What temperature do you keep your bird room?

[triordan]

I'm asking because I know someone who has several birds and it is always so hot in her bird rooms~ she has some pluckers and I'm wondering if it's partially because of the heat and not enough moisture. I only have one bird and he is in the family room average temp @ 65 a little cooler in the evening

 

[Kris]

We keep our bird room between 56 and 65, and our living areas at about 62- 65.
I have NEVER had a plucker of any species - except a Quaker who pulled feathers to line the nest. (A LOT of them!!) They grew back. Many people think that because a bird's native country is warm, or even hot, the birds have to be that way as well in captivity. NOT so. Most birds can/will do very well in cooler temps. Some as low as 20 degrees, and outdoors even! They have insulated coats to keep them warm when it's cold.
I agree. Some bird rooms are too warm. I don't believe that can possibly be good - except for growing bacteria.

 

[Echo]

I wouldn't go under 58 degrees Fahrenheit. I keep the bird room at 64 degrees.

 

[mrgoogls]

i dont have a bird *room* but my house during the day is around 68. at night the room with cooper in it, can get as low as 60, because the uninsulated garage is next to it. but quakers are acually living feral in NYC and a few other places in the US. so they live outside in the winter in NY where in NYC, not quite as much snow as we get here in Buffalo, still gets lower. so i dont worry at all. maybe they are plucking becuase they cant cool off? its just to hot for them? see if lowering the temp helps. if not then its probably stress.

 

[MonicaMc]

The kea is the worlds only alpine parrot. Parrots come from the desert, the tropical forest, and quite a few areas in-between.

In my old place, temperatures in the bird room typically were from low 50's to the high 80's, and occasionally the low 90's (ice cube time!). In the new place, I haven't actually kept tract of the highest and lowest temperatures in the room, but I do know it can get quite chilly, and the birds seem to do fine.

 

[LoveMyParrots]

It does depend on the bird, differernt spices likes different temperature.

 

[MarciaLove]

i wouldnt go lower than 55 F and i keep my birdroom almost all year round at 70 F sometimes in the summer it gets a little hotter. I dont know much about plucking birds though if she has changed anything about the birdroom like getting a new bird or changing cages it might be stress.

 

[BeakersBro]

I have always been so afraid of drafts killing him that I keep it at 70-75. Now that I read your posts, it's making me wonder if that's too hot??? My sister's friend had a bird who he kept at 65 to save money on the heating bill and it died. Presumably from the temp because there was no other obvious cause.

 

[MonicaMc]

BeakersBro, your sisters friends bird probably died because he or she was sick and no one realized it. Some illnesses, so little is known about them that the only symptom of that illness is "sudden death". In other words, it's most often not found out until the bird is already dead.

It's a bit past 8pm here and I just checked the birds room temperature. If it was accurate (don't know, had to move a digital thermometer from a different room, and takes a bit to adjust), then the temperature read at 63.5° F. It's only 8pm, it's going to get colder! If I remember, I can recheck in the morning!

I know that I've recorded temps as low as 52° or 54° F, at night. In the winter, the temps usually rise to the mid 60's to lower 70's during the day (or warmer, if unusually warm winter), but fall again at night.


I've had Casey, my very first cockatiel, for 12 years and nearly two months. That's the longest out of any birds in my current flock. The longest bird I've had after her is my bourke parakeet at 11 years this month. She's supposed to be around 16-18 years old now. She is pass her life expectancy by 1-7 years. If cold temperatures kill birds, then my entire flock should be dead, especially these two, since they have endured cold temperatures (and even pretty hot ones!) the longest.





I personally don't believe that drafts kill birds. I agree that a sudden temperature change for a long period of time can indeed kill a bird if they can't adjust to the temperature change, but drafts and short temperature changes isn't going to kill a *healthy* bird. I've taken my mitred conure outside in the winter and he happily sat out there preening himself, squawking and I even had him flying. He was unfazed. My cherry headed conure used to love to sit in front of the AC in the car when I took him places. In the Spring, Summer and possibly Fall months, if it's warm, I leave the window(s) open 24/7 to allow fresh air to move around the room.




