Kitchen proximity

[beaglemomoffive]

I just got my two Society Finches a couple of weeks ago. I read somewhere that they are sensitive to cooking odors and shouldn't be near the kitchen. My kitchen and living room are essentially one room. The cage is on the opposite wall. Is this far enough away? I don't want to move them to the bedroom as it is dark and far away from where I spend my time.

[Sally]

The biggest danger to birds from the kitchen is fumes from overheated Teflon pans, those fumes can be toxic. I have birds in both my living room and dining room right now, with the kitchen being open to both rooms. I use my stove, my toaster oven, my panini-type grill, my Calphalon cookware without problems. My house is all-electric, though, so I don't have to worry about gas. I think as long as you are careful, you should be OK.

Welcome to the forum! There's lots of good reading at www.finchinfo.com, where you will find many articles on finch care. If you put your general location in your profile, it makes it easier later on when we answer your questions.

[debbie276]

Welcome to the forum!
I have an aviary in my solarium just of of my kitchen. The aviary is about 4 get from the gas stove. I've never had a problem with being so close to the kitchen.
I only use non-stick pans when cooking.

[paul-inAZ]

Don't fret.
Some of mine are very close to the cooking area. Never a problem.
To get toxicity from teflon the pan has to be dry and heated to extremely high heat before anything vaporizes. Unlikely to happen in real life.

[lovezebs]

beaglemomoffive

Welcome to the Forum.

I wouldn't worry about the kitchen .

All of my birds are in my kitchen , and all of them (and there are quite a few of them), are doing very well. They are happy and healthy, and they breed and have babies, and all is well.

[Sojourner]

I know people worry about "Teflon fumes" - but I've kept birds off and on for literally decades and I only ever cook with nonstick cookware.

While it is true that birds are more susceptible to lower levels of toxins that can be off-gased from overheated cookware (not limited to nonstick cookware, btw) the amount of overheating required to do this is pretty darn high. Oil heated to the smoking point releases more dangerous fumes. Nonstick surfaces don't start off-gassing in amounts dangerous to humans until its actually on fire (700F) - for birds, when its about to catch fire, LOL!

I had cockatiels for years with no problem. I don't cook nearly as much these days and my guys are all the way down around the corner at the end of the hall with the door closed most of the time, so I have no fears for them from cookware. The house would have to be on fire, in which case there are larger issues at hand.

[lovezebs]

Sojourner

I also use non stick pans, but always make sure that they are not left to heat while I'm doing something else (as in food prep etc.)

An fellow I know lost his long time hook bill comapnion, when his landlady accidentally left a pan to heat on the stove with nothing in it.

It's just something to be aware of.

Sojourner

And yes, setting the house on fire, wouldn't be healthy either....

[Sojourner]

lovezebs

I never leave ANYTHING pre-heating without being right there, let alone non-stick cookware, LOL!

Well. I will leave the oven on with the baking stone in it without standing over it. But that's the full extent.

I've been cooking for well over 50 years now. Some things are so ingrained by now that I don't consciously think of them any more. Like NOT walking out of the kitchen with a burner on.

[lovezebs]

Sojourner

Same here (although I have been known to cook the plastic electric kettle, by accidentally turning on the wrong burner on the stove, but we won't mention that )

What's a baking stone, by the way?

[Sojourner]

lovezebs

Oh, I can top the plastic electric kettle thing.

I could NOT get my ex to stop leaving a pot full of oil on the back burner until the day he accidentally turned the wrong burner on, WALKED OUT OF THE KITCHEN (something *I* would never do), and consequently nearly set the house on fire.

Fortunately I always keep a non-expired fire-extinguisher in the kitchen - not for use on the grease in the pot, that I put out by dropping the lid on it, but to extinguish the OTHER stuff that caught fire.

No birds at the time. I had my hands full convincing the ex that the first and only thing HE needed to worry about was getting the baby out of the house.

A baking stone is a big piece of something-or-other-fairly-heat-retentive-and-non-flammable that is used for baking breads and pizza. I leave it on the bottom rack at all times and it goes a looooong way towards stabilizing oven temp for all my baking.

This is the one we have at the moment, it is 7 years old.

I may replace it with something thicker, or a (clean never used) piece of kiln shelf when I move and have to leave it behind. I DID buy it for my son, after all, so he ought to get to keep it once he's shut of me, LOL!

[lovezebs]

Sojourner

Oh ok, I've never used one of these before. As I always say, live and learn.

The oil on the oven.... A girl I used to work with, ended up with terrible burns on her hands and arms, when a room mate left oil on the stove, and set the curtains on fire. Our girl grabbed pan and curtains and tossed them through the glass window into the snow. She saved the house, but paid the price, with life long scars.

[Sojourner]

lovezebs

Yeah, its important not to panic. Oil fires - in our houses, at least - are actually pretty easy to extinguish as long as the fire hasn't spread too far.

You drop something over the pot with the oil, a lid or a plate, to cut off the oxygen and it GOES OUT, even if the burner is still on. Then hit anything that's caught fire with the fire extinguisher, being careful NOT to dislodge the lid on the oil or do anything that might cause it to spill, because it will catch fire again immediately the oxygen hits it.

I make it a habit to map all the circuits in the house so they can be shut off quickly and easily in this sort of emergency. If your stove is on fire, touching it could be an electrical as well as a fire hazard.

[lovezebs]

Sojourner

Oh lovely, so you get electrecuted as well as burnt...... well I guess it would be a free perm anyway, lol.