Cleaning Dexters Old Cage

[Violet_Diva]

I hadn't planned on using Dexters cage again, as I felt it was too small and was lacking the little fold down door/platform that my guys love!
But since the purchase of Gerry's cage fell through, I've found myself deciding to put Gerry in Dexters old cage until I find a more suitable replacement. Dexters old cage is wider than Gerry's current one, so I'm hoping he can flap his little wings a bit easier without knocking his new bloodfeathers!

Anyhooooooo...
Dexters old cage was outside in pieces, covered in a tarp. I hadn't bothered to store it very well as I wasn't planning on using it again. I'm now going through the process of cleaning it. It had a bunch of pigeons feathers and pigeon dust collected and stuck to it, as well as mud, snails, spiders etc.

Round 1
Removed all visible beasts and relocated them, including 3 big spiders and about 10 snails! Rinsed the cage off with cold water from outside tap to get rid of any surface solids.

Round 2
Scrubbed with soap filled metal scouring pads and rinsed to remove all surface dirt and dust before bringing the parts into the house (don't want to contaminate the house with pigeon-ness!

Round 3
Took all parts upstairs and into the bathroom where each part was washed meticulously with washing up liquid and a sponge. All rinsed and left to stand on a towel.

Round 4
Washed again with Apple cyder vinegar and rinsed.

Round 5
Washed again with F10 and rinsed.

Very long job, but I know I'd be paranoid about that pigeon dust! I hope I'm verging on the side of over-kill rather than under doing it...

Just got to rebuild the damn thing now... move all the perches and toys into it... Oh and Gerry!

 

[SailBoat]

Wonderful job of cleaning. Only recommendation is to change to plastic in place of the metal scouring pads.

Hope Gerry likes his new digs!

 

[Violet_Diva]

Wonderful job of cleaning. Only recommendation is to change to plastic in place of the metal scouring pads.

Hope Gerry likes his new digs!

Yeah, I don't usually use those metal ones, but the cage was rather grotty, so I thought as a one-off it'd be ok. Good point though - I don't want to scratch the powder coating, but there was so much surface grot, I don't think I harmed the cage (at least I hope not!)

 

[Violet_Diva]

It was rather a late night in the end. I think the birds got to bed at half twelve instead of half ten! I just wanted to get Gerry in and settled.

After work today I'll need to take his old cage apart and clean that, but at least it should be easier!

Photos of Gerry in the 'new' cage to follow...

 

[Violet_Diva]

So here's a photo with the old cage in the background



And here's a photo of the new cage

As you can see by comparison of the door width alone, it is much roomier than his old one. And it cleaned up well!

 

[Violet_Diva]

I've tried photographing him about 20 times, and he's just a green blur!
(You wouldn't think a flightless bird could move so fast!)

So I ended up snapping a couple of pics while he was stuffing his face