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Keeping them warm in winter?

BirbFriend

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9/28/21
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Hi! I have adopted a plucker and we're coming up on our first winter together. I have him in the warmest room in the house, but he gets shivery when it drops below 73F or so, and even in the mid-upper 70s if he's bathed. Now that the temperatures outside are dropping below that I'm getting nervous.

I've already tried a plate-type cage heater (won't get close enough to get a benefit) and a heated perch (won't touch it, even if it's off). I've got a zoo met full spectrum light that has a warming effect that he seems to like sitting in. My vet suggested an area heater and the oil type seems the most bird-safe, but when they break they can spray hot oil. I'm debating a birdie sweater next, but he isn't hand-tame enough that I can show it to him and desensitize him to putting one on. It would be less stressful than him being cold, though.

I'm sure other people have dealt with this before. What worked? What didn't?
 

Hermesbird

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Bumping for visibility!
Hope someone can help!!
 

WikiWaz

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I've often wondering if hanging brooder lamp above the cage would help...but I have no idea, just throwing the idea out there to see what others think of that.
 

Kassiani

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I have an oil radiator heater and something called a sweeter heater. The sweeter heater was designed to hang above chicks and chickens to keep them warm. I hang mine on the outside of the cage near a perch for my special needs bird. I’ve had them both for a year now with no problems. I burned off the new heater smell for both for about 24 hours in my garage before using them around my birds. I’ve also just taken them out again to burn off the dust from being unused all summer—also in the garage away from the birds.

I suspect that if an oil radiator heater is going to break it will be because of a manufacturing fault and would hopefully show up during the initial burn off away from the birds or you and your family. My family and I have owned several over the years, and we have never had one spew oil.
 

BirbFriend

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9/28/21
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Thank you! I'll give the oil heaters another look along with some coop heating devices.

Which makes me think, I have papers in the bottom of my cage so the tray-below-the-tray is pretty empty and rarely gets stuff in it. I wonder if one of those brooder chick heating plates in there would help.
 

BirbFriend

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9/28/21
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A brooder plate is supposed to simulate momma bird's heat--chicks can snuggle right up to it safely. It's bigger and hotter than the little 3x5" perch heater but still a couple hundred degrees cooler than it takes for paper to burn. I'm not sure how well it would heat a cage. Chicks are usually kept in bins or boxes so heat wouldn't dissipate as easily as it does through a wire cage.
 
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