the big question on whether to cage birds or not.

[Mel]

That same application form should be used for people having children....

...and if you fail you get spayed or neutered

 

[HRH Di]

That same application form should be used for people having children....

...and if you fail you get spayed or neutered

Agreed...but that's a whoooooollllle different discussion.

 

[Mel]

That same application form should be used for people having children....

...and if you fail you get spayed or neutered

Agreed...but that's a whoooooollllle different discussion.

Yep probably best to leave that one alone

 

[SharonC]

Just making a point that it would probably be impossible to "regulate" intelligence and kindness.

 

[wildheart]

I am 100% for a regulation, the people must write an exam, their house must be checked and follow up calls must be made. But, the only thing that will happen is that the 10% will comply and the rest will simply buy from the black market.

It is really such a sad issue and it kills me every day. I broke out in tears a couple of weeks ago when I saw parrots at the flea market cramped up in tiny cages (fit for nothing), with no toys and left in the wind. They looked soooo sad and unhealthy, I wish I had the money to buy all of them but then they will just be replaced with others.

I find it very hard to like people, but when I feel I am going insane then I turn to forums and read happy posts of people who do care, it helps.

 

[HRH Di]

Just making a point that it would probably be impossible to "regulate" intelligence and kindness.

agreed...so all we can do is try to help educate and offer help and insight to others.

 

[Birdamor]

There will always be different opinions on issues such as this. We (just the two of us)own a five bedroom house, with a huge family room downstairs, that hasn't been used much since our daughter grew up. My birds live on the main floor where I spend most of my time. They spend a few hours out daily, and the rest of the day, they are caged. They sleep in a unused bedroom, to ensure proper sleep. I have the room to allow cageless birds, but I wouldn't dream of doing so. I don't want to live in a house with birds pooping and eating wherever they feel like. For me, it's just not practcal, as I'd spend all my time cleaning up, and would have very little time for anything else. In my opinion, it wouldn't be healthy otherwise. Someone else may find this acceptable...If so, go for it! What I object to, is when someone feels that their way is the only way. Do what makes you happy...life is short!!!

And I agree 100%! I also do not want to live in a house with poop all over the place! I'll admit that I would if it was better for the birds because, in my house, the animals needs come first but, thankfully, I don't have to because it's better for the birds to be in a birdroom than in a living room or a kitchen or any other room that humans use for themselves.

As to cleaning, I don't have a single feather, seed, piece of fruit, poop or any other kind of parrot debris anywhere in my house EVER and not a single piece of furniture or window treatment or walls or anything chewed up by them! - And I bet A LOT of bird owners wished they could say the same!

 

[apatrimo94]

I agree as well. When I adopted my birds, I actually did have to fill out a form and do a questionaire to determine if my house, life style, and determination was enough for the birds. As you can see, I passed with flying colors. I love them so much and if I have to, I'll push mountains for them. Same for the animals at my school. We have over 20 different exotic animals, ranging from lizards to snakes to rodents, and 5 saltwater reef aquariums. Only me, and 6 other kids, out of 3,000 students, care enough to do all we possibly can to keep them all happy. We ask for help every few months but we turn people down because they do things that bring harm to the animals. We even once had a kid take 3 snakes at once out into the hall, and scare girls with them. But in human nature, many people are born with greed, selfishness, and ignorance. And I see it everyday and it makes me sad. So that 10% who care and do anything, including all of you on this forum, makes life all worthwhile for me. Keep doing what you all do; inspiring and educating others to follow your footsteps, like you all did to me. Thank you.

 

[SharonC]

There will always be different opinions on issues such as this. We (just the two of us)own a five bedroom house, with a huge family room downstairs, that hasn't been used much since our daughter grew up. My birds live on the main floor where I spend most of my time. They spend a few hours out daily, and the rest of the day, they are caged. They sleep in a unused bedroom, to ensure proper sleep. I have the room to allow cageless birds, but I wouldn't dream of doing so. I don't want to live in a house with birds pooping and eating wherever they feel like. For me, it's just not practcal, as I'd spend all my time cleaning up, and would have very little time for anything else. In my opinion, it wouldn't be healthy otherwise. Someone else may find this acceptable...If so, go for it! What I object to, is when someone feels that their way is the only way. Do what makes you happy...life is short!!!

And I agree 100%! I also do not want to live in a house with poop all over the place! I'll admit that I would if it was better for the birds because, in my house, the animals needs come first but, thankfully, I don't have to because it's better for the birds to be in a birdroom than in a living room or a kitchen or any other room that humans use for themselves.

As to cleaning, I don't have a single feather, seed, piece of fruit, poop or any other kind of parrot debris anywhere in my house EVER and not a single piece of furniture or window treatment or walls or anything chewed up by them! - And I bet A LOT of bird owners wished they could say the same!

I'd love to know your secret...I clean cages twice daily, and vac debris and floofies several times daily. The birds go to the sleep room, already clean, and I wake in the morning to feathers and more floofies...It's a vicious cycle!!! LOL! You don't have a single feather...EVER???? What am I doing wrong?

 

[Mel]

And I agree 100%! I also do not want to live in a house with poop all over the place! I'll admit that I would if it was better for the birds because, in my house, the animals needs come first but, thankfully, I don't have to because it's better for the birds to be in a birdroom than in a living room or a kitchen or any other room that humans use for themselves.

