Warning! Important warning about the hot weather, birds, and fans! The hot summer is once again upon us for a few days, and many people are turning on their fans to cool down. Problem is, our birds love our fans just as much as we do, they love to sit on and in front of them as they turn side to side, feeling the wind on their bellies. While this is not unsafe in 16inch and larger fans if the grill openings are small, and you check very carefully the clearances from grill to blades, there is an old saying about something hitting the fan. Yes, the poop will hit the fan. The poop will then be sprayed everywhere, at high speed, in a nice big arc! If you have fans, and your birds like perching on them, consider getting a mesh fan cover!

I recently installed about 20 wall and ceiling mounted fans like the one in the picture to keep all the cages cool, and today was hot enough to turn them all on. I then let all the big birdy babies have some free flight time after a feeding. They all landed on the various fans, and the resulting mess was a horror to behold, as formula poops are big and wet and usually happen right after a good feed. Needless to say I have just ordered 20 tight mesh fan covers. Daily lesson learned.

Parrots are tropical birds, and can handle hotter weather pretty well usually, only having trouble when the temperature reaches 34c and above inside. Air conditioners are great, but care must be taken to ensure that airflow does not point directly into a cage, chilling a birdie. Dyson fans might also seem like a great idea, and I did try one of the tower fans out in the bird rooms. Unfortunately, it did not take very long for some of the birds to learn that by flying through the bladeless opening, they could get a fun speed boost. Very entertaining to watch, but a lovebird doing mach 2 across the room can do quite a bit of damage if they don't pull up in time!