Any tips on cleaning and maintenance of aviary?

[mondo]

Let's face it, the more birds we have, the more maintenance is required.

Share your tips and tricks to make cleaning and maintenance a snap!
did you use bedding for the aviary floor? or just cement?
did you use special solution / mixture to soften bird poop to make erasing them easier?
how often is the maintenance? and so on...

me, I'm pretty bummed with my 9 birds... 2 canaries and 7 javas, a whole aviary of poop!
I usually do cleanup once a week, and from what I've learned is that, where the birds perch, their poop is mostly collected beneath it... so as you can imagine I have area that is fairly cleaner than the other...
I'm thinking of placing a pot and soil under their favorite perch, to collect their droppings and turn it into useful fertilizer! of course every other day I may have to top off the pooped up soil with more soil, that way the collected poops are hidden until the whole pot is full, and then I will replace the pot. thoughts?

[dan78]

Well the joy of birds spring cleaning. Not the most funniest thing about keeping birds I do agree but once the aviary is clean and new flooring plus new brush it does seem a great sight. First off a cement floor is in mine to help keep out pests but I do use a setting sand or brickies sand which hardens over time, makes it easy to scrap poo and sweep up seed. Another trick which has helped is since I have used a wooden frame painting it helps protect the wood and cleaning again poo off it, found acrylic paint seems to wash better than a matte finish but be careful of the paint used as some can be toxic and even more so for parrots. Perches are sanded clean every 12 months or so or fully replaced depends how much time I have to do this. Then with maintanace just general checks for damage on structure and wire and see if any rodents have damaged anything trying to get in. Seems simple but takes a lot of time

[Rox]

Lol, try having over 20 adults + babies in an aviary and then see the mess they make

My one aviary has a dry dirt floor. Once a week I go through with a dustpan and broom and sweep up all the droppings and seed. It also gives me a chance to have a proper look around the aviary and make sure there are no hidden bodies lying anywhere. Cleaning includes scraping off the big poop collection spots.

The second aviary is half planted. In the planted section, I sweep up the worst of the major poop and seed shell area's and then I just dig the seed and poop into the soil. Once every 6 weeks or so, I put in fresh soil as the soil level does drop. So I guess it is fertilizing itself with the added bird poop The other half of this aviary is the nesting area and I only clean that out thoroughly once a year, prior to the new breeding season. Then it gets a complete scrub and spring clean.

[dutch]

Concrete floor

Vinegar and high pressure hose once a week

[MiaCarter]

One of my tricks for popular poop spots:

I've got a spray bottle with vinegar and water. I'll spray it down and remove the chunks and whatever comes off easily.

Then, I'll saturate a paper towel and I'll put it on top of the remaining poop spots. (The stuff that you would normally have to scrub and scrape at.)
I'll let it soak while I feed and clean.

Then, you just wipe it off after about 10 min. The liquid breaks down the poop so it wipes right off. Easy peasy.

I use that for tables, floor, etc.
Not sure I'd do it on a metal cage, though due to the risk of rusting.

The bird room has a couple super popular poop spots under perches and tube lighting (which I have strung up through the room and they sit on them like they would power lines.)
In those spots, I just put down a floor diaper (puppy pad) and switch it out every day or so. I'd say that catches about 75% of the poop that gets plopped throughout the bird room (outside of the cages.) It doesn't look very pretty, but it's a bird room. So practical wins out over pretty.

Don't laugh but I thought of how nice it would be to put sand down on the floor in there! I could just scoop poop and it would be fun to walk on! But alas, my bird room is indoors and smack in the center of my house and sand would get tracked EVERYWHERE.

I have an area rug in there but it doesn't get pooped on too badly. If it happens, I let it dry and it comes right up with the vacuum. Every month or so, I take it outside and hit it with the power washer.

[Sunbay]

I don't have large, walk-in avairies, but the ones I have in the house, I use 2 different beddings on the floor.

AstroTurf - heavy-duty, cut to size. I pick up the dried, loose poo and debris with a damp paper towel, every few days.
Every 2-3 weeks, take it outside, hose off, and let dry. Replace. LOVE THIS.

Orchard or Timothy hay - for the soft-bill, and ground-dweller aviaries. Looks nice, easy to pick up the top, soiled layer every day. Complete change out every 2-3 weeks.

I use vinegar & water every day, and Virkon-S for the major cleanings.

Works for my situation very well.

[tobyrosie]

I don't have large, walk-in avairies, but the ones I have in the house, I use 2 different beddings on the floor.

AstroTurf - heavy-duty, cut to size. I pick up the dried, loose poo and debris with a damp paper towel, every few days.
Every 2-3 weeks, take it outside, hose off, and let dry. Replace. LOVE THIS.

Orchard or Timothy hay - for the soft-bill, and ground-dweller aviaries. Looks nice, easy to pick up the top, soiled layer every day. Complete change out every 2-3 weeks.

I use vinegar & water every day, and Virkon-S for the major cleanings.

Works for my situation very well.

Lauren did you make these cages or buy them? Do you know the thickness of the Plexiglas? How many birds do you have in the one with the astro turf? Is that a lot of poop in a day? I want to build my own so I'm collecting ideas. I was going to do slide out drawers and use corn cob litter.

[Sheather]

Try having 40 birds (5 of them hookbills) in an indoor room with a bedding composed of indoor/outdoor carpet and old kitchen appliances : P



My bird room is a re-commissioned old kitchen, it became an aviary when I stopped trying to catch birds from free-flight at night and let them fly loose all the time. It's a lot of work to maintain but relatively simply, mostly just a wet washcloth over hard surfaces and a strong vacuum (with hose attachment!) for the floor, I change newspapers in the open cages daily and bring the potted trees to the shower down the hall for a wash every 4 or 5 days.

I have to work an hour in my room daily to keep on top of it, if I let it go it could become bad very fast. I am a bit obsessive about keeping it clean, as it's indoors and part of the house and I don't want any bird dust or droppings to build up.