Aussie Finch Forum

For all the West Aussies..heard tonight they're predicting 42o on Christmas Day! Going to be hard enough keeping all the birds cool but what I'm really worried about are my Emblema chicks that won't be due out of the nest for at least another week. Will put a few layers of shade cloth on top of the aviary and wet it down well but we'll be out all day so won't be able to keep wetting it down. Any suggestions?

Not sure of your set up but as well as what you suggest make sure you have a shallow dish of water in the shade I've seen my birds bath and go straight into the nest can only assume they are keeping young cool.

Weatherzone says 37.... Someone told me to put coconut palm fronds on the roof of your aviary. It help draws the heat from the sheet metal

here it says a nice 28 and partly cloudy

Maybe a small sprinkler on very low over the shadecloth will keep things wet/cool enough. It is legal to use these for the comfort of animals.

agreed with Di
I dunno about palm leaves, still lost a bird to the heat in Jan though I did try it

Don't have any palm fronds and only one section is metal, all the rest is laserlite. Don't know if we can leave water running no matter how little with our water problem here this year. Have just had a quick look at the chicks , I thought they were a lot older than they are as parents aren't in the nest much. The one I saw didn't even have his eyes open (and had an empty crop at 10 in the morning), so hoping they're not older than they look and just growing slow because they're not getting enough to eat.

Off to Bunnings to get polypipe today for mist sprayers... We have OB chicks but no idea how old (trying our darnest to stay out of their way this time!). Also yellow stars sitting but not sure if have chicks. Will have to work something out to keep aviary cool. Might thouroughly wet sand floor in the morning. Someone told us they put carpet on top of aviary and then soak it. Not sure if that would work. plus don't have carpet... or palm fronds. Any other suggestions???

What about the small sprinkler on low on a timer?
Ive used wet towels up on the roof with water added as they dried, wet towels hung up on the wire, soaking the floor, BIG ice blocks placed on the plants, birds stand in the cool draft from the ice.

Pleasant here at the moment , this time last year we had all freezers going to freeze bottles of water for all the animals / birds.