Cleaning out 30 cages plus???

[Zebra-mutations]

Ok i am trying to come up with ways to keep my 30+ cages clean.

I usually keep my cages clean with newspaper. I will put 3-5 sheets in and take the top layer off daily. and give the walls/perches a wipe down.

I have plastic water drinkers on the outside of the cage to help stop poop/infection. And the waters are changed 1-2 days.

Bathes i change daily which are provided 2 times a week. Most hange on the outside of the cage but there is the odd one that is inside which i have to watch close so it doesnt flood the cages -_-

I do a big clean out weekly too. I start at one cage and finish at the other end of the room.

The main issues i have is washing the cages.

I dont have running water or hot water in my birdroom.

I dont have running hot water downstairs either so i use cold water by bucket.

I usually use cold fairy liquid or poultry shield which is a disinfectant/mite killer.

But how do you clean yours out?

Do you change the water between each cage? Do you spray the cages with cleaner? Do you just wipe them down with a cloth?

I currently use washing liquid and change it between each cage but the amount of water i have to transport up and down the stairs is undoable now.

So if i switched to HOT soapy fairy liquid and just used the same water for all cages would this lead to contamination? Obviously you would rinse the cloth betwenn cages.

I bought a eucaliptus fairy liquid as it said antibacterial on it and i thought great stuff! Will use that! But i just thought today. Isnt it toxic to pets? Would it hurt them?

How often do you clean your walls/perches? What do you use?

[dutch]

Vinegar is the best ....its non toxic to birds...and its perfect for cleaning....I just spray the whole avairy walls floors and perches with vinegar. ...let it stand for 5 mins then spray the whole avairy down with a high pressure hose

[Nerien]

Get a second bucket and then also a smaller container, like a quart or so. Make up your first bucket with your cleaner in it. Take out only a small portion of that water into the smaller container. Clean a cage. Dump the dirty water into the second bucket. Put new clean water into the smaller container. Clean next cage. Dump into second bucket of already dirty water. Put new clean water into smaller container. Clean next cage....

If worried about it, use a small portion of clean water for a rinse of the small container before refilling to actually clean the next cage.

This way, you don't have to carry so many buckets of water up and down the stairs. One bucket clean water, one bucket waste water, small container to hold what you are actually using each time.

[Zebra-mutations]

Thanks for speedy reply.

I have heard that using vinegar and fairy liquid together is also safe.

Prob is dutch i have 4ft breeding cages so cannot spray the cages without removing the birds.

Do you think http://www.ocado.com/product/218110011? ... tAodNVIAPQ

This is safe to use in my cages?

How often do you guys clean your walls/perches?

[MiaCarter]

I find the bottom grate is the most challenging to clean efficiently.

I'll use a spray bottle with 1 part water and 1 part white vinegar or 1 part bleach and 1 part water to soak a few paper towels, then I lay them over the bottom grate for about 5 min to soften up poop. Then it wipes right off.
Not sure if this would be practical for you due to sheer volume? You'd easily go through a couple rolls of paper towels.

If necessary, I'll flip the grate and repeat for the other side.
I have another cage with a bottom grate that can't be removed, so I'll use a wet toothbrush to get the underside as best I can.

I wipe down the perches and walls daily. Same stuff - vinegar and water or bleach and water.
I've found the daily wipe downs are easier than a weekly wipe down.

I do not use soap, as I've read this leaves a potentially-toxic residue.

I don't do any mite sprays or chemicals like that, since my guys are all indoors. And I treat all new comers before they even set foot in the bird room.

When it comes to cleaning, my main pain point is poop residue.
It forms on the food bowl perch and a couple spots on the lip of the plastic cage bottom that are in the line of fire of their favorite sitting spots.

The poop leaves a residue that is super hard to remove.
The actual poop comes right off once dampened, but this film needs to be scraped off.
No amount of soaking helps.
I have to use a sharp steak knife to scrape it off (in fact, I have a package of steak knives just for this purpose. They're good for 2-3 scrape downs, then they're junk.)

It's a bit hard to describe the consistency of this poop film for anyone who's never seen it. If I had to compare it to something, it's a bit like mineral deposits from water in terms of consistency and the difficulty of removing it. In fact, part of me wonders if that's what it actually is - some sort of mineral deposit from the poop.
It only forms on plastic.

I have no idea when/how this residue forms, as I wipe down the perches and so forth daily. Sometimes, multiple times per day.

If you have the same problem, I can't imagine how you'd get it off of 30+ cages. It would take hours of scraping.

I read about a product called Poop Off and I'm thinking of trying it to see if it will work. (Anyone know if it will work for poop film?)


ETA -- I use the vinegar and water if I'm cleaning around the birds and they're in-cage.
I use the bleach and water if they're out-of-cage as I'm cleaning. I wouldn't want to spray that near them, but it's good for disinfecting.

[Zebra-mutations]

I do not have grates. Mine are wooden cages like these

http://www.arlaneaviculture.co.uk/ I have some of the 4ft finch breeders here.

I use a toothbrush to clean the wire and around the wire at the top and bottom if needed.

I did use ACV and water before even when cleaning out my bathes but then a really REALLY strong amonia smell started coming off the bathes so had to start washing with soap suds.

I use poultry shield to get some of the harder poop off. It is like acid and eats through it. Some of my perches are stained and cannot get it off but most comes off with this stuff.

You gotta use gloves when using it at full strength or it eats into your flesh. IT HURTS!

[MiaCarter]

Oooh, those wooden cages are a nice little set up, with the little breeding box.

Seems like Dutch's method would probably work best for you with your particular set-up. Spray down, let it sit, then wipe.

I've never heard of Poultry Shield. But may be worth a try if it works for the poop film!

[Zebra-mutations]

Wont spraying the cages with ACV water damage the birds lungs if i was to spray it with them in it?

As i have a pair or single birds in each 2 ft cage

[MiaCarter]

Wont spraying the cages with ACV water damage the birds lungs if i was to spray it with them in it?

I was worried about that too. Most things aren't good if inhaled.
It's possible it could cause problems if you have the sprayer on a fine mist setting.
I use the medium setting on my spray bottle, so it's slightly larger droplets.

I looked at the spray in the light and the droplets don't stay airborne like the fine mist setting and therefore, it's not inhaled.

I know vinegar is safe for birds, so if they came in contact with a small amount, I don't believe it would cause any harm. In fact, I know some people put a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar in their birds' water for the nutrients and the antibacterial qualities. But I'd avoid fine mist sprayers so they don't inhale it.

[lovezebs]

Zebra-mutations
Holy crow, that's a lot of cages! How long does it take you to clean all those???
As for cleaning. I cover bottom grate with newspapers, so that cuts out having to clean grate. Perches, cage bars and so on get wiped down as needed with mild soap solution. If this doesn't work, I use mild water/vin solution. Dishes, baths and so on are soaked in hot water and soap and the washed and rinsed.