Room for IRN

[wonderfulworld]

Our IRN passed away last week after 15 years with us. We placed his cage near our side dining table near the kitchen for all these years. He spent hours outside his cage during the weekend and a few hours outside every week. He always spent inside his cage in the night and good 60% of his time during the day. He was protected from any predator throughout these years. I don't think he has ever seen a Cat in his whole life.

I'm working from home for an year after the pandemic started. He was noisy during the day especially when I talk to colleagues over the phone. I had to then move him to a bed room to be quite. My situation at home would be like this in the future. If we decide to get another IRN, I want to make sure he is at a place where he is more comfortable and I'm also comfortable.

I have a plan to build a outside patio soon. I was thinking about to have the Parrot Cage in the Patio rather than inside the home. The temperature in our area varies from below Freezing to 115 degree F through out the year. Even in the same day, the temperature can vary from 45 to 80 degree F.

- Can anyone recommend whether an Outside Patio, a good place for IRN to live 24/7 throughout the year?
- Should I make the room the temperature controlled if I choose to keep the IRN in that room?
- Should I consider any special arrangements in the Outside Patio if I choose to keep the IRN in that room?

 

[noodles123]

I am very sorry for your loss and I am going to veer slightly from your question here, but it is super important:


If you plan to reuse the cage or any room in your house so soon, my concern is cause of death. If you know what happened and had a necroscopy performed, then you have a better idea. They can live upwards of 30 years (this isn't me trying to pour salt in the wound or anything-- this is me trying to make sure you know what happened the first time). Lots of people don't know about necroscopy, but unless you had one or know the exact cause, I would wait at least a year and deep-clean like crazy (as well as ridding my home of any chemical cleaners that are not bird-safe, or scented products/fumes).

It may or may not be safe to get another bird so soon (given the possibility viral illness to spread without major symptoms in many cases). Some viruses can survive for many months (over a year) and spread through toys, cages, HVAC systems, carpet etc..If your bird had one of those viruses and you are not sure, that could potentially reinfect another bird (but the main scary ones that are hard to accurately test for are abv, pdd, and pbfd. These can be easily spread from seemingly healthy birds.

I also worry about the possible issues in the home that may have been environmental..for instance, use of teflon/ptfe/pfoa/pfcs in pans as well as other products, but also cleaner etc which can cause serious long-term damage to the air sacs.



Do you know what cause your last bird's death?

 

[wonderfulworld]

I don't know the cause of death. We buried him within an hour because of the overwhelming emotion that every family member had.

He lived in the environment where he had his cage for 8 years. His cage is at least 30 feet away from the Gas Burner. We use SCANPAN CTX Nonstick pans (Expensive $200 Pan), use Ventilator fans and cook only in non-stick pans less than 20 minutes every day. The kitchen is open so there is plenty of ventilation. It is not a closed kitchen. We don't use chemicals in the place where his cage is. Scents are allergic to my wife, so we don't use it at all in kitchen or bathrooms. There is no other animal in the home.

He was not a good eater of a lot of vegetables in the past few months. He did not like carrots, grapes, green leaves as he used to a few years ago. He liked peanuts, cashews etc... I think the age and his diet might have contributed to his death. He liked more peanuts than green food for years. He was on his perch for 75% of his time every day. He pooped a lot when he was getting order. Both of his legs were paralyzed when he died. He was standing at the bottom of his cage in the evening when I went to chat with him which I do every other hour. He responded to get onto my hand but was limping. All the Vets were closed at that time in the evening. I placed him on the floor and he was screaming when I tried to touch his feet, then slowly closed his eyes, turned his face to heaven and died in front of all the family members. My wife told me that he was waiting to die until she comes back from work in the evening. We took care of him as our own child for all these years.

I get various answers when I ask about the lifespan of IRN. A shop where I normally take him to groom has told me these birds can live only between 15 and 20 years. They are specialized in parrots.

My question about the room is to plan for the future like in an year or two, not anytime soon. The plan is to provide a different lifestyle to my future IRN who can live outside of the cage more time and have a view of the world outside from the outdoor Patio.

 

[noodles123]

Birds take time to adjust to temperature shifts and cannot regulate as well as humans when things change suddenly. Below freezing is too cold for 99% of parrots (excluding kias etc). They say that a temperature shift of 10-15 degrees that doesn't occur gradually (over a period of days) can lead to shock in some cases. If you had a climate that ranged from 60 F to 85 F, then you could possibly keep the bird outside if it was gradually acclimatized, but it doesn't sound possible, given your temperatures.


If you have a heat lamp or heating elements, triple check that they do not contain any ptfe/pfoa,pfcs or teflon coatings. Many heaters/heat lamps do, and these have killed birds.
You will also still need a cage on the patio (he would need to be in unless supervised). Unsupervised, he could chew on unsafe things and get metal poisoning etc.


Drafts are a huge danger to birds, so cool breezes, even with a heat lamp, would be unsafe.

 

[wonderfulworld]

I think I need to go for a Sunroom or Solarium rather than an outdoor patio where the temperature can be controlled.