wood stain: oil or water based

[sean]

Hello all!

Its been quite some time since I have visited this forum. I hope that everyone is doing well.

For you do-it-yourselfers out there, does anybody know if it is safe to use oil-based stain for aviaries. If so, what are some good brands to choose?

I'm constructing a new flight cage/aviary and would really appreciate this info.

Happy New Year!!!

[cindy]

Water base Low VOC

http://www.eartheasy.com/article_bird_safe_paints.html

the site give tips and safety for paint/birds.

[B CAMP]

You can get a water base paint with VOC hardly any odor at Lowes I got a guart tinted black and it worked good. I left the cage set outside for a couple weeks just to be safe this cage was for finches,I wouldn't try painting one for hookbills as they just chew to much

[cindy]

The article site above talks about what to do for hookbills. You can re-paint cages/wire with an "all bird safe paint" as suggested on the website. Painting a wood type enclosure may not be a good thing for them, but repainting wire cages is fine.

A good way to judge if a paint is safe for birds is the little symbol on the back of can of a picture of a mom holding a child's hand. It means it is child safe or says it is child safe it should be fine for birds. Make sure it does not contain lead, zinc or chromate.

[isabird]

You could also do an eco product that is kids and bird safe. That is what we did on our aviary and it was so nice not having the fumes while staining

[sean]

That link was interesting but I'm going to stain, not paint, the flight cage.

I'm guessing that a traditional wood stain would be really bad for the birds? Does somebody know how long such conventional stains take to fully "cure"?

[CandoAviary]

I used a minwax stain once. It was the one step kind, stained/sealed. Once I could not detect an odor I considered it safe...it was done outside under a covered carport. I think it was like only 2 or 3 days. Never had any trouble with the birds. Just make sure all odors/vapors has dissipated before adding birds.
I have also used pressure treated woods in aviaries..... The chemical smell dissapears pretty quickly and I have found it to be very safe for the finches. Hookbill birds that chew I would use caution with.

[sean]

Thanks for suggestions. I've decided to go with a "no VOC" wood stain. I hope that this does the trick. again, if anybody has any experience with this stuff, please don't hesitate to chime in.

Happy NYE!!

[franny]

Sean, you're doing the right thing using a low or no VOC stain. Other stains may still leach out or off gas, for a long time after staining. When in doubt, use the no VOC.

This may not have as long a lifespan as the oil based, but will be safe for the environment and your birds. To increase the life span, you could still seal it with a waterbased sealer.

[cindy]

Bear in mind some oil based paint is made with linseed oil. The odor is strong. I agree with Franny, low or no VOC...look for kid friendly paint. Most home improvement stores have sections of paint products for use on children's furniture and ways.

[ari_c]

I'm nearly finished building my small aviary. I used a minwax stain. However, I wanted to sealed the stain with a food safe finish. I figured if it was safe to eat with, it should be safe for birds.

My requirement is that the finish had to be food safe, and needed little or no maintenance, and was water resistant. I could find only one finish that met that requirement, which is tung oil. I made the mistake of first buying the Minwax product. Unfortunately, their tung oil, does not contain tung oil, go figure.

I ordered 100% pure tung oil from here:

http://www.realmilkpaint.com/oil.html

They also have a natural solvent for the first coat as it is recommended to thin the first coat by 50% for better penetration of the first coat.

Ari.