FINCHforum

Title says it all. I refurbished a very old bird cage and had to repaint it. I used Rust-Oleum spray paint and it still has a detectable odor. I had been planning to let it air out for at least 3 days, but with the lingering smell after 24 hrs I'm not sure if that's long enough - anyone else had this dilemma?

kimikeef

I would not use paint with toxins on a bird cage. Might have been better to use steel wool to strip any rust and leave it that way. Some antique bird cages arent suitable for birds anymore.

They can be very cool for plants.

You have a picture of the cage?

Some of the old cages have lead based paint and other paint that is toxic to birds. I have read that baby safe paint is what should be used and I think even that has to be dried for about 2 weeks. There never should be an odor to it when it is ok for birds to be in.

I suppose "very old" might have been misleading - it's not an antique, just very battered. It was secondhand, took about a week to sand and scrape the rust and flaking paint, reshape kinks/bends in the metal, repaint, replace the hardware, and reassemble.

I did find a few articles that said to look for paints designed for metal and chip-resistance, avoid any with lead, zinc, and chromate, and that regardless of what paint you use the solvents are dangerous until fully cured, which is what I was afraid of. One place said one week at least. Checked the SDS for the paint I used and it should be okay, but I'm definitely going to wait at least two weeks. My mother used to repaint her cages every few years with no problem whatsoever, but I suspect parrots are more sturdy than a canary.

A couple of things about painting:
-paint like Rustoleum may dry in a day but will take two weeks or more to fully cure, depending on temperature and humidity.

-the time to worry about the type of paint is with hook bills that chew things and use their beaks for climbing. Canaries and finches don't chew wires so won't eat whatever paint you use off.

-to paint, remove loose rust with steel wool and then paint it with one of the watery phosphoric acid based rust treatments. This converts the iron oxide [rust] to a black iron phosphate which is an ideal base for paint. Converted to phosphate any former rust won't eat through the paint job to reoccur.
Old fashioned 'naval jelly' is useless.

-lead paint was outlawed 30 years ago so any US made product won't have it after that date. Imported? your guess.

I have a flight painted with Rustoleum. I let it dry for a day in the sun and I think just a couple days in the house before putting in birds. No issues so far, it's been six months.