What are the benefits of a bird room?

[Kimma]

Why do people have bird rooms? I figure some people have bird rooms because they have lots of birds and it's a good way to keep the mess and noise somewhat contained. Are there other advantages to a bird room? Would a bird room be any good for a solo bird?

I currently have a big cage sitting in my living room. I read that it is best for a bird to be in a social area, and even though I plan to have my bird out of his cage most times I'm home and he's not sleeping, there are going to be times where he'll need to be in his cage.

But, I have a spare room that could be a bird room. It's at the other end of the house away from the action.

 

[Kalidasa]

A solo bird is best housed in the room with the most action. You could use the spare room as a sleep area for him with a sleep cage. But definately keep him where the action is, even if no one is home.

 

[goalerjones]

You never have to clean the floor so you can have bird poop stalactites and stalagmites.

 

[Terry57]

I have 2 bird rooms as I have many birds. We also have cats and it makes it easier to keep them away from the birds. We have what used to be a large family room downstairs and we put a screen door on it and made it the bird room for the large guys. I would only suggest having a separate room if you have more than one, or if you spend the majority of your time in there. i have a computer and stereo in each of mine and spend all day down here with the big guys.

 

[Kalidasa]

You never have to clean the floor so you can have bird poop stalactites and stalagmites.

LMAO! Where did that come from?

 

[TessieB]

Since most of my birds were untamed birds donated to me, they lived in their own house. They made as much noise as they wanted, shoot bird feed as far as they can, and project poop anywhere they wanted without any consequences. While I spent as much time as I could, I worked a full time job, and had other hobbies that kept me busy. However that does not mean the place was not clean. I had a routine and was up at 5 am to start my chores before I went to work. Even though they lived in a separate facility they were not forgotten.

When I lost my flock to an accident, I purposely searched out birds who were not bonded to people. The two Amazons I purchased were supposedly raised together and the owner wanted to keep them together. They were reported to be tame and talking once they got used to you. So I brought them home and set them up in the 'bird house'. For the first few days they squabbled with each other and ignored me, so I suspected I was lied to.

After a few days they settled down and have revealed they are well-trained and do get along with each other, but I have not seen them preen each other. When they are out of the cage they talk and babble to me. However, they eagerly return inside the cage when asked and wait for their reward. Since they do have each other I don't feel bad about leaving them alone, but I make a point to spend as much time with them as possible. And they have several windows to look out of, and now they have settled in I rolled the cage to one window where they can observe me working the horses. And let me tell you they don't mind adding their own two-cents worth about my horses.

My point to this ramble is to remind parronts if you do have a bird room, spend as much quality time with the occupants as you can. And if you do have a solo bird, a bird room makes an excellent 'time out' room, but the well-socialized bird needs to have time with the human family. Just make sure the area you choose is safe from kitchen fumes, the heavy smoker, and the terrorist toddler.

 

[JerseyWendy]

I turned our dining room into our bird room. There are no doors isolating the fids from us. In fact the "bird room" is right next to our living room (wide open floor plan) and viewable with a very wide entrance way from the kitchen. That way my flock can always be a part of the family and activities. Of course they take turns spending time together outside of their cages, on 2 huge combined Java trees.

I prefer having them all on one room. Makes the cleanup a wee bit more centralized, versus cleaning the entire downstairs on a daily basis.

 

[Mike17]

I move around Oz quite a bit and get housing supplied by employer (Oz govt) so can't have a bird room as such, but current house and the one before it had/have what are called "family rooms" in Oz, and these are close to the kitchen (which isn't a good thing, with open plan) but chosen because of time spent in the kitchen, and the fact that they have non-carpet floor covering, quarry tile at present home, lino previously. The house before that had no family room so the birds were kept in dining room (but we had a lot less birds then ).

