thoughts on nest boxes please

[katek]

my ruppells currently sleeps on the highest perchin her cage, but i am wondering about getting her a next box for winter. i don't really have adequate heating in the living room, where her cage lives and i want to make sure she's warm enough.

my concerns are: if she takes to the box, will she want to use year round or can i take it out her cage when the weather is warmer? is there any advantage of a nest box over a perch? will it encourage her to lay eggs (something i'd rather not deal with). is there any particular type of box i should get?

[charmedagain]

Hi Providing a female bird with a nest will enourage her to start laying eggs, If the room is not very warm what I suggest is getting a blanket that yu can put over the cage at night but leave a couple of inches at the bottome of the cage uncovered to allow air to circulate.

I would not give her a nest box unless you plan on breeding even then breeding during the winter is a really bad idea as this can result in egg binding which is life threatening if not noticed and dealt with straight away..

Mike

[katek]

thanks for the advice.
no, i don't plan on breding with her, but having lost one baby cockatiel on a very cold winter's day (with a heater in the room) i'm a little bit parnoid about the cold.
i do cover her cage every night, with a light cotton sheet since the weather has been warm. i;ll find a warmer blanket for the winter.
if i cover part of her cage during the day in winter, will this help to keep her warm enough?

[charmedagain]

Covering the cage helps trap heat in, When it was really cold i used to cover the cage but not the front of the cage, I only covered the whole cage on a night.

So you can do that, Some heaters give off toxins like heaters while teflon in the as this is really toxic to birds..

Mike