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The Bird Lady Speaks
Hello everyone! My name is Vivienne, and I am known as the “bird lady”! I will be writing informational articles for this web site on a monthly basis. I have owned birds for many years, and I worked for Petsmart. I want to start off the first article on the basics of bird care. Cleanliness is paramount, if you have had even one bird for one day you know all too well the mess they can make. And, the bigger the bird the bigger the mess!
With many of us constrained by time, it is common sense not to let things get out of hand. For starters, it’s always a great idea to have extra dishes, and an extra water bottle around so all you have to do is exchange them with the dirty ones. If you utilize newspaper(black and white only), or paper towels then layer them so all you have to do is remove the top layer and throw it out. It’s also good to have a small hand, or stick vacuum handy to clean up any seeds that will inevitably be thrown out of the cage. Always remember if your bird can reach it they will chew it. This includes cage skirts, and what ever is on the bottom of the cage.
Keep your cage where your bird is not able to reach curtains, window blinds or any cords from window treatments. In regards to walls, try to put up a plastic tarp or old bed sheet to protect the walls. You may even want to paint a nearby wall with a semi-gloss paint as it is much easier to clean then flat paint. The cage is another area that is time-consuming to clean. You must be careful as to what cleaners you utilize to clean the cage with as many leave enough of a residue to cause a toxic ingestion of a cleaner. I typically send my small cages through the dish washer with no dishes, then run the dish washer empty after that. the bigger cages I use a mild bleach solution, and hot water.
The last topic I will discuss is food storage, money wise it might seem smart to buy that big bag of seed or pellets. But if not stored properly you will get grain moths that are very hard to eradicate. I found the best thing to do is just have out what you are going to use in a couple of days, and freeze the rest. Well, hope this is of some help! If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email the “bird lady” at Jfomorgan@aol.com!
Until next month, love and take care of your animal companions.
Viv the Bird Lady |
