sick bird?

Question
Hi, I was just wondering about my budgie. I live in Australia and its summer over here at the moment, and really hot. We've been keeping our budgie in an air conditioned room (but not directly in front of the air conditioner) and making sure she has plenty of water etc. We came home from bbq last night and found her sitting on her perch wheezing and like she was having trouble breathing. We weren't sure whether it was the heat or not, but we've been keeping an eye on her and the room temperature. Today she's been doing the wheezing and funny breathing again, even though it wasn't particularly hot inside. We've kept the air conditioning going, and we noticed that sometimes she'd sit there with her wings sort of spread.
My brother sprayed her lightly with some water and she seemed to breathe a little better.
So, is it just the heat? Or could she be sick? Could she be feeling the heat a lot more than us? Because she was breathing funny still when we considered it to be cool. Please write back ASAP.
PS: We're trying to get a bigger cage so we can put a bath in there as well. We can't fit one through the door of her current one.
PPS: She's albino, will that make any difference to her body temperature?

Answer
Hi, Emily,

I don't know if she's sick or not without actually seeing the bird.  Birds have a hard time dealing with heat extremes.  Too hot for a bird would be temps over say about 80 degrees F, depending on what temp range the bird is used to.  When a bird is too hot, it will extend its wings from its body in order to reduce its body temperature and it will usually pant.  Often times, spraying a bird that is too hot will make things worse, as the water can act like a barrier and not allow the excess heat to escape the body.  The best thing to do is reduce the temp in the room the bird is in and try to maintain a constant temp.  

The wheezing is what bothers me about your post.  A hot bird won't necessarily wheeze.  Wheezing, along with the bird's other symptoms/behavior tells me your bird could have a respiratory problem.  This is particularly troublesome when you say she is still wheezing, breathing funny, even though it wasn't particularly hot inside.  Respiratory problems with birds is a serious problem.  I think your bird needs to be seen by a certified avian vet ASAP in order to discern what the problem is.  

Yes, bird's body temperatures are higher than ours.  Coupled with the fact they have feathers compounds the amount of heat your bird could be experiencing.  Your bird doesn't necessarily need a bird bath, she can bathe in her water dish if she wants to (you may need to provide 2 dishes of water in the cage).  I have birds that will bathe using water from their water bottles (yes, they can get very wet from using water from a water bottle!).  The albinoism shouldn't make any difference.  Has there been any changes in your bird's droppings?  Any other signs of illness (weight loss, behavior changes, not eating/drinking)?  If your bird isn't used to the air conditioning, she could have caught a cold or other respiratory problem as a result.  

In order to keep her cool enough, you may have to turn off light sources, block sun from coming in windows, definitely keep her in the air conditioned room, definitely ensure she has fresh water at all times...do all you can to reduce the amount of heat in the room, not necessarily focus on cooling the bird down.  

Chrys