One of the jobs that comes with owning a bird or many birds, is cage cleaning.

Not a terribly nice chore but 1 that needs to be done on a regular basis.– at least once a week. If you are lucky enough to have a gardener then you can teach him how to do it, but please check periodically that it is being done properly. My gardener Elias has been with me, for 19 years and he has been a great help, when it comes to cleaning the cages.

He is featured in the photographs that go with this article. He cleans Sams cage once a week, he is our african grey and he cleans Sprogs cage twice a week. Our grey is not as messy as our conure.

Keep all the cage cleaning equipment together in one place,– you should have a washing cloth, a scrubbing brush, an old tooth brush, the washing up soap that you are going to use.

Remember that cleaning the perches and the toys  is very important, and it should be done thoroughly. The actual cage, water dishes and food dishes also need to be cleaned thoroughly. The water and food dishes need to be cleaned every day, the water dish may need to be cleaned twice a day. Once the cage, the perches and the toys have been cleaned, leave it all to dry in the sun before putting your bird back.

I use sand at the bottom of my cages, but you can use newspaper if you want to, just please do not use sand paper, this is hard for the birds to walk on and they hurt their feet.

Try and stick to the same day each week, so that you know not to make other arrangements on that day.

Clean cages, dishes, toys and perches make for a healthy happy parrot, and know that the bird is saying thank you, every time you do it.

Happy cage cleaning !