Keeping Your Bird Healthy By Keeping It’s Cage Clean
Birds are wonderful and can be entertaining pets; however, they have a tendency to create a significant mess in and around their bird cages from spent food and bird droppings. Responsibility for a healthy, happy bird requires good housekeeping in addition to playtime and emotional bonding.
Keeping Your Bird Cage Healthy and Clean
The regular upkeep of your bird’s living environment within your home is very important for its overall health and happiness. Holly Nash of peteducation.com writes, “One of the keys to keeping your bird healthy is regular cleaning of your bird’s cage, play stands, and accessories…” It may seem time consuming at first but before long, the basic upkeep for your bird will be quick, efficient and well-worth the invested time. I have provided some healthy tips below that should help provide a guide for the necessary cleaning that will keep you and your bird happy
What To Look For
- Disinfectant that will not harm birds (as birds are extremely sensitive to toxic fumes).
Healthy Tips
Home Disinfectant Recipe:
- Instead of using bleach, try combining one part Hydrogen peroxide with eight parts water.
- Allow to soak for 5 – 10 minutes.
- Rinse thoroughly with clean water.
DAILY CLEANING:
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- Replace the cage liner.
- Newspaper with black and white ink makes good liners.
- Wash food and water dishes in hot, soapy water. Dry thoroughly.
- If you use a water bottle, clean it thoroughly with a bottlebrush.
- If you have a birdbath, perches or other toys, these should be washed in hot, soapy water and dried thoroughly.
WEEKLY/MONTHLY CLEANING:
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- Clean cages of large birds weekly. Monthly cleaning should be okay for smaller birds.
- Place the bird in another room (preferably in another cage) to protect it from any cleaning fumes, etc.
- Clean out any seeds or loose droppings from the cage floor.
- Place the cage in the bathtub/shower and scrub with hot, soapy water. Spray with disinfectant if possible and dry completely.
- Clean perches and toys thoroughly, removing droppings with environmentally friendly dishwashing detergent (note: try using sandpaper to remove droppings from wooden perches and toys).
- Disinfect perches and toys after washing them, rinse thoroughly and dry.
- Lemons are natural cleaners and can be used in place of bleach as well. Add ½ cup of lemon juice into a bucket of water and let your bird’s flooring, perches and toys soak for 30 min to overnight.
- Empty, wash, and disinfect the cage apron as well as any tile flooring, vinyl and plastic carpet runners.
- Clean the area underneath the cage and make sure the walls are clean from food or other materials.
- Make sure all items are completely dry before placing back into the cage and refill its food and water.
