on top for warmth and go underneath. They all love this

[vienneparis]

Rox
Roxanne, the globe looks like a great idea and not too difficult to put together. I take it you mount the heat lamps inside the aviary. Do the birds know not to get too close to the lamps? I'm just concerned that the birds might be drawn too close to the heat and get burned.

[Rox]

Vienne, yes the heat lamps are mounted inside the aviary. The birds know not to get close, they monitor exactly how much heat they can handle. Mine often stop for a few minutes at a time to warm-up, have a stretch and then move on again. It's very cute to watch

[vienneparis]

Rox
Roxanne, I placed a heat lamp with red bulb on the aviary ceiling so the heat would radiate over the aviary. It raised the temperature and seemed to keep the birds warm. However, the light confused them and they didn't settle down to sleep until a couple of hours after their regular bed time. Hopefully they'll get used to the light soon and settle back into their regular schedule.

[Rox]

vienneparis the red light isn't supposed to affect them at night but I also noticed it took a while for my birds to settle with it. If your birds don't settle, you get the black night lamps for reptiles that also throw off heat.

I just left my birds and they seemed to sort themselves out

[vienneparis]

Rox
Roxanne, most of my birds accepted the red light and settled back into their routine, except the waxbills. They gravitated toward the light and were in hyper drive for hours before settling down to sleep. At least they stay together in one area and didn't bother the other birds. Hopefully they'll get used to it soon