FINCHforum

Just wondering if there is a danger when you first turn on the furnace in the late fall? It usually does give off a smell.

Kelly

Living in a cold climate, I know what you meam about the furnace 'smell'. My guys have never had any problems with it.
However, if you're concerned, then turn the furnace up, open some windows, and let it run for a few minutes, until the smell clears out.

Kelly wrote: Sally


Under "May be problematic" is cuttle bone..Why would that be?? I thought all birds needed that.

To be honest, I'm not sure why that is listed. I can only assume it is because of the metal clips that often come supplied with the cuttlebone. Those are very sharp and have caused problems for birds in the past.

Sally@lovezebs

Sally,
Thanks..I did remove the metal clips and used a hair band to hang it on the cage.


Elana,

Thanks I will do that..I guess I'm just a little paranoid..The parakeets have never had an issue but they are bigger too.

Did a search on cuttlebone, found it listed one time as problematic. I for one will not be scraping cuttlebones.
http://www.parrotparrot.com/alerts-toxins/

Lucille

I actually offer cuttle bone both ways
My guys have a cuttle bone as a whole piece, and I also scrape it into my grit mix as well.

Kelly, my avian vet advised me to be safe, open the windows and air the house out when the heat is first turned on for the winter. It could be harmful to your birds. Also, anyone who has the package unit outside a/c with heat should be aware of any chemical odor that you might notice with either the a/c or heat on. This could be your a/c breaker and wiring burning up which can cause a fire. The chemical odor is different than what you smell when the heat is first turned on. Be sure the person who performs regular maintenance on your a/c checks all connections to be sure they are tight. A loose connection can cause this problem.

wildbird

Thank you. I plan on having the windows open and a fan blowing out the window.

Have the same problem with my baths. I use small hair clips on each side as I feared it falling off also. Some of my birds really get into bathing. I also use the clips for attaching greens/millet inside cages.

Certain millet feeders are large enough for finches to crawl down inside. I have had to cut a finch out of a millet feeder twice because he crawled in the get the last few seeds off of the stalk and could not get out again. To solve this I have made little cardboard covers for the feeders that look like a bird could get inside

Are Baby Wipes safe for cleaning Budgie/Finch cages?

Are cage grates good or bad for Budgies?

Certain nesting material can tangle the chicks and birds together (deadly )


Oh and don’t use nesting material that is made for hamsters as dust comes off it that can choke the birds

It really surprises me that our birds can get themselves into such crazy situations... they seem prone to getting themselves into trouble.

Years ago I have a budgie get his claws tangled in a visitors coat... took ages to get him loose.

One of my finches managed to get stuck to a rope perch and had to be saved. I had not noticed he was stuck all day as all the finches like to use it. He had already lost weight from not getting to the feeders.. got him just in time.

One of my chickens fell in our fishpond and nearly drowned, even though its been there for many years with no incident before (and the silly bird could easily have got to the other side with the sloping shallow bank and get out no problem).

It seeem if there is only the remotist chnace of something being dangerous, our featherd freidns will have an accident with it LOL.

I spend most of yesterday 'fishing' for mone of my fancy pigeons that fell down between our 2 outside water storage tanks. Very difficult to get him out.


But I think the biggest danger in the home is glass... windows and mirrors.... birds just have to fly full speed into them!!!! Cover the mirrors and have nets, or blinds over the windows when you let your birds out to fly.

Another big danger is drowning in a sink, toilet, vase or aquarium. I even had a canary fall into my dogs water bowl and not able to get out.