Grate Cleaning

[Christinenc2000]

My cage is to big to take outside and do a good scrub down . The steamer i use takes good care of it but the grate is a PITA to clean any way you try . I normally just take that and the bottom tray outside on the deck and scrub. Well I was out of cleaning crap and looking around all I had was Gain Laundry Detergent. OMG that stuff is amazing on Bird Poop.

Serious > I stood the grate up and started to scrub . 1 gallon bucket with a little of the gain in it. Well I was shocked when it started running down the grate and it just melted the poop off. No scrubbing. NONE just squeezed the rage and let the liquid do the work. Rinse and let dry. I would not use this on the cage inside because it does smell strong but this is the only way I will clean the grate from now on .

 

[Dopey]

I love the smell of gain. Thanks for much for this tip.

 

[Allee]

Very nice tip, thanks for sharing! Some of the best tips are learned by accident.

 

[Minimaker]

I use undiluted white vinegar with a good shot of lemon juice in it, a few drops of dawn dish soap in it, and orange rinds in the bottle which I leave in there all the time (think orange oil in store bought cleaners). It works well on inside messes and is less expensive. It's so acidic with that extra shot of lemon juice in there that it cleans fast and cuts through that poop. I read online lemon juice is a natural disinfectant. With the addition of dawn dish soap in the mix, I feel certain it cleans very well. I spray it on and wait about three minutes and the poop wipes up easily. I've been using it with no side effects for my birds for almost a year now. I figured if they use dawn dish soap to wash wild birds and other animals during oil spills it's got to be safe enough. My outside plan is usually hit it with a high pressure sprayer nozzle on the garden hose for awhile, which gets off the majority of the stuck on stuff. A scrub brush gets the few remaining spots. Afterward I spray it down with my homemade cleaner and give it a few minutes. After that I use my hose sprayer again to rinse it and I'm done. The only draw back is that vinegar smells funny. At least it dries quickly though and is totally gone.

 

[RavensGryf]

I keep mine from getting too hard to clean since I can't stop myself from "spot cleaning" at least a couple times a day. Saves having a big job to clean

 

[Bundiibird]

I also wipe the cage grate with coconut oil once it is clean. The poop just comes off so much easier the next time you clean then.

 

[Mimsy01]

I find vinegar takes it off pretty easily and I do wipe it daily. I'm gross though and will stick it in my tub if it needs a bit more and spray it down with vinegar and then shower it in hot water.

 

[DexMom]

I love the coconut oil idea! I'm a daily grate cleaner so typically the poop is not too hard to get off. That one spot underneath where Dexter roosts at night can get pretty caked on though, since he doesn't move all night. I might try oiling up just that one area.

 

[greytness]

I spray Pam on the heavily poop-bombarded areas on the grates. Works the same way as the coconut oil does.