When I retire to Tasmania I intend to build or convert an existing room, with coved corner lino/vinyl floor (most houses in Tassie have wooden floors), opening out to enclosed verandah, hopefully with a closed connection to the aviaries further down the backyard. That way, the inside birds can go out on the verandah for a fly, and some of the birds that like to interact (like our eccy and corella) can have a play together without mixing ones that hate each other (like the aforementioned corella and 'tiels generally). At the moment we can't let the "inside" birds onto the verandah because they panic with the bigger birds around.

One thing I hope to avoid is open plan. In any case this is only found on newer homes in Tasmania since they quite sensibly realised years ago that it's easier to warm a room or two rather than most of the house, as is the case with open plan. We have problems cooling the house (heat being the enemy where I live now) due to the open plan, plus, the birds fly in a big circuit taking in about 5 rooms, no way to stop them:52:

 

[goalerjones]

You never have to clean the floor so you can have bird poop stalactites and stalagmites.

LMAO! Where did that come from?

I read the title only, then thought of the funniest thing I could before finding out where the thread was really going to go.

 

[Blueridge]

Bird rooms are cool because your birds can poop all over the place and not feel guilty for soiling your leather couch.

 

[chippy]

You never have to clean the floor so you can have bird poop stalactites and stalagmites.

TOO funny!!!!!

 

[MonicaMc]

Noise and mess is contained. Birds are safe to fly around the room without worry about getting into something they shouldn't. Safe from cats and dog. There's an extra door between them and the outside doors so less chance of escape if the front or back door was open. Easier to clean linoleum tile than it is carpet. Being able to get a proper amount of sleep at night without getting disturbed.


Saying that, I'd rather have them out in the livingroom... if it was large enough to accommodate the cages. But then, I'd have to worry about the cats bothering the birds and the cats having their random vroom vrooms around the house in the middle of the night.... not to mention the fact that humans tend to go to sleep late at night, which would keep the birds up for much longer than what they are accustomed to....

 

[LakeDesire]

I've been considering sacrificing my office to make a bird room for my two African greys, but I have some concerns. These two are the naughty baseboard-chewers I posted about last week. Here are the pros and cons I can think of so far.

Pros:
The greys a rooms-sized "cage" for when I'm not home (and for them to sleep in so they can get up before me).
My living room is small and "taken-over" by cages (as my family tells me) and I could get the biggest cage out of there.
It would help my sanity to have my messiest birds in their own room.

Cons:
My greys are friendly, well-socialized birds and enjoy being with the family, so I am worried about tucking them away. (Well, they run around and chew on everything, but they are easy to handle and like meeting new people.)
The window in the office is small and has an un-exciting view, whereas the living room has a nice view. (I live in the city on a quiet street with a lot of walkers.)
I'm worried no matter how well I "bird proof" the bird room that they'll find trouble when they're unsupervised.


My office has hardwood floors, which I find pretty easy to clean up bird poop from, and is about 10 feet by 10 feet.

I also don't think I'd put my amazon or conure in a bird room. I always leave their cage doors open, and neither wander past their personal area, so I think they're happy with their arrangement, and they enjoy looking out the window.

 

[Birdman666]

Same answer everyone else gave. Mine are out 24/7. This keeps the mess contained. Less to clean up.

My house has two living rooms. One is for birds. The other is for people.

 

[BoomBoom]

I don't really have a bird room, but I did make a sort of garden with perches in a section of another room. I just see it as another place for Boomer to visit besides the living room and kitchen (I live in a 1 bedroom apartment so all space is used lol)

I think bird rooms work more for multiple parrots who can bask in each other's company.

 

[Freespin]

My partner turned his sun room into a "cage" for his too. It's a very cool set up and she can see what's going on outside.

 

[Abigal7]

If you only have one bird then I would set up where the activity is. Bird rooms are usually for those that have multiple birds. It does keep the mess and noise contained. You can search bird rooms on youtube. Not to change the subject but there is also now such a thing as a pet room. Since Captain Jack is the only bird he stays in the living room. I also think bird rooms and usually found in bigger houses. My house is small. If I could I wish I had a sun room that I could use as a bird room but where I live sun rooms are not common.