@rjohns39 said you needed a bit of help. Budgies are pretty tough and the most important thing with outdoor birds is to avoid huge temperature swings, and drafts. I found this on another forum which might help:
You don't need a heater. What you need to do is to get a sheet of plastic. Attach it to the top of the cage and the bottom. At the bottom attach a stick. You can staple the plastic if you will use a small bit of cardboard to make a washer for the staple. Then when it warms up you can roll the plastic up. This will let your birds enjoy the fresh day air. Leave the plastic on three sides and the one side where you can roll it up. I had a friend who live in upstate Massachusetts. He raised cockatiels and parakeets out in the bitter cold. He didn't heat the birds. He did have a light bulb that came on for 16 hours a day. They would even come out and eat and play in the snow. They will eat about twice as much as in warm weather so make sure you feed them bunches. As long as you keep the drafts off of them they should do very well. As long as you can close them off from the cold winds they will be OK. I raise them out doors here in KY. I have Amazon parrots, cockatiels and parakeets outside in a metal building. It gets cold enough to freeze the water sometimes, but there are no drafts. I have never lost a bird to the cold. The Blue Front Amazons laid and hatched in late November. The African Grey Congo's hatched babies in February last. They don't mind the cold as long as they always have plenty of fresh water and good fresh food.
I'm sorry you lost your chicken too.
Its never easy to lose an animal, especially when it's so unexpected. It just shows what a good chicken keeper you are that you care for them so much.
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