Do you have any advise on acclimating canaries to the outdoors?  I have three that have been indoor birds, but I would love to move them outdoors and would appreciate any guidance you have to offer.

 

A: It depends on where you live.  Normally for people that live in a climate similar to ours (Northern California - Inland) I would suggest September as the best month.

You don't want anything to be extreme; meaning the temperature variance between day and night.   To be safe I would start acclimating them around September 1;  try putting them out during the daytime for Week 1: maybe around 9AM (provided it is not foggy, cold or windy), then bring them in around 4:00PM.  Week 2: try 8:AM to 5:00PM; Week 3 - 8AM to 6PM; Week 4: 7AM to 7PM.  By October 1st they should be ready stay outside full time, year around. 

Depending upon the type of aviary they are going into and the exposure it has to the elements; you always want to provide an area that the canaries can fly to and get out of the full sun.  You would also want to protect at least 1 side of the aviary from wind, so determine particularly in the winter months what direction the wind comes from and shelter that side of the aviary, secured heavy plastic would work very good. Or, you could place the aviary or cage near an exterior part of the house or a fence.  I would also suggest that the top of the cage or aviary also be covered year around.