How well do IRN cope with the heat? It's been a really hot day today and it's still only spring.
I just got my guy yesterday, and he's almost 7 weeks old, so I don't know what his normal behaviour is yet. Today he's just been really quiet and spent most of the day napping. For a while there he was holding a wing out, I'm assuming to cool himself off a bit. He's drunk a little water, but has been only vaguely interested in food.
We do have a 'cooler' part of the house, but it's downstairs and he'd be away from everyone.
The other pets and the people are ok upstairs, but they are all bigger and older than he is.
So, how can I tell if he's getting too hot and I need to do something? If he is too hot, what can I do about it?
Coping with the heat
Moderator: Mods
Re: Coping with the heat
put a large shallow bowl of water in the bottom of the cage so he can bath in it.
Re: Coping with the heat
When I bought my bird is was in the hottest part of summer. On the way back home with him the air conditioning in my vehicle went out so it was really hot and stuffy for most of the ride home. I noticed he was panting by the time i got him home. So, i assume birds pant if they get too hot. That or he was just freaking out.
Re: Coping with the heat
Hi Kimma,
I find it interesting that you are facing the opposite issue from Donovan right now. He is trying to find the right way to handle the cold! http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... =3&t=18111
As you will read in the other post, within tolerances, the key is to help the bird maintain as steady a temperature as you can, without rapid change or frequent change.
Certainly, if the bird is panting, holding wings away from the body, excessively active or lethargic, or appearing otherwise unwell, AND it is unusually hot, heat may well be adversely affecting your bird. The thing to do is gently cool the bird with light misting, provide a bath and shade, and return the temperature to the accustomed range. An Air Conditioner blowing on the bird would be too much - a cold blast, a wind, and not escapable.
You can keep the bird in an air conditioned house, of course, so long as you maintain a steady temperature and prevent the bird from being in a draft. You would NOT, for instance, keep the house cool when you are home and turn off the AC when you went to work.
I have had some experience with excess of heat in the house. This is how it went: My AC went out just as the temperature in our area was getting quite hot last late Spring. Because I had not used the AC yet that year, I had been using open windows and window fans set up to create a gentle air flow in another area of the house. I provided a lot of water for the birds and made sure the windows had flimsy curtains to block the sun but not the air.
I also used several resettable digital thermometers in different areas of the house to record the high and low temperatures during the intervals I was not right there, especially while I was at work in the daytime. The house temperature mirrored the outside temperature, though it was a little gentler, I guess from the shade. **I got my thermometers at Walmart, where they were not expensive at all.
When the house temperature reached 98 degrees F at the hottest point for the FIRST TIME, I moved all my birds to the basement, where the temperature was around 80 degrees F, AND I LEFT THEM THERE unless the rest of the house cooled naturally to match until my AC could be repaired and a constant home temperature could be maintained at around 86 degrees.
I chose to act at that temperature because I noted signs of discomfort in the birds. Once the signs of discomfort are visible, the bird is already too hot. 86 might be a little warm for human comfort, but I could tolerate it. I did use supplemental AC in the bedroom, where my dogs are housed while I'm at work. They enjoyed an average of 75 degrees, as one of them starts to pant at 77.
Skyes_Crew lives in a more tropical environment than I do, and has a good deal of experience keeping birds inside and out. Most likely, she will have some advice for you soon.
I find it interesting that you are facing the opposite issue from Donovan right now. He is trying to find the right way to handle the cold! http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... =3&t=18111
As you will read in the other post, within tolerances, the key is to help the bird maintain as steady a temperature as you can, without rapid change or frequent change.
Certainly, if the bird is panting, holding wings away from the body, excessively active or lethargic, or appearing otherwise unwell, AND it is unusually hot, heat may well be adversely affecting your bird. The thing to do is gently cool the bird with light misting, provide a bath and shade, and return the temperature to the accustomed range. An Air Conditioner blowing on the bird would be too much - a cold blast, a wind, and not escapable.
