Temperature changes & drafts

[BaxtersMom]

I had a question about temp changes since it's going to be getting colder soon. I have my birds in a long front room kind of like an entry. It used to be a big long porch but it's been enclosed and it is a room now. It is connected directly to my living room and almost totally open to it with small divider for separation. It's not a closed off room with doors or anything. There are no heat ducts in this room though and in the winter time is a few degrees cooler in there, not much but enough to notice, maybe 5 to 7 farenheit degrees cooler. I was wondering if this is okay. I don't want the birds cold and then I thought they might adapt to it being a few degrees cooler in the room.

 

My other question was drafts. I know they shouldn't be placed where there are drafts but what about the front door opening and closing and letting cold air in that way? Will that harm them or give them a cold? My windows are new and there are no drafts in this room, only when the front door would be opened going in and out. I want to be prepared before it gets cold.

[lovemyGreys]

My greys are in their own bird room which has no heating.The room is connected to my living room via an aviary style door.The temperature does drop in their room slightly but i have never had a problem.They are fairly adaptable .As for the front door i imagine its not going to be in constant use, i dont think really your have any problems.

[BaxtersMom]

Oh Good, that is the answer I was hoping for. We do go in and out the front door sometimes but in the icky cold months we use the back door more anyway to keep the snow and mud off the carpet too. My poor husband is going through so many changes to accomodate our newly acquired flock and I'd hate to have to tell him they have be moved for the winter. Don't know how much more he can take. :laugh:

[lovemyGreys]

:laugh: Sounds very familiar,tell him he is not the only one As i said there be fine But a good question in the first place.

[danmcq]

As LMG has said, the temperature variation is fine and so are temporary drafts. Just think of the variation in temperature and drafts birds experience in the wild. They are not as sensitive as old wives tales have prevalently advocated.

 

If they were, we would see 1000's of dead birds everytime a season changed or the wind blew.

[judygram]

BaxtersMom wrote:

Don't know how much more he can take. :laugh:

 

Erika, tell him he has to take a lot more:laugh:

[BaxtersMom]

Judy, I don't think I need to tell him theres more in store. I think he knows without a word being said:P For example: he went to work one day and knew he had 2 birds when he left-when he came home there were 3:laugh: I talked about the the Eclectus but he really didn't think I was going to act on it. He was very surprised. Then he heard Tigger talk and it sounds like a girl:woohoo: . I was even surprised about that.

 

I'm am so relieved that the temp change isn't anything to worry about. I didn't know what I was going to do. Whew! :silly:

[Acappella]

Dorian's down in the basement with me where it can be a few degrees colder than the rest of the house. In the summer I block all the air conditioning ducts and open them all wide in the winter. Our last winter was truly awful. I figured if I was gettting uncomfortable (cold hands . . .) he might be as well, so I got a small space heater and put it between Dorian's cage and my office. I turned it on for short periods while he was inside his cage, just to increase the ambient temp again. You just have to remember to move it out of harms way before you let the birds out.

[Broomer]

I've been wondering about this one as well. In the summer time, in our condo, it can get really stuffy in here unless I crank up the A/C. I tend to keep it around 20 degrees in here (70f for you strange non-celsius people ). In the winter time though, the same can happen with it being stuffy in here at night (We rarely have to turn on the heat). So I have to open up the windows and make a sort of wind tunnel in here.

 

I normally have a fan in the living room window, pointing out, and on the other window in the computer room (which is on the other side of a sliding glass door) I have the window open. So cool/cold air comes in the computer room, goes through our bedroom, then out into the living room and out the living room window. Loki's cage is in the living room 15 feet from the window. The only thing I can think of is I'll have to keep the living room window closed, move our new fan into the computer room and try to suck some cold air in, while keeping the sliding glass door closed.

 

Now Loki is out of the draft zone where he is for the windows and the A/C, but I'm just afraid to let cold air into the living room at all :unsure:. And the only time I would do this is when his cage would be covered.

 

Man is this bird making me paranoid .. and he's not even home yet!! :silly: :laugh:.

 

(38'ish hours to go!)

[Tycos_mom]

My birds are right beside the front door and and The birds went through last winter without a problem. I do have a mud room which helps a bit I guess so basicly there are two doors before you get to outside. I love it because I can keep my birds flighted if they get through 1 door all thats going to happen is thatt they will find themselves in another room. The mud room is quite drafty and cold so when the inside door is opened the birds do get a slight draft for a second It doesn't bother them so I'm not going to let it bother me.

[BaxtersMom]

Thanks everyone. I think my birds will be okay then and I don't have to worry.

 

Acappella said she uses a space heater, too but I read that space heaters are not safe because they have teflon in them too. Then I read that certain heating things have a chemical on them but burn off after using a time or two. I have a space heater than I use in my back room and was also wondering if this was safe. I wasn't sure I would be able to use it this year or not but if Acappella uses one with no problems then maybe they are ok. Does anyone know?

[Acappella]

I made sure to check with the manufacturer before I picked one. Find the model # on the heater you have and look it up on the internet. I would see if there is a 1-800 # where you can talk to a real person instead of relying on the product info listed. Sometimes items have small amounts of things that labelling laws don't require them to list, but that might still be harmful. If you tell them why you're concerned (it may mean the life of your bird) most customer service depts are very good about checking these things. Happy research!