Question for outdoor aviary owners

[vienneparis]

Hello Finch Lovers,

For those of you who have outdoor aviaries, do you put your birds on any special diet to help them thrive through the winter months? I'd like to give my birds all the help they need to keep warm in the winter.

Thanks

[Rox]

You can increase the high fat/oil content seeds, eg canary seed, which will help them have extra energy to fight off the cold.

Otherwise I just feed my lot as normal during winter. I just remove the egg food and live food, as I don't want to encourage breeding during the colder months.

Good luck with your cold weather approaching!

[monotwine]

I do pretty much the same as Rox and offer a warm 40watt long life lamp on the coldest days (which most don't use), but it is a source of warmth if they desperate for touch of heat or feeling a little under the weather.

[vienneparis]

Rox, monotwine
Thanks for the suggestions. I already added heat lamps to the aviary, as well as plastic wrapped three sides. I'll add more canary seeds to their seed mix. I really want my birds to do well through the coming winter

[dutch]

Same diet all year

Finch mix seed
Dark green lettuce
Wild grasses
Boiled eggs
Mineral and charcoal grit
Cuttle fish bone
Finch pellets

Every day...the only thing that changed in winter was they doubled up on boiled eggs

[wessel]

I bring most of them inside in the winter, the few I do leave outside are european birds. I also give them unlimited balls of fat seeds and insects. they look like this:
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vetbolletj ... feeder.jpg

[vienneparis]

dutch, With the doubled eggs, do your finches breed through the winter?

@wessel, the mixed ball looks so appetizing. Do you make them yourself or buy them?

[dutch]

vienneparis....they don't breed in winter

I remove all nests....my birds only breed if they have nests

My birds have been resting for 6 months now...in 1 week all nests are going back in and breeding will commence
In fact when they are breeding they eat less eggs but 10 x more greens

[monotwine]

wessel I'm just thankful our winters are nothing like yours. GOSH I'd never dream of leaving my birds out with snow unless they had their own "house" as such.

Thankfully we have much milder climate. The worst I have is wet days with driving cold winds.
If I can keep my birds out of this weather then nothing else bothers them.

[monotwine]

vienneparis
Sounds like you've done what you can. You don't need to overthink it either. Just keep an eye on the birds and their behaviours. If you notice any major changes e.g. they spend way too long under the lamps etc then take your cues from them. They'll quickly let you know if they are happy with their set up for winter.

[vienneparis]

monotwine
This will be my first winter with the birds so I'm like a nervous first time parent. I'll try to not overthink it

[wessel]

vienneparis
I buy them at the store, but you can also make them yourself. I've found some links in english how to make them yourself, these look not as good as the one on the picture.

http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/pr ... ds/34.html

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to- ... d-feeders/

But if I were you I wouldn't do it, this is for birds that have to deal with temperatures under 0 degrees celcius, and it's mostly used by birds to build up a layer of fat.


According to the places where all of you live, you probably won't need this. For those who live in more northern places, you could use this recipe, but do some further research or ask me.

@monotwine
I know people who even let their gouldians outside, even when it's snowing, they have acces to a night/winter shed, where it's always at least 5 degrees celcius. But they especially try to breed their birds on the cold, so they are accustomed to the cold temperatures.

[vienneparis]

wessel
Thanks for the information. Your fat balls look like the suet cakes I saw in the stores here for wild birds. I'll put one in my aviary and see if my birds will try it. Although it doesn't get below 0 celsius here, it probably doesn't hurt for them to build up some fat for the winter.

[monotwine]

vienneparis
nervous first time parent. LOL. Vienne just watch out for too fat birds. This does cause issues around health and fertility just as it does for humans.

@wessel
Wow those must be some hardcore Gouldians! One has to breed then tough if you want them to survive.