Keeping your birds clean is important if you want to keep them healthy. There is so much information available now on cleaning product, safe & non safe. Sometimes it's hard  to know what is best to use around birds & other times you can find some information misleading.

There are a lot of products in shops that state they're safe for birds. This isn't always true so read the ingredients. If you're unsure of a product don't buy it. Look out for the cleaning products that state organic or natural. This could simply mean they've added a natural ingredient to the product or the product itself is not manufactured organically but they used some organically grown or made ingredients to make the product. This does not mean it is organic. Always read labels & ingredients carefully when considering a new product for your birds.  

There are debates about whether bleach is able to remove bacteria from things. There are people who say it just makes things look white & clean & those who say it does actually clean. This is a debate that will continue on probably for ever. It's chemical vs natural cleaners.

Bleach is an unsafe product in large amounts & used often. If you choose to use bleach this is how. Two or three drops of bleach mixed in 500 ml of water. A thorough rinse should follow the use of bleach. Metal or glass food & water containers should replace plastic ones as e-coli can embed itself into plastic & no matter what you use to remove it, you cannot remove it from plastic or any other porous things.

You should change or clean the food & water bowls as often as it gets dirty which can be once a day to 3 times a day. Change old branches for new ones every few month is also recommended to prevent e-coli.

In the end, You can’t disinfect a birds cage entirely & toys, branches, ropes etc are porous so disinfectants only work on them for a period of time, after this they need to be replaced. Studies have shown just using a little soap to scrub these things can remove up to 95% of the harmful bacteria & fungus & disinfecting makes very little difference, if any at all. If your bird is healthy it is more likely to already be resistant to many bacteria it is normally exposed to. A healthy immune system will help against any other new germs that come around.

Ingredients Safe For Cleaning

Vinegar: acts as a disinfectant & absorbs odours

Bi - Carb: absorbs odours & acts as a scrubbing agent

Lemon Juice(100% natural): acts as a freshener & bleach. It whitens

Water: dilutes strong cleaners & is also effective when hot

You can use all these for all purpose cleaners. The vinegar & bi-carb of soda are also great for cleaning carpets.

For fresheners you can add a small container of 50/50 vinegar & lemon juice

For other fresheners add herbs, spices, lemon rinds etc to boiling water or just boiled water & place in various places around the home.

Carpet Cleaner

50/50 water & white vinegar

All Purpose Cleaner

1 TBSP Bi-carb soda

4 TBSP Lemon juice

4 TBSP Vinegar

Water to fill 250ml

Mould Remover

50/50 lemon juice &

white vinegar

*Grapefruit seed extract is known as Travellers Friend Citrus Seed Extract in Australia.

*Citra-solv is only found in the US but in Australia we do have a large range of citrus cleaners available to us. Just make sure they’re a natural citrus & any other ingredient in them are safe for birds.

Diluted eucalyptus oil is OK to use for cleaning but as with everything you use, rinse thoroughly.

Safeguard Fruit & Veggie Wash is great for surface washing in the kitchen & throughout the house. It's a West Australian organic product that. It can be found in some places in the Eastern states but is not a world wide product. This cleaner lifts waxes & tough dirt.

A disinfectant used by avian vets in Australia is F10 SC Veterinary Disinfectant  (recommended dilution: 2-4ml in 1 litre of water)

Gypsy

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