A change in the weather ?

The weather has been the worse for many years here in Nottingham. And for the parrot breeder this has brought many additional worries. With temperatures below freezing since the beginning of November our parrots appear to have managed throughout, but we have lost two chicks from the Indonesian Eclectus parrots which did not emerge from the eggs (I guess because of the cold). It is the first time in 25 years that the water bowls (which are kept inside the birdrooms !) have frozen solid. The birdrooms do have tubular heaters which come on automatically below 0 degrees C but even this was not sufficient to stop the water freezing.
The lowest night temperature we seen since November being -12 degrees C.

Also the parrots need feeding in the evening, so I have been out in all weathers every night feeding them and checking they are all right. Most mornings the Eclectus cocks are ready to emerge into the frozen day, the hens prefer to remain in the comfort of their warm nestboxes, but who can blame them.

I also keep South American Caiques (another type of smaller parrot) which have the comfort of inside accomodation in a converted brick built garage. They are well protected from the weather but still have inside tubular heaters which come on in this severe weather. The only problem with this type of accomodation is the attraction to small field mice which again this year are finding their way in. But so far have not disturbed the Caiques.

And finally I have some small African parrots (Ruppells & Red Bellied) which at the moment are living in the same inside accomodation with the Caiques. This is not ideal as I believe that they are nervous about being in close proximetry with the Caiques because they are from a different continent and the same applies to the Caiques. So far the Red Bellied parrots have not gone to nest which I think is related to this problem.  I also have a pair of Green Thighed Caiques which are so disturbed by a nearby pair of Ruppells that the hen has started to pull her own feathers. Ihad planned to move the Red Bellied & Ruppell african parrot pairs into their own accomodation this year in November but the weather turned so quickly that I was unable to do this then. However I am now hoping to do this in the next week or weeks  if the weather looks warmer so as to not shock the parrots by moving them in the cold.