"The big chill" - How can I keep my birds warm?

Question

In California, we're experiencing "the big chill" and temperatures are in the 20's. We already cover our birds up with a blanket on their cage, and they seem to do fine but I wanted to know if there i any other way to keep them warmer without buying anything or spending...TY

Of course our birds are indoors! We have several btw

Answer 1

Build a bird nest...Or build a nice warm bird house.

Answer 2

Are your birds kept outside? Can you bring them in where they'll be out of the weather? If you can't and can't buy anything right now, get a cardboard box cut a big enough hole in it for them to go into and put some type of nesting material in it. Also the blankets are great we use them during power outages in the winter to keeep our exotics warm. Use of a heat lamp is good too, but my birds always chewed the wires no matter how well we thought we had them secured away from them. I have 2 cockatiels. We like giving them lighting so we ended up attaching the lights to the ceiling. If the birds are where you can hang a heat lamp over them touching the top of the cage, plus use the blankets around the sides it may work. Be sure that the blankets and lamp never touch and that excess heat can vent. Don't want to "cook" them . Good luck, we're looking at 12 degree with wind chill in southern WV and lower tonight.

Answer 3

Place COVERED hot water bottles around the outside if their cages,drape a cover over the back and sides of the cages to help retain the heat. If temperatures are in the 20's at the moment there is no need to do this now. Provided you keep your birds out of draughts,and have some type of heating in the house, they should be fine.Hot water bottles are the cheapest option. You can of course use a heating lamp, but be careful not to overheat your birds, as this can cause them problems as well.If your birds become sick for any reason,or you suspect illness,then you must increase the heat dramatically.

Answer 4

Without going to the trouble of buying anything... you will have to make do with what is on hand. Birds can regulate their body metabolism and with the cover should be ok indoors but if you want to give them a helping hand think about what is already around. do you have one of those infra red type heater/light/fan in your bathroom? If so and even more so if people are having evening showers (which would have started to warm the room) then perhaps leave the heat lamp on for a bit longer to make the room warm, turn it off then leave the birds in there overnight.
If not then get something like chunks of concrete broken brick whack them in the oven and heat them up (don't do anything silly and try to make them red hot or something) wrap them in a natural fibre that wont melt or burn and put the in the bottom of the cage they will heat air around them-hot air rises so there should be a warm up draft for the birdies to enjoy.

Answer 5

If you can't afford a space heater for them like I do for each one of my parrots (even in the summer because of air conditioning) then leave half of their blankets over their cages in the daytime too. I am assuming you cover them only at night. Space heaters, the kind that turn off if someone tips them over, can be found for 20 bucks though.If that's too much find them some warmer blankets. Bird flu is a b****!! Good Luck!! @8=)

Answer 6

These are pet "indoor" birds right?

Do you keep their cage in a separate room of the home?
If so, try partially closing the furnace vents in the other rooms of the home, that will force more warm furnace air into the room they are kept.

However, if they are in the room where the thermostat for the furnace is mounted to the wall, the rest of the home will become cooler, unless you turn the thermostat up.

We keep our pet sun conure parrot in a cage in our home office room at night, and we struggled with regulating the heat properly in that room since it has a large bay window with a lot of glass. We finally resorted to purchasing a small ceramic heater (available at Walmarts, Lowes Home Improvement, etc.) for twenty bucks or so and everthing is great now.

Good luck to you and go spend the $20.00 if you can't get your room temperature regulated.

Answer 7

The small heater is a great idea but I have also seen heated perches at petco and petsmart..but have not used them... otherwise your doing just fine... I also shred a towel into anout 1 inch wide strips and long enough to cover the bird comfortably and then double it up(so make them twice as long as you need to cover the bird comfortably), put a ring in the middle(or simlpy tie it to the top of the cage) and hang it in the cages(above one of their perches)My 4 birds snuggle right into it at night....be careful of a heat lamp they are dangerous.. but a small heater and make sure if they are by a door/window put a towell around/infront of the seams... good luck smile

Answer 8

Just keep the house at a comfortable 68 degrees. I live in the northeast and temps here are 14 degrees this morning but the heat is on indoors.

Answer 9

A single light bulb in their case will give the cage warmth that they need for the big chill. Cover the cage at night as normal.

Answer 10

as long as your house is warm enough they will be fine. keep them away from windows and windows let a lot of cold in through the glass