# Keeping your 'tiel(s) warm during Winter.



## Renae

I'm just curious to know how you's keep your 'tiel(s) warm during Winter? I know some places are/can get a lot colder then others too.

For my birds, they get a heater that's kept on pretty much all day, unless I'm going out, or if it's not cold enough for it to be on. And then at night they (each cage) get a water bottle attached to the cage, the water bottle is covered and they can't get to it anyway, and I cover their cages with 2 blankets that aren't very thick at all.. but they're pretty toasty-warm during the night.


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## Jess

Central heating in the day time and oil filled rads at night. We had a really severe winter, snow/frost virtually from Mid December to end of Feb, This summer hasn't been great either, it's no more than 18c out there today, cloudy and generally miserable, no danger or anyone skin cancer in this neck of the woods!!


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## Hemlock

We used to have an infrared heater that we used for Rio when I lived in California. Since we were by the ocean it was a very wet cold and seemed to really bother her. She would also get covered.

Now that we're here in Nevada, we keep the house warm via central heat. Her heater got broken in the move, but she seems to be doing okay with out it. She gets partially covered at night, but we can't cover her all the way since her nightfrights are so bad. I think it has something to do with the shadowing, or something.

When I was working at the local power company, I heard about these 'tiles' you can get. I think they're around $100 US dollars for the initial purchase. They work off of ambient heating, and due to the type of material that they're made out of, they hold heat really well. Supposedly, it will heat a room the size of 2-3 bedrooms for about $5 a month.

Hubby and I are thinking of getting one or two and using them in the house in general since it would cut down on the power bill. I just like the fact that it doesn't use any kind of flammable heat, and they have a thermostat to boot.


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## crazycat

I have never done anything special, we have ducted heating and cooling so its pretty much a steady comfortable temp everywhere in the house. Now I am worried I should be? 

Whats an ideal temp range, or more to the point whats too cold and whats too hot?


ETA...
I just wanted to add I do make sure that they don't get too hot or cold but have never done anything special as the house is always kept at a comfortable temp. Summer gets pretty warm but I am always aware of keeping them cool by misting and putting them in the coolest room.


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## AlbyPepper

During the day, my tiels are out in the family room with us. If it gets really cold, like today. I put the heater on to take the chill out of the air. At night, I put them in their night time cage, which is a smaller cage in my ensuite (quieter there so they can sleep). They have their own blanket that they get covered with, and they can snuggle if they need to.


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## ShakeQPC

I asked this a month or so ago, I didn't cover him, then I did, but he hissed when I did it, so now I don't. He has a happy hutt which is fluffy and he loves to sleep in it. I have an oil column on during the day, but at night its the hutt he gets warmth from. Someone told me that they can endure both extremes, so not too worried about it. I like the sound of the smaller cage, different room AlbyPepper. But our house is so tiny.


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## Siobhan

We didn't have Freddie during the winter, but we had the Quakers and budgies and I've always heard if it's a comfortable temp for you, it's comfortable for them. There's a heat duct in the room their cages are in, and we just set the thermostat where we like it, and they seem to be fine.


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## Raven2322

My birds were moved into their own bedroom before this last winter. I have electric baseboard heat. It's pretty much below their cage and slightly behind them. I got a temp gage at the hardware store and put it by the door across the room. It stayed between 70-80 in my bird room all winter long. A plus the tiels got to be right in front of the window below the vent and if the window ever got cold it would kick on and warm it up. So they didn't have to sit in the dark all winter. Plus I will leave a light on a timer in their room, that way if I didn't get home in time, it would go off and they could go to sleep. It sucked for my bill though, normally during winter I would only heat my living room where they used to stay, heating another room was more money, but worth it for them. I never cover them. One thing I will say about winter heating, my vet warned me to get a temp gage that would also read humidity because it needs to be higher in the winter to make up for any dry heat so the birds don't have issue. Mind had a few issue this winter because of the dryness. I when out and bought a humidifier and kept the humidity above 50% and they were much better. So keep that in mind when your keeping your birds warm this winter, don't let the air where they are get too dry.


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## zukesss

in toronto it can get very very cold during the winter soo since both birds nightfright we cannot cover the cages but instead the room there in we cna close the door and i line a towel at the bottom too keep out drafts and on very very cold nights even with the heat on it can get chilly in the house we sometimes use heat lamps over each cage too give some added warmth !


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## jc119007

Here in the south of France it can get quite cold but we have gas heating which we set, so that if the temperature falls below this the heater will kick in. We set it at around 20/21 degrees C (if I remember correctly) and since the cage is in the living/dining area we cover during winter and summer since both my partner and I are night owls because of our work.
In summer I use a plain bedsheet but in winter I use a cotton tablecloth which is slightly thicker. Never had a problem with nightfrights (thank goodness!), Kikou might grumble when I cover her but I'm the boss lol!!


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