Maintaining Birds (1)

I have been asked many times on how I cope with so many birds. the truth is, I can barely cope hahaha!
But maintaining a systematic schedule helps. Cleanliness is top in the list to maintain a bird in good health. Therefore, I would like to record some of my schedules down.

Oriental cages are mainly made from bamboo and newspaper linings are the commonly used material to maintain basic cage cleanliness. It is the same with me. However, newspapers could be a source of problem itself, especially if one uses too many layers of it and food, insect, dust etc gets trapped between the layers for too long. Making it a health hazard not only to birds but to humans as well.

For me, I actually count the umber of newspapers I use. 20 pieces, most of the time. Why 20? If I throw away 1 piece a day, it would take 20 days before I reach the last piece. That isn't too soon, nor too long a time for me. So when I reach the last piece, usually the bottom will be a bit dusty and I hose down the base with water to wash away the dust and what not. Then I dry it with a cloth and spray it with the normal aerosol spray meant for mosquitoes.

Now, the aerosol thing is also a matter to be debated as it could be toxic to birds. So common sense prevails - spray it quickly and directly at joints that could potentially harbours mites and do it far away from the birds. After that air it a bit and top up with another 20 layers of newspapers. So far I have never had a sick bird before. And all my experimenting with sick birds has to be sourced from outside.

I find some people uses too many layers. Less than 20 would be better, but that could be too much maintenance.

Next come the perches. It should have a thorough scrub down every two weeks. I used washing detergent and then scrub under running water to get rid of all the detergent. Used to use an anti-septic (Savlon) but nowadays a bit lazy, probably need to pick up the habit again.