Advice for coping with hot weather needed!

Living in South Africa, I am no stranger to hot weather. However, the past few days have been EXTREMELY hot - as in, 40+ degrees celsius (over 100 degrees fahrenheit). This is fairly worrying for me, particularly when I think about my aviary birds. There is shade in the aviary, but it is still quite hot overall. It isn’t easy to closely watch drinking habits with so many birds. They have place to bathe, however I’ve also been spraying them with a mister/spray bottle every few hours, and I’m not sure if there is anything else I can do for them.

My indoor birds are also feeling the heat. We don’t have air conditioning (there usually isn’t really a need for it in my city), and a fan in the room is not an option obviously. I have also been spraying them regularly, have put a bath on their playstand, and have been trying to encourage them to drink from their water dishes. I have one window that I am able to keep open in the room (it has a net barrier to the outside), so that helps a little bit.

Overall, I’m really worried about my birds suffering and overheating. Can anyone offer me any advice?

When it gets hot my birds like to have frozen fruit still frozen added as toys. Other than that it sounds like you are doing a great job!


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Only advice I can give, is send the heat to Denmark. It's below freezing here and I could REALLY use some heat

Sorry, I can't help with your issue, as it is NEVER really hot here

As Silversage said, frozen fruit, even ice cubes in the water dish can be refreshing for a overheated bird. Besides that- spritzing them down, providing water and shade, not much else you can do. Indoors, it is ok to run a fan around your birds given the heat level, as it is highly unlikely it would make a bird catch a chill. Just don't aim it directly at them, instead aim it towards one area they can move in and out of if they wish or put it on oscillate. Putting a box fan outside near the aviary might help too. Remember birds are exposed to wind in nature, the wind is just not constant so they need an area where they can move out of the airflow if they want. Expect your birds to be minimally active in the heat and to have their wings slightly droopy/spread and panting. They can't sweat so that is how the remain cool- minimizing activity and letting the heat dissipate from their mouth and body.

My amazon has been through similar heat waves with us. It's miserable for everyone but he's aways come through ok and appreciates the extra baths he gets.

The big concern for fans is when the Parrot is 'not' in the cage! Simply assure that your Parrots are caged prior to turning the fan-on!

Air movement is very important when temperatures rise to this level. The movement of air, limits /disrupts the development of a natural higher temperature bubble, which can form around Humans, Parrots, etc...

SailBoat said:

The big concern for fans is when the Parrot is 'not' in the cage! Simply assure that your Parrots are caged prior to turning the fan-on!

Air movement is very important when temperatures rise to this level. The movement of air, limits /disrupts the development of a natural higher temperature bubble, which can form around Humans, Parrots, etc...

Click to expand...

I have an air purifier in the room already, as well as the opened window (with a screen), so I am not too worried about a lack of air movement. When they are in their cages, the fan is on. However, they prefer being out of their cages during the day, so I am letting them out as per their usual routine, and I’ve been giving them a mist spray every couple of hours to ensure they can cool down.

reeb said:

SailBoat said:

The big concern for fans is when the Parrot is 'not' in the cage! Simply assure that your Parrots are caged prior to turning the fan-on!

Air movement is very important when temperatures rise to this level. The movement of air, limits /disrupts the development of a natural higher temperature bubble, which can form around Humans, Parrots, etc...

Click to expand...

I have an air purifier in the room already, as well as the opened window (with a screen), so I am not too worried about a lack of air movement. When they are in their cages, the fan is on. However, they prefer being out of their cages during the day, so I am letting them out as per their usual routine, and I’ve been giving them a mist spray every couple of hours to ensure they can cool down.

Click to expand...

Well, short of getting an Air Conditioner, you seem to have things covered.

Kiwibird said:

As Silversage said, frozen fruit, even ice cubes in the water dish can be refreshing for a overheated bird. Besides that- spritzing them down, providing water and shade, not much else you can do. Indoors, it is ok to run a fan around your birds given the heat level, as it is highly unlikely it would make a bird catch a chill. Just don't aim it directly at them, instead aim it towards one area they can move in and out of if they wish or put it on oscillate. Putting a box fan outside near the aviary might help too. Remember birds are exposed to wind in nature, the wind is just not constant so they need an area where they can move out of the airflow if they want. Expect your birds to be minimally active in the heat and to have their wings slightly droopy/spread and panting. They can't sweat so that is how the remain cool- minimizing activity and letting the heat dissipate from their mouth and body.

My amazon has been through similar heat waves with us. It's miserable for everyone but he's aways come through ok and appreciates the extra baths he gets.

Click to expand...

I’m mostly worried about my little birdies getting their feet caught up in the fan, etc! But a box fan is actually a good solution to that too. They are doing okay, still tweeting happily and flying every now and then. Whenever they start to spread their wings open and pant, I give them a little shower, and they definitely seem better. They’ve got some frozen apple now, and I think that will help.


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