Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mitel!sce!warpdrive!stewartw
From: stewartw@warpdrive.UUCP (Stewart Winter)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: most common bird and outdoor birds
Message-ID: <7272@warpdrive.UUCP>
Date: 18 Oct 89 22:01:57 GMT
References: <2084@leah.Albany.Edu>
Reply-To: stewartw@cognos.UUCP (Stewart Winter)
Organization: Cognos Inc., Ottawa, Canada
Lines: 40

>On a different front, Rick Faltersack writes:
>
>>I am interested in keeping some pet birds outside. A small
>>flock of budgies, maybe cockatiels. How would one go about
>>acclimating pet-store birds to year-round outside living
>>(in Portland ORE) ?  I figure it must be possible:
>>(1) These birds live outside in the wild.
>>(2) There is a flock of ring-neck parakeets living wild
>>in Hilsboro, OR, presumably offspring of escaped pets.
>
>>I know I could go to the library and look it up, but its
>>more fun to ask You!
>
>>-rcf

   Well, if I remember my US geography Portland should get sub-zero
temperatures (probably less often than here, but still happens?).
You want your birds to have a place where they can get out of the
wind.  Should be a concrete, brick or other solid structure.  Also,
there should be a heated area where the birds can congregate to escape
the really cold temperatures with 3 or 3.5 sides blocked from wind.
   As far as acclimatizing them to the cold, put them outside in the
late spring/early summer.  Their fall moult will come in thickly
feathered.  Accept the fact that some birds may not be ready the first
fall, if they have been inside for several years.  These birds can be
placed in an insulated (no drafts!), but basically unheated building.
   You will have a higher death rate in your birds, but the survivors
should actually live longer as they will be hardy birds.  Note that
some breeds of birds, like gouldian finches, just can't handle below
freezing temperature and should not be placed in such an environment.

   Stewart



-- 
Stewart Winter                Cognos Incorporated   S-mail: P.O. Box 9707
VOICE: (613) 738-1338 x3830   FAX: (613) 738-0002           3755 Riverside Drive
UUCP: uunet!cognos!stewartw                                 Ottawa, Ontario
"The bird for the day is .... parrotlet."                   CANADA  K1G 3Z4