warm weather worries!

so we had our first warm night last night which was amazing! however, it reminded me summer is coming :/

summers up here get damn hot and the apartment we live in not only has vertical windows but our landlord refuses to fix them and nearly all of them are broken. I've researched several different types of AC units and either none of them would work with our Windows anyway or they wouldn't work because we have too low humidity.

Because the apartment is older it also doesn't breathe well and I would get physically sick from the heat unless I held an ice pack to my body or we would just leave to spend hours at the mall or anywhere with air conditioning. We obviously can't do that now since we have a bird and I'm very concerned about making sure he doesn't overheat.

My only solutions right now are literally cool baths everyday and fans directly on him. A breeder I work with said to keep the blinds down during the day but many of our Windows because they are broken don't even have blinds so there is no way to shut out the sunlight. I would love some advice from anyone who lives in a very hot climate on how you help keep your birds cool during the hot summer days.

New York State has periods of very high temperature and high Humidity during the Summer months. Air Conditioning works in both reducing temperature and Humidity as cooler air cannot support as much Humidity as warmer air can.
There is an every increasing number of units that do not sit in the window and use flexible hose to connect to the great outdoors using any style of window. You may need to visit a big box store to find additional filler for the open part of the window. Buy air conditioners early, before the heat builds. Note, measure the area that you are planning on air conditioning to assure that you are getting the correct sized unit.
NOTE: Vertical or Horizontal windows using the same process: How to Vent a Portable Air Conditioner | Sylvane

Not aware of rental property laws in New York State that allows windows that do not work. Check your local rental codes to verify what you are being told.

yeah I've checked tenant rights laws in NY, and basically the only way we could force him to do anything is if the apartment is "Uninhabitable", and since the windows technically "shut" it doesn't really qualify. the frames indoors are falling apart which is why they can't hold blinds, but again that's "cosmetic". one of our downstairs tenants almost took him to court because he refused to clean up black mold. landlord didn't take him seriously until he actually lawyered up (which we def can't afford to do).

I've also looked at those ACs but we're not financially capable of spending that kind of money on one of those. especially since mr. pants is unemployed. we plan to leave here too, but the lease isn't up until august.

i've been thinking about getting one of those arctic air units, it's supposed to be good if you have lower humidity or moderate humidity. some days we have high humidity but a lot of the times its pretty dry so that might help out.

did some research on my own t00, and most articles i've found have said to make sure he has plenty of water and baths available, mist him, and keep him away from any sunny spots. are there cooling stones for birds? or anything similar?

Time for a new apartment!

heck yeah!

i cant wait to get out of here man. our neighbor has been raving all morning because i guess our landlord never put the screen door in properly and it blew half way off in the wind. his "fixit" guy didnt come out so our neighbor had to ask one of his friends to come try and fix it.

a couple bits of advice I can give which I've done before with my country getting hotter and hotter each year but air con not being common yet, are to get a bowl and fill it with ice, that way the ice melts and evaporates letting cold moisture into the air. point any fans towards windows instead of at yourself to push back the warm air. Also use more than one fan to create a cross section of wind and get the air moving throughout the place

I have also seen you can get some fans which have water tanks on them which help cool the air

Another idea that we use to do at a place I worked that didn't have air was to rig up our own "air conditioner". Take a large metal sheet pan and fill it with ice. Just don't overfill it, so it doesn't spill water all over your floor as it melts. Then set a box fan in front of it, if you can find one of the fancy ones than angle up a little bit, that's even better. As the ice melts, it cools the air around it significantly, and the fan will pull that in and then blow it towards whatever you have it directed at.

I assume it could work even better if you set up multiple fan to create crosswinds as Lord Triggs suggested. And all that would cost you, if you don't already have them, would be a couple fans, some ice cube trays, and depending on how many you wanted to set up, one or more cheap sheet pans.

I feel your pain, central PA gets the same way with the humidity and the heat at times...But you have to do something because even though your Caique can handle the heat/humidity a bit longer than say a dog can, it's going to be an issue if you have absolutely no air conditioning and you have the sun beating through windows with no blinds...

First of all, and this is probably obvious but I'll say it anyway, always make sure that your bird's cage is no where near a window that sunlight can beat through and cook him. That's actually something that happens quite often to pet birds, pet rodents, reptiles, fish aquariums, etc. because people don't think about the placement of their cages (you have of course)....

***Look on your local Craigslist Pages for a portable AC Unit that you can vent through any window with a flexible hose...And keep checking every day and search out as far a distance as you can drive to, because I sold one those myself on Craiglist last summer, it had been sitting in my shed for a few years and I though "hey, I paid $300+ for it, it's gotta be worth some money", and after I looked on Craigslist and saw many of them for basically nothing, I ended up selling it for $50!...So you should be able to find one very cheaply very quickly if you just keep checking, it might only take one look depending on where you are...

Hey there mrs. pants, hello from a fellow NY'er ! Birds were something I only seriously considered when I got my own place. I'm lucky enough to have a house, which while having its own attendant set of quirks and such, does me allow me more latitude to do what I'd like (and also not have done what I don't).

Birds can handle higher thresholds of heat than people and most mammals, I'd say look into getting a free-standing screen (like the collapsible paper privacy ones people can change behind) to block direct sun off of his cage when the sun is at its strongest, always provide two bins of cool water, one for drinking and the other bathing, and use a spray bottle to mist down your birb too - all points you've already considered and will have covered. Beyond that I can't say I know of any 'cooling stones' type things for fids..but maybe there are similar products for reptiles you could look into?

I usually am more concerned with making sure my birds don't get cold or experience drafts than avoiding them over-heating. Their cages sit by a sunny window that really lets the light in, especially in the afternoons. They've been fine for the past 4 summers here.