FINCHforum

I read this on another site but it seamed a valid question for here.

" Hey there folks, I was wondering what you all use for cleaning the bottoms and all of your birds' cages? I am looking for a reasonably priced, safe product for cleaning the cages and was just wondering what you all use and recommend.

The best thing to use for cleaning and disinfecting is good old inexpensive white vinegar and water, stuck on dried bird poop? wet a paper towel with vinegar lay it on the area, including perches and clean the rest of the cage when you get done the poop will be soft and you can wipe it away, the EPA has endorsed vinegar as it has a 85-95% kill rate on viruses and bacteria, even hospitals are starting to us it for cleaning, yes it does have a scent but it dissipates in a short time, and your bird will not be exposed to anything dangerous, you can add a couple drops apple cider vinegar to the birds drinking water, it will cut bacteria and is beneficial where the, and if your bird tends to dunk its food, toys then maybe you should think water bottles instead, however you have to teach the bird there is water in the bottles, and not remove water bowls till you are 110% sure its drinking from the bottle and you need to clean the bottles as well daily and check that the spout is not clogged"
James

I like that I could use vinegar, and I am going to try it.

I have read about the Edstrom Water buddy drinking bottle, which is dripless and doesn't use a vacuum valve so the water stays much cleaner.
It sounds like the best tube watering system.

What do you all think of Simple Green for cleaning the bird cages?

I have been using a dilute solution to clean my cages and I use varying strengths to clean the rest of my house since I have felines roaming around. I see that some of you use a vinegar solution and wonder if anyone has compared the two.

I've been using vinegar for my cleaning for the past few years. perches in the main aviary are cleaned using 100% vinegar and steel wool then rinsed off with water. for seed,water & live food dishes I use a 50% vinegar to 50% vinegar mixture again using steel wool as the scouring pad.
the only problem I have ever had with using vinegar has been my nose I hate the smell of the stuff but seeing as it has no ill effect on the birds I'll continue to use it.

mickp wrote:
the only problem I have ever had with using vinegar has been my nose I hate the smell of the stuff but seeing as it has no ill effect on the birds I'll continue to use it.

Us English have no problem with this having drenched fish and chips in the stuff for years...

And to our friends in the colonies chips are what you lot call fries...what you call chips...we call crisps...Stop mucking about with our language.

BillD - I use Simple Green and love it, have had no problems using it to clean cages, perches, etc. I have had a bucket full of dilute solution in the birdroom with no effect on birds. I have not compared it with vinegar, however.

poohbear wrote: Us English have no problem with this having drenched fish and chips in the stuff for years...

And to our friends in the colonies chips are what you lot call fries...what you call chips...we call crisps...Stop mucking about with our language.

poohbear, the first time I ever tasted malt vinegar was in London, on fish and chips--wonderful! And I became addicted to salt and vinegar crisps. We finally have salt and vinegar crisps here in the US, and they are a poor imitation of the UK ones.

James wrote:I read this on another site but it seamed a valid question for here.

" Hey there folks, I was wondering what you all use for cleaning the bottoms and all of your birds' cages? I am looking for a reasonably priced, safe product for cleaning the cages and was just wondering what you all use and recommend.

We use Cage Guard, it works very nicely and is quick to use.

Thanks Sally..

Just wanted to know if anyone else uses Simple Green. It doesn't have the odor from a vinegar solution, but does have good cleaning and is safe for all of our 'kids'. I've been using it for a long time with my felines. I'm glad someone else uses it to clean Avian enclosures.

I'm a Fish and Chips fan with malt vinegar too.. Just don't tell my Koi that.

PoohBear:
I'm sure we have no comparable replication of your British Fish and Chips here in the states. We have Long John Silver.. hehe.. a poor simulation of what you have there. I do drown it in Malt Vinegar though.

I Love all types of cuisine. You have a great diversity there and I am quite jealous. It's a lot different than here in Texas. I do frequent Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Phillipino and Laotian restaurants here and I always look for more. We just don't have the options you have there. Again, I am jealous.

If I make a trip 'across the pond' I would like to meet you and enjoy some original Fish and Chips.

I have been using bleech to clean my avairies,then hosing it out,I have twenty litres of vineger in a drum and was wonering what to do with it.I was thinking about putting it on fish and chips,but coudnt bring myself to drowing them.Ill keep to the dead horse (tom sauce) on my fish and chips.

PoohBear - be nice and send BillD some fish n chips...

Better yet - send ALL of us some

Sally wrote:poohbear, the first time I ever tasted malt vinegar was in London, on fish and chips--wonderful!

eeewww! Malt vinegar on fries???? No way! Plain ol' white vinegar for me! Maybe it's a Canadian thing, eh?

franny wrote:

Sally wrote:poohbear, the first time I ever tasted malt vinegar was in London, on fish and chips--wonderful!

eeewww! Malt vinegar on fries???? No way! Plain ol' white vinegar for me! Maybe it's a Canadian thing, eh?

Uhhhh, nope, sorry it's not a Canadian thing cause I love malt vinegar on my fries and fish.

Maybe white vinegar is more of a BC or Langley thing, eh?

I use an environmentally friendly, organic dish soap to clean the bird cage and dishes. I just rinse everything well. If things are heavily soiled, I do soak them in a vinegar & water solution (white vinegar - I wouldn't waste any other kind on cleaning and white vinegar should not touch food! eugh!!) and then clean with the soap. It's a very gentle soap made by 7th Generation - I've been using it for years for all of my pets (excluding the fish of course).

Fish and chips - well I don't eat fish anymore, but I used to drown them in malt vinegar whenever I had them (still do with the chips!) I guess we're lucky in Toronto - lots of British people here, so there are some really good Chip shops around (although there are some pretty manky ones as well!) Some even have mushy peas and deep-fried mars bars. Nearly as good as Britain, although people here tend to be afraid to try anything but halibut!

I'm surprised you've only recently gotten Salt and Vinegar chips (crisps) in the US. That's been the only flavour I'll eat ever since I was a kid. Love the kettle cooked sea salt and malt. mmmmm

White vinegar is just so wrong....unless it is in my cleaning supplies

Sorry for hijacking your thread James....shouldn't have mentioned fish 'n' chips...

Still prefer the old fashioned chip shop to McDonalds and company though.