Dear Parrots magazine,
Cold weather
In the north of England, we have been experiencing very cold snaps recently, which had made me conscious about my birds getting too cold. I have four pairs of cockatiels and two pairs of Bourkes in outside aviaries and, although, in a fairly sheltered position, they can become extremely cold.
They all have very good housing, in which I have installed tubular heaters to prevent them getting too cold, but have always been very aware that temperatures can drop way below freezing, even inside wooden housing.
Because of this I was on the lookout for suitable cladding that I could attach to the flight panels, effectively closing them in, but was surprised at the cost. But, due to a stroke of incredible luck, I was passing by a building site and noticed some panels, which turned out to be made of glass fibre. It turned out that these were off-cuts from much larger sheets that the builders used on the building they were working on. These sheets were about four feet long and one metre wide, which were no further use and were going to be thrown away. They said I could have them and home they came - there were 25 of them that fitted in my van, what luck!
I have attached them to the flights, leaving a small amount still open, and also around the wooden housing. The result is perfect as they are very tough and can be removed and used next winter and so on.
Geoff Tomlinson - Cornwall