IRN's & UK winters

[Riverdown]

Hi there, I am trying to find out a bit more info on behalf of my neighbour. They are a family who have just been given an IRN & have installed it into a purpose built aviary (the father's a cabinet maker by trade, so it's a very good deluxe one!) He has plenty of room to fly about & has an indoor as well as an outside section. He is very happy in there & he has lots of things going on around him to keep him from getting bored. The children adore him as well. They also keep birds of prey.

They were wondering however, being an exotic bird, what happens when it gets to winter? Lisa (mum) is phobic about birds & wont have him in the house. I volunteered to look after him if he needs to come inside but is this necessary? Don't they come from the himalayan region of India? I know there are wild flocks in London. So my question is will he be ok? They're not really sure what the best thing to do is. We live in a rural part of North Yorkshire about 100m altitude. Can anyone help, please?

[julie]

as long as he has proper shelter from the cold he should be ok. They generally start breeding when it gets cooler and when it gets warmer they molt/shed a heap of feathers and down and adapt to the weather.

[smallworld]

The most beautiful thing about UK is that you have a large native IRN population. So they've adapted to the climate and they're booming. Of course if its a harsh winter, you might want to take him indoors for awhile. But if the bird is to be kept outdoors at all times, then a nestbox with hay in it should also offer some warmth. Wild birds also keep warm by sitting close by to each other. So I guess additional company wont be bad in his case.

[Riverdown]

Thank you folks, I will pass that info on.