As to cleaning, I don't have a single feather, seed, piece of fruit, poop or any other kind of parrot debris anywhere in my house EVER and not a single piece of furniture or window treatment or walls or anything chewed up by them! - And I bet A LOT of bird owners wished they could say the same!

For me there's nothing better than sitting down to watch tv with chicka snuggling in or being @ work with Shadow chatting away. If I have to wipe up a bit of poo or wipe down a bit of food from the walls it's a very small price to pay. I'd Imagine a bird room would be a huge amount of work to keep clean

 

[Birdamor]

I'd love to know your secret...I clean cages twice daily, and vac debris and floofies several times daily. The birds go to the sleep room, already clean, and I wake in the morning to feathers and more floofies...It's a vicious cycle!!! LOL! You don't have a single feather...EVER???? What am I doing wrong?

The secret is all the birds are in the birdroom. That's why the rest of the house is always clean.

 

[Birdamor]

Actually, no it isn't. In the AM, I sweep, wipe and towel-dry the feeding platforms and give them all fresh food and water. The soft food goes on disposable paper plates, greens are clipped to the branches with old-fashioned clothes pins (but I always leave a few leaves laying on the platforms for the budgies who like to 'bathe' in them), fruits and veggies are either skewered on branches (apples, oranges, mangoes, papayas, potatoes, etc) or put on the plates (blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, corn on the cob, etc) and they get fresh water in clean SS bowls. I scrape the poop off window glasses and the windowsills, and sweep/wipe/towel-dry the tables and stands. I do keep the handicapped, the too fragile, the chronics and the sick in cages and those get their cages changed and wiped every day in the am. In the PM, I pick up all the food they might have thrown on the floor, all the paper plates and leftover produce and throw it away, change the waters that need changing (usually, just a few) and give them their dinner (seeds which I spread on the feeding platforms -and sweep off the following morning), I give out the nuts one by one to each large bird (the little ones don't get any whole, they get chopped ones mixed with the seeds). Once a week I wash the windows with pure white vinegar and the windowsills with a scrubby sponge dipped in warm water with a splash of Lysol. Another day, I throw away the old branches and put up new ones as well as taking down all the dirty toys, swings, boings, etc and replace them with clean ones. Another day I rake the bedding on the floor, wash it and put clean bedding on it. And the day after, I take apart the small cages and scrub them in the bathtub - the large flight cages get wiped weekly and power washed once a month (except when it's too cold in the winter when I just scrub them by hand only). In the winter, I also clean the humidifiers inside and out and change the filter in the air purifiers weekly. Once every three or four weeks, I scrape the poop and food off the walls and wipe them down with warm water and Lysol. And, once a year, I scrape the walls and paint them again but I am now moving and will be putting special panels on the walls of the new birdroom so I don't have to paint them and the birds can't chew them up.

The only thing about cleaning the birdroom is that you can't do everything on one single day but, if you follow a routine, it's always pretty clean and without a whole lot of work every day. I usuall spend about three hours in there every morning but it's not all spent cleaning, I also interact with them and, most importantly, I observe them.

 

[Mel]

Like anything once it's part of your daily routine it's no big deal. My husband & I had a week off work not long ago and he was shocked by how much time I spend preparing food and general care for the girls each day but for me it's not a chore, I enjoy it and it's just part of my morning routine.

As with many discusions here it's what suit you & your fids that works best

 

[Spiritbird]

The perfect bird room is the one at my avain vets office. Mind you there are 4 avain vets in one office. They have a bird room for the doc's birds that is all tile. There is a drain in the floor so the room gets hosed out a few times a day. The many perches are made of PVC pipe and there is a big climbing net on one side. Also there is a large glass window so the too can see out of and we can see inside. Any mess - - down the drain.

 

[Birdamor]

Yes, I have budgies out with the big birds. I think there are 22 of them but I am not sure because they zoom back and forth all the time and there are several that look very similar to each other so I never know if I already counted that bird or not but I will find out for sure once I catch them all to move. And, no, it's not dangerous at all. I have large, medium and small birds and they all live together very nicely. I only have problems during breeding time because the lovies and the budgies would fight for a good nesting spot and all the conures and the toos try to get into the cages where I keep the fragile ones so I have to be very careful to lock them up securely because, once, the U2s managed to open a canary's cage and got inside and poor Bruce died of a heart attack (he was already 14 and one of my favorites). But the larger birds have never attacked the little ones - well, the minis would sometime grab a tiel's tail and hang on to it while the poor bird is trying to fly away but they always let go (they are just cantankerous not really evil). And the male sennie once bit and broke the wing of a dove but he had been kept in a cage for ten years and had all kinds of aggression issues (he is fine now but I still no longer allow the doves with the parrots when I am not there, just in case). The only bird that killed was a female SI ekkie who grabbed a lovebird hen by the beak and pulled the whole thing off her face (I managed to stop the bleeding and rushed her to the emergency but she died that night in their ICU). She was rehomed because she could not adjust to living in the birdroom, she hated all other birds. But all the birds I have now have been together for some time and they all get along.