If you house your birds in an outdoor aviary, you’ll need to do more than make sure they have enough shelter.
Long before the colder temperatures start to set in, you’ll need to make sure that your backyard bird aviary has enough heating to keep your birds happy and cosy.
In this article, we’re going to explore everything you need to know about heating your outdoor bird aviary. More importantly, we’ll also explore the methods you’ll find useful for maintaining that heat instead of letting it leak out.
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Why you should keep a backyard bird aviary warm in winter
Firstly, let’s make sure that we understand the importance of keeping our aviaries heated, especially in the winter.
No matter what species of bird you have living in your aviary, the fact of the matter is that they need help staying warm.
Unlike other animals, birds do not have the thick fur necessary to live through cold winters easily without any additional help.
Keeping birds outside in an aviary will expose them to the lower temperatures that not only make them uncomfortable, they could also challenge their ability to survive overall.
As a result, some owners choose to move them indoors so they can enjoy the indoor heating.
Does that mean that keeping them outdoors is a bad idea? Not at all! Keeping them outside in a backyard bird aviary is perfectly fine, so long as you equip the aviary with a source of heat, as well as insulation, waterproofing, and draft proofing to keep your birds comfortable.
How to keep your backyard aviary warm in winter
To keep your backyard aviary warm in the winter, it’s useful to think of it in two parts. The first one is in terms of generating the heat, using a reliable heat source.
But that heat will dissipate quickly unless you’ve kept the aviary insulated as well. So, here’s how you could go about it:
Install a heater
Firstly, you’ll need a heat source. Two of the best types to use in aviaries are tubular heaters or ceramic bulbs. These will offer a consistent source of heat that the birds can gather around in order to stay warm.
For these to be useful, you’ll need to make sure that your aviary has a power source fixed inside of it.
More importantly, you must make sure that your heat source has a guard along with it. That guard will make sure that your birds don’t accidentally come into contact with it and hurt themselves.
Insulation
There are plenty of ways to insulate a backyard aviary, but not all of them are the same. After all, there’s no point in insulating your aviary if it’s going to block out all light or take away your bird’s ability to see its surroundings.
To insulate your aviary, use the same principles you’d follow to insulate a home.
A good idea would be to create a gap between the inside and the outside of the aviary. Then, you can line that gap safely with any number of insulating materials like bubble wrap or even polystyrene.
Waterproofing
It’s also crucial that you keep your aviary dry as well. For that, put some effort into waterproofing or weatherproofing the structure, so rainwater and excess moisture doesn’t find its way inside.
That can be as simple as making sure that the roof is just a little wider, and that any openings are protected from falling rain.
Draft proofing
Draft or draught-proofing is also an essential element to any backyard aviary during winter. The concept is straightforward: it’s about keeping warm air from escaping while keeping any cold air from entering the aviary.
That way, your birds will stay as comfortable as they possibly can.
How can you achieve this? The best way to start is to cover or fill any gaps between the doors, the floorboards, and the roofing. That will prevent a draft from coming through, at least in the covered part of the aviary.
Nesting boxes
Lastly, it’s important to remember that birds love having places to nest. These also serve as a way for birds to escape the cold and any drafts.
Aviary nesting boxes come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, which is excellent for both you and your birds. They’ll get a nesting space that’s big enough for their needs, and you’ll get a chance to decorate your aviary according to your personal tastes.
Final thoughts
Altogether, providing a heating source and insulating your backyard aviary in the winter will keep your birds comfy and cozy.
Still, be sure to check on the aviary often to make sure that the heating and insulation is doing their job as they should.
