Hi , I'm new to this Forum and after some advice , I'm trying to keep my Bird warm of a night inside as she's been unwell , I have a proper heated lamp I bought from the avian vet and her cage covered at night , Is one lamp enough as my house get's quite cool in winter ( lot's of glass window's ) and I'm trying to cut back on having my central heating on as I don't like it for myself ? Thanks .

What I do is I keep Merlin in my computer room with a small heater and I keep it around 75F because last year my house was too cool and I believe that is how Pretty got sick and sadly went over Rainbow Bridge. You don't need a heat lamp on them all the time only if they are in a hospital cage because they are unwell. Here is information about tempature in a hospital cage plus more http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/faqs/i...hlight=hospital

Budgerigars need not be kept "Warm" so long as the temperature doesn't fluctuate greatly of get extreamly high or low, they will do fine.

 

One thing we do do wrong is to take the birds in to air conditioning when it's hot out side or to take them into a heated room when it's cold. The sudden change is what causes them grief

 

In england the saying goes that if the drinkers don't freeze they will do fine.

 

Now saying that, it is better for the keeper to be kept "Warm" when attending to the birds.

excellent point Daz the drafts are what really makes the difference too.

Hi , I'm new to this Forum and after some advice , I'm trying to keep my Bird warm of a night inside as she's been unwell , I have a proper heated lamp I bought from the avian vet and her cage covered at night , Is one lamp enough as my house get's quite cool in winter ( lot's of glass window's ) and I'm trying to cut back on having my central heating on as I don't like it for myself ? Thanks .

 

Hi TOOHP and Welocme ........ You will ge a great range of advice here. I hope your little one isn't too sick .....What did the Vet say?????

Because my elderly mother, hedgehog and birds need warmth, I keep the temperature constant and don't adjust, not really hot (but too hot for me) and turn off the heat in my bedroom so I can sleep comfortably. When I am in the kitchen I just open the window a bit. Personally I think to keep the heat at a medium constant is cheaper than turning it off at night and blasting it in the morning. But then you folks in Australia don't usually have that problem......

excellent point Daz the drafts are what really makes the difference too.

 

Exactly right Elly. Birds don't like Drafts, Wet, quick changes in temperature. I have seen aviaries with snow around them.. But remember birds have been brought up in these conditions. A bird going from Hobart to Cairns in Australia would not do well. and Visa Versa.

that is what happened when Pretty died we had really cold weather, then it got very warm humid and damp and then cold so that all happened within a week, that is why I keep my room at a constant temp now with my heater something I couldn't do before.

Thanks for your reply's , good info . I have my bird ( fluff ) in the computer room too but she's close to a central heating duct and that concerns me , am I right this wouldn't be good ? I detected a slight draft coming in the window and have plugged it for now but also the central heathing unit outside is not far away from this window and Ive read this could be a problem too with the fumes but cannot detect any ( but that's me ) . Sounds like I could have made some mistakes recently as she's been going from outside on a hot day to inside around air cond .

 

Fluff's been real ill in the recent past and had to be hospitalized at the vet's for some time , the only thing they found was a strange bacterier in her system not normally found in Budgies . We managed to get back with a coarse of Anti biotics .

 

Now she appears ill again basicly fluffing up a lot and sleeping with the head under the wing as well as her temprement has changed ( not very friendly was in the past ) and her feathers looked ruffled . She's eating okay and her poop looks okay today but was nearly all black several day's ago ( Ive read this is not good ) . I'll continue to moniter her but will probally have to take her to the vet again .

 

Cheers .

Hi and welcome. Sorry to hear about Fluff. I hope she gets better soon, and if you're concerned about her, I'd take her back to vets. Best of luck and keep us updated.

I think there is more underlying reasons for her illness then an air duct (but you are right they should not be by them). Have they done a gram stain on her poos to determine if she has anything in her intestines that could be causing this frequent occurance? I suggest taking her back to an avian vet (and if you already are doing an avian vet) I would maybe get a second opinion if this test has not yet been done because that is actually a routine test they do for a physical yearly.