You can keep the bird in an air conditioned house, of course, so long as you maintain a steady temperature and prevent the bird from being in a draft. You would NOT, for instance, keep the house cool when you are home and turn off the AC when you went to work.
I have had some experience with excess of heat in the house. This is how it went: My AC went out just as the temperature in our area was getting quite hot last late Spring. Because I had not used the AC yet that year, I had been using open windows and window fans set up to create a gentle air flow in another area of the house. I provided a lot of water for the birds and made sure the windows had flimsy curtains to block the sun but not the air.
I also used several resettable digital thermometers in different areas of the house to record the high and low temperatures during the intervals I was not right there, especially while I was at work in the daytime. The house temperature mirrored the outside temperature, though it was a little gentler, I guess from the shade. **I got my thermometers at Walmart, where they were not expensive at all.
When the house temperature reached 98 degrees F at the hottest point for the FIRST TIME, I moved all my birds to the basement, where the temperature was around 80 degrees F, AND I LEFT THEM THERE unless the rest of the house cooled naturally to match until my AC could be repaired and a constant home temperature could be maintained at around 86 degrees.
I chose to act at that temperature because I noted signs of discomfort in the birds. Once the signs of discomfort are visible, the bird is already too hot. 86 might be a little warm for human comfort, but I could tolerate it. I did use supplemental AC in the bedroom, where my dogs are housed while I'm at work. They enjoyed an average of 75 degrees, as one of them starts to pant at 77.
Skyes_Crew lives in a more tropical environment than I do, and has a good deal of experience keeping birds inside and out. Most likely, she will have some advice for you soon.
-MissK
-
Skyes_crew
- Posts: 1946
- Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:49 pm
- Location: Hawaii
Re: Coping with the heat
Hi Kimma..welcome 
Birds will indeed pant if the temperature reaches one that is intolerable. Birds do not sweat in the same way humans do which is our way of regulating our body temperature. Birds expel heat through their beaks and their feet. But if the air temperature has exceeded their beak temperature, there is nowhere for it to go. I'm sure you've noticed a lack of heavy feathering under your birds wing. This is another way for them to avoid their body temp getting too high. So signs to look for of distress during hot weather are wings held away from the body, not wanting to tuck a foot up to sleep, and panting. But of course you want to avoid it getting to those extremes. Water is the only way to accomplish this in very hot weather. Offer bathing, and misting often. The bird is only 7 weeks so probably not accustomed to being sprayed with a water bottle, so make it fun, praise often, and offer small bits of fruit as a treat. Fruit will be your best friend right now. Fruit has a very high water content which will help to cool the bird and also keep the bird from dehydrating which I suspect is why he's so lethargic. How many hand feeds is he on a day? Is his crop emptying between feeds? Is his crop hard or soft?
Birds will indeed pant if the temperature reaches one that is intolerable. Birds do not sweat in the same way humans do which is our way of regulating our body temperature. Birds expel heat through their beaks and their feet. But if the air temperature has exceeded their beak temperature, there is nowhere for it to go. I'm sure you've noticed a lack of heavy feathering under your birds wing. This is another way for them to avoid their body temp getting too high. So signs to look for of distress during hot weather are wings held away from the body, not wanting to tuck a foot up to sleep, and panting. But of course you want to avoid it getting to those extremes. Water is the only way to accomplish this in very hot weather. Offer bathing, and misting often. The bird is only 7 weeks so probably not accustomed to being sprayed with a water bottle, so make it fun, praise often, and offer small bits of fruit as a treat. Fruit will be your best friend right now. Fruit has a very high water content which will help to cool the bird and also keep the bird from dehydrating which I suspect is why he's so lethargic. How many hand feeds is he on a day? Is his crop emptying between feeds? Is his crop hard or soft?
I am owned by my birds...and I wouldn't have it any other way
