Weather extremes, what do you do to help the birds

[mickp]

while europe is frozen, australia is cooking.
so I figured it was a good time to ask, what do you do to help the birds during extremely hot or cold weather. water sprays or misters during summer, ice in water dishes. during winter do you enclose outdoor aviaries. could go on with examples but lets see what people have to say

[monotwine]

Thankfully I have only had two days of extreme heat and was home on leave, so other than topping up water/bathing bowls with fresh cool water. I also hosed off the roof of my shed to keep it cool and left on a water sprinkler for the birds to bath under at will. It also helped cool off the air temp somewhat.
Other than that I have trees / shrubbery in my aviary which help cool by providing shade.

In winter I have a combination of rain/damp and a chill wind. My hubby thinks I am crazy but I collect all the finches in the outdoor flight and perch them in an indoor cage out of the draft. Finches are rather silly in the dark, I just pick them off branches. Every morning I let them out and the cycle continues. They just never want to roost inside out of the weather and on very cold nights I would loose some if I left them out.

On a whole though my tempratures are pretty moderate so I count myself lucky.

[Ian]

Good question Mick,

I have noticed in the classifieds that there are a lot of people advertising for a new hen or cock because the cold has done away with one of the pair. I think some of the tropical species can withstand it for a few days or so but this prolonged drop has caught a lot of people out and the birds just give up after a few weeks or a month and cannot recover. I dont think any tropical bird will come out of this prolonged spell ok without help, shelter and heat.

No creative ideas here just shelter and some artificial heat in the cold as well as additional calories and thats it I think. Extreme heat is easier than extreme cold but I agree perhaps there are some tips that that people have dreamed up that work well?

[B CAMP]

In the summer I have a easier time I have two small avairys out side with a mister set up so they can take baths more and they are in shaded areas so far has worked for me.
In the cold I have plastic covering all sides to stop the wind and draft and have the reptile heat bulbs on both.
I also have cages on the porch I do about the same there not plastic but I use some old flanel sheets and etc. and put heat bulbs on each cage they seem to all perch in the heat area and I have left the cages covered in the day, this cold spell has been the worst since I have been keeping birds
I found that the mealworm consumption has really increased even ones that don't normaly eat them are know .
I have gouldian chicks in nest and I think goldbreast on eggs but I don't do nest checks at all just wait and see what comes out or not

[CandoAviary]

Heat hasn't been a problem for me...except to make me sweat while cleaning the aviaries
The humidity has been a problem though
In winter it usually gets down to the 40's and maybe 30's....... but this year it was teens The salt water lagoon even got thin ice over it
I cover in plastic and then put wood strips to keep plastic taught and keep it from flapping in the wind. I have the wood strips coded and marked to make each years installation quick. In the summer I pop off the wood and store and throw the plastic sheeting away.
I also run an electric oil filler radiator. In the daytime with no keat on it gets up to 80 or 90...I open the door and let the heat go into the crazy bird house.( it has central heat for really cold times)
Even with the cold snap it did not fall below 55% F. The zebras and goldbreast did fine...and are raising chicks.
he balcony aviary was also plastic but I have no birds out there at this time. It is just a wind buffer,solar heat collector in the day.
I have 2 large sliding glass doors going off this balcony so this rids any drafts around the glass doors. Also this is the North side and usually the direction of the cold winds.
The thick plastic does cut down on the light but thankfully it will be spring soon


Labled wood strips


Insulated water pipe


Inside sink area


Inside goldbreast side


Inside zebra side




Electric radiator


It's warm today


Balcony Aviary