Are certin cleaners safe?

[mrgoogls]

hey guys. i know fumes frm cleaners are bad for bird and can kill them. but what kinds of cleaners are bad? can we still use things like Windex or anyother glass cleaner? or something to dust wood tables(our endtables are wood). i can and will keep the bird in a different room with the door closed with ANY cleaner. and can we still use like air fresheners in our bathroom? because the bird wont be there and the door will be closed, so it should be okay right? thanks!

 

[DebsFlock]

I would not use Windex in the immediate presence of the birds as ammonia is a pretty irritating substance.

The only thing I use in the room with the birds with the birds in it is Poop Off. When we had wood floors in the bird room, I'd also use very dilute Murphy's Oil Soap without too much concern. Anything stronger I use out of the direct presence of the birds.

Although it's only rarely that the actual fragrance is the damaging thing, for most substances, the fragrance and the cleaner will disperse at a comparable rate. I tend to use the rule of thumb, that if I can't smell it in or near the bird's room, I use it without concern.

Ventilation is therefore a key component... if you have a small stuffy house or a studio apartment, IMO you need to be a lot more cautious than in a larger well-ventilated house.

I try to avoid air fresheners with strong scents or things like "Febreeze" in them, but I do have some vanilla scented plug-ins in parts of the house away from the bird room, where the birds don't spend a lot of time. I try to avoid getting bleach or ammonia fumes near the bird room and I don't use pine-based cleaners, but beyond that I don't sweat it over much. If I'm using bleach based cleaner in the kitchen, I turn the vent fan on high (and it's a powerful one that is properly ducted to the outside) and close the door to the bird's room. I'd prefer to avoid that, actually, but we have white tile counters in the new house and nothing else actually cleans the grout up.

Plenty of people use nothing but vinegar and water everywhere in the house, but my personal opinion is that that's overkill. Aside from which, acetic acid can be pretty irritating to breathe in quantity. I mostly try to stick to milder scented products (I like some of the Method brand) and keep them away from the birds.

I did decide having air fresheners in the bathrooms was not optimal as I like to bring the birds in to bathe in the sink. I do have one in the WC in the master bath, but that's it.

At some point, it comes down to risk tolerance. We really don't know which products are harmful and which aren't. We tend to be fixated on the strength of the odor, but plenty of odorless things are deadly, so I think that's a bit of a red herring. Since we mostly don't know, but we do know birds are delicate, we all make our best guess at what level of caution is "safe".

 

[mrgoogls]

okay thanks. i didnt plan to use anything right next to the bird. the closest it will be is like the nest room. and thats only with windex which doesnt have very bad fumes. things like carpet or over cleaner is across the house with door shut aND ALL WINDOWS OPEN. THANKS!

 

[mrgoogls]

sorry about that caps at the end!