keeping budgie warm

[lynseylu]

Ok so looking for a bit of advice on this! Charlie is sent to spend his first winter with us and living in Scotland its already very cold. He was used to a warm house as my grandmother had her central heating and electric fire on constantly. At the moment ive got the heating on quite a lot but the place can still be cold. hes been a bit unwell and dont want the cold to get to him. Usually i would put on our fire however it is gas and looking online whilst its a new fireplace and was checked recently (as well as we have carbon monoxide monitors) ive read online it can still be dangerous.

could i use it and put him in another room whilst its on in the living room to heat it for him?

secondly i read online about making a wee heat pad using a sock filled with rice putting it in the microwave and then placing it under the liner of the cage. anyone tried this?

[starlingqueen]

You can cover 3 sides of the cage to make it less open and use a table lamp, one of the angle ones is good, and an ordinary light bulb above the cage, This will create a warm area he can go to if he needs it. Don't have it too close that it makes the bars hot though.

[Hezz]

I can't help you with the central heating and fires, as they are a foreign concept to me, but the heat pad using rice is good, just put a sheet or something over it so he doesn't burn his feet, also a hot water bottle works the same way. If you use a lamp, it of course needs to be a bulb that gives off heat, so not LED or Fluoro, and put it at one end of the cage so he can move himself in and out of the heat as required.

[lemonade]

The lamp idea is good. Also don't keep his cage next to a window as the glass will just give off cold.
There's a snow forecast in the west of Scotland and high ground this Sunday. It really is freezing. I have my birds in the middle room of the house, sandwiched between the other rooms, and it has the smallest window, and I think, the most insulated room. They also have a lamp.
What about one of those oil filled electric radiators near the cage? I've never used one, maybe someone on here can advise if they are safe. My dad uses one and has it on low in his living room and the heat it gives off is great.

[OP]

The oil filled radiators are perfectly safe. They tend to be harmful to the pocket though. As long as your buds are not in a draught they will cope very well with lowish temperatures around 13 to 15^oC seems to be OK.

[Hezz]

He is a sick birdie, though, OP. We need to find ways to keep him warm.

[OP]

Yes of course Hezz. That had slipped my mind. I have a tube like potting shed heater that takes no more power than a 60 watt light bulb and has a thermostat built in. Maybe something like that underneath the cage, near the room floor. That would allow a warm current of air to circulate up and around the cage.

[OP]

Something like this.

[Hezz]

That would be perfect! Poor little mite.

[Shirls]

I have an electric convector heater which I used to use (for my poorly cat actually) on cold nights and used to put it on a timer so it came on intermittently during the night, basically to keep the electricity bill down as well as keep a reasonable temperature throughout the night. So a timer may be one solution for a heater of some sort?

[lynseylu]

hi guys sorry for the late reply, thanks for all the help im going to try a lamp above the cage and intermit it with using a wee hot water bottle. Ive been putting the cage in the bathroom with the shower on and closing the door over for a few min to  let him get the humid heat. we have put the timer on the radiators intermitently throughout the day and night and he was moved a few weeks ago away from the window. he seems ok actually with the temperature and its been pretty bad the last few days. Thanks for the advice!

[milliej]

Interesting this, I've never covered my Sid and Mischief (I wonder if they feel the cold more as they get older as we are said to?) anyway....I decided to use a light fleece to cover the side and back of the cage nearest the sitting room door and they both looked at it very suspiciously and went straight into the 'next door' cage where they've stayed ever since!

[starlingqueen]

Dec 11, 2014 17:52:36 GMT milliej said:

Interesting this, I've never covered my Sid and Mischief (I wonder if they feel the cold more as they get older as we are said to?) anyway....I decided to use a light fleece to cover the side and back of the cage nearest the sitting room door and they both looked at it very suspiciously and went straight into the 'next door' cage where they've stayed ever since!

I have 4 birds in my lounge. 2 I cover 2 I don't. I cover the African grey and the Hahns macaw. The reason is because they start asking me to at different times in the evening. Max, the macaw, starts screaming at 7.30 until he is covered and Toby starts saying goodnight over and over until covered. The other 2 I don't cover, the budgie and the conure because they freaked out when I did it and the conure likes to be able to see me, if he can't he screeches. Lights in the lounge go off at 10 in the summer and 9 this time of year, depends on the clocks.

[OP]

I've always covered Joey up since bringing him home. When I first put a cover on he flapped a little but soon settled into the routine. Now I cover them both up. When the cover goes on they settle and roost next to each other. No particular time, but usually about 15 minutes before I go to bed.

[milliej]

I thought Marianne must have trouble with hearing the tele with her flock and she did say she uses headphones but.....starlingqueen......it begs the question.....do you have a tele in the same room as your African grey and the macaw because they are very big noisy birds

I've taken the cover off my two as they haven't been back in that cage since I covered it.....and now Sid is starting a moult (again!) so I best leave them with what they're used to I suppose.