If you think about wild birds and what they have to deal with... constant temperature changes, wind, etc, it doesn't make sense that a simple draft is going to kill a bird. That's like saying that if you're sick, you should stay inside the home with the windows kept shut, when in fact the air inside our homes can be more polluted than the air outside!

If you think about it in the sense of a canary in a coal mine, then yes, that makes sense! Because that "draft" of air may have toxic chemicals (methane or carbon monoxide) in it.

Birdie Buddy Habitats

Air
“...it surprises most people to learn that the air at home , where we eat and sleep and spend most of our time, is often dirtier than the air on highways or around industrial plants”
UC Berkeley Wellness Letter
- October 2004

 

[BeakersBro]

Thanks for the info, MonicaMC. Now I guess the question is whether 75 degrees is too hot?

 

[MonicaMc]

If a bird is too cold, you'll know it by them fluffing up, often with their feet covered and possibly with their beaks tucked into their feathers.

A bird that is too hot will have feathers that are sleek against their body, wings spread, and visibly be panting. (like a dog)



If Beaker does neither, then he's probably fine!




In the summer, I have recorded temperatures into the high 80's and sometimes low 90's. When it's that warm, and the room just wont cool down, I provide ice water to the birds! That, and cold baths! They've done pretty well in the various temperatures.

 

[vicky2200]

Our birds are actually in our dining room, which is never used for dining. We keep the heat in our house on 58F, but in the summer it gets pretty warm. They seem to do fine and we can't afford to turn up the heat.

 

[BeakersBro]

I've only seen him pant on some hot days in the summer, when I took him outside for a walk. When I saw him panting I poured some bottled water on him to cool him off. He doesn't normally pant so I guess he's fine then. Thx for the info

 

[MonicaMc]

In three mornings, I was only able to get the temperature of the room once, which was at 61° (yesterday), and that was after the heat had come on. Last night, the heat was left on throughout the entire night due to the fact that our hot water pipe had frozen overnight the previous night... so the house was warmer than usual this morning.

Generally speaking, what you are comfortable at, your bird should be, too. Just watch for signs of discomfort. With that said, birds can handle cooler temperatures a lot better than they can handle hotter temperatures, since they have insulating down feathers to keep them warm. Those same feathers may work against them when it's too warm - unless they are sick and require additional heat so their bodies can work on healing rather than warming.

 

[WharfRat]

Our flock lives in the dining area as well, we keep our house right @ 75-77 year round (its pretty cold here right now for our area). Also our house is only about 3 years old, very well insulated, dbl. pane windows and a very high efficiency AC/ heat system. Our latest Elec. bills is $124......(no gas). I don't think anywhere we've lived before was this cheap utility wise. They do nail us for our H20 though.

In the summer the bill does go up a little, but it's also in the high 90's, low 100's in the summer here quite a bit.

 

[wwendy104]

We keep our house about 68 all year around. Last night it was a little chilly so we turned the heat up a degree just in case. I always worry about them being cold. I also keep them away from windows in the winter just incase its drafty but I haven't ever had a problem. I don't like to be hot so I hope they don't mind 68!

 

[MaraWentz]

72-76 Fahrenheit
Erin and I love it hot

 

[JerseyWendy]

I do have a 'bird room', but it's part of the house and/or living area. In the winter we keep it around 70 during the day and 67 at night.

In the summer I let the temp go as high as 80 before I turn the AC on. I, too, like it on the "warmish" side.

 

[azdesertrhino]

Our house stays around 73 to 76 degrees year round. Ambients in Tucson can range from highs of 110+ in the summer to 30* in the winter.

Mac's room is part of the conditioned space of the house so we all deal with the same temperatures.

 

[Oedipussrex]

Thanks for the info, MonicaMC. Now I guess the question is whether 75 degrees is too hot?

I think 75 F = 23 C - and to me this is comfortably cool without being freezing , i know climates are different all over but i was always worried that as tropical birds my area was too cold for pickle. But it seems our summers are quite hot too.

In winter our heater keeps the house around 18-20 Celcius (64-68 F) though at night the outside rooms can probably drop a lot more.

And in summer the days outside can get to 40+ C (104 F) [these are the days we bring the giuneapig inside too to enjoy the air conditioning]. -Which is set at 25 C (77 F) to save energy on really hot days, or 22 C (71 F) on cooler hot days...