When do you clean your cage(s)?

[Fuzzy]

I just couldn't leave the dirty cages tonight! I am revving myself up to do it... maybe tomorrow. I just find there is food everywhere. Yet it's now 3.30am and I'm exhausted.

 

[WillowQ]

I hate deep cleaning because I have to do it in my shower and that means I have to decontaminate my bathroom afterwards. Yuck. It’s the worst thing about having birds.

 

[Fuzzy]

I wish she and I could compromise on our issues and then we’d be normal.

Awww Heather, I hope you don't get too stressed about cleaning up your apartment. I love your attitude to cleaning. I think I'm a bit more like your friend!

 

[WillowQ]

Well you can come here if you want to clean.
Honestly I wish she was more well, my friend might help me out. Unfortunately she is in a wheelchair now and couldn’t even get into my apartment.

I just have too much stuff in a small apartment. Tonight and tomorrow is throw things away and donate day!

 

[Fuzzy]

I like cleaning all the cages/aviaries first thing in the morning so they start the day with fresh everything. I do have to refresh water and food bowls through out the day but the floors and cages are done in the mornings. I wouldn’t have the energy to do it all at night. When I put them to bed I tell them good job doing maximum destruction lol and the messes will wait for me til morning while we all sleep. It’s the only way I’ve been able to happily do the cleaning and not make it such a chore that I’m resentful. The macaws especially are so happy in the mornings that it’s no chore at all to clean up their aviaries while they’re chattering away and eating breakfast. It’s become a happy time for me.

And it wasn’t always that way. I used to be so paranoid about cleaning I’d clean three times a day (especially when Bowser was new and sick or when I first brought Seamus home). That was helping no one. So I put the ocd away as much as I can and just let them be their messy selves whenever they want with a clean slate every morning.

I really, REALLY want to do this.

 

[Fuzzy]

Well you can come here if you want to clean.
Honestly I wish she was more well, my friend might help me out. Unfortunately she is in a wheelchair now and couldn’t even get into my apartment.

I just have too much stuff in a small apartment. Tonight and tomorrow is throw things away and donate day!

Awwww so sorry about your friend.
Sending you good "throwing out vibes" for tonight and tomorrow!

 

[Dartman]

Some of you might benefit with a decent robot vacuum. You don't have to spend a grand to get really good one. Mine will pick up enough of the bird crumbs to make us happy then I use my Cordless upright vacuum to touch up the bad spots or break out one of the big corded vacuums I have.
We should clean the cages more often but putting several layers of paper down and pulling layers helps and we try to make sure everyone has clean water and food. The little critter water bottles with stainless steal drinking tubes help too and everyone here knows how to use them and does besides having a dunking bowl.
The robot I have self empties, can power mop, and runs early in the dark every morning about 2am. It mape the house and can see some obstacles with it's advanced lidar. It's a Deebot T8plus, and they make a version that also has a obstacle avoidance camera as well.
Many vacuum makers make similar ones now so just make sure what your budget is and that the parts that wear out and need to be replaced are cheap and readily available.

 

[WillowQ]

Some of you might benefit with a decent robot vacuum. You don't have to spend a grand to get really good one. Mine will pick up enough of the bird crumbs to make us happy then I use my Cordless upright vacuum to touch up the bad spots

I saw one on freecycle once; it just needed a part but my dumb friend flaked out on giving me a lift so no roomba.
If I can get my place clean enough that a roomba won’t get lost I might get one.

 

[SumitaSinh]

Once upon a time I had 13 cages, so now having 10 is a breeze.

I'm going to share this with my husband. Maybe then he'll agree to adopt that orphan Patagonian conure . He says four cages are more than enough.

 

[SumitaSinh]

I stack papers in the cage tray so I can just lift off a layer or two of paper and call it done

I love this idea

 

[WillowQ]

I love this idea

Yup, just cut newspapers roughly to size and stack. I even do this fir their tree (a rectangle with a hole near upper left hand corner and a cut leading in to the hole.

you get some buildup of crud at the back of the cage, but that can be dealt with. Soaking and baking wood perches and toys with no plastic works great, too. I don’t have an autoclave at home but I can always pretend!

 

[Fuzzy]

... I even do this fir their tree (a rectangle with a hole near upper left hand corner and a cut leading in to the hole.

I stack too on/under their stands.

 

[Fuzzy]

Some of you might benefit with a decent robot vacuum. You don't have to spend a grand to get really good one. Mine will pick up enough of the bird crumbs to make us happy then I use my Cordless upright vacuum to touch up the bad spots or break out one of the big corded vacuums I have.
We should clean the cages more often but putting several layers of paper down and pulling layers helps and we try to make sure everyone has clean water and food. The little critter water bottles with stainless steal drinking tubes help too and everyone here knows how to use them and does besides having a dunking bowl.
The robot I have self empties, can power mop, and runs early in the dark every morning about 2am. It mape the house and can see some obstacles with it's advanced lidar. It's a Deebot T8plus, and they make a version that also has a obstacle avoidance camera as well.
Many vacuum makers make similar ones now so just make sure what your budget is and that the parts that wear out and need to be replaced are cheap and readily available.

Good idea, Terry! I have too many piles of weighted paper on the floor under all their ceiling swings and boings, the vaccum cleaner would probably vacuum it all up!

 

[Fuzzy]

Tonight I have put the birds to bed after only spot cleaning. It feels very alien/terrifying... but exciting too! Spot cleaning and bedtime routine took 1 hour 15 mins instead of the usual 3.5 hours. Going to clean them out properly tomorrow morning. Excited to have this new routine! It took 2 days of planning and gearing up to do it! You have no idea how grateful I am to have all these wonderful suggestions that are already changing my life. Oh to get some sleep!

 

[April]

Tonight I have put the birds to bed after only spot cleaning. It feels very alien/terrifying... but exciting too! Spot cleaning and bedtime routine took 1 hour 15 mins instead of the usual 3.5 hours. Going to clean them out properly tomorrow morning. Excited to have this new routine! It took 2 days of planning and gearing up to do it! You have no idea how grateful I am to have all these wonderful suggestions that are already changing my life. Oh to get some sleep!

Yay good job! You can do it I believe in your abilities to stick to the new routine! You'll be so much happier for it especially getting that much needed sleep!

 

[Dartman]

Good idea, Terry! I have too many piles of weighted paper on the floor under all their ceiling swings and boings, the vaccum cleaner would probably vacuum it all up!

Almost every vacuum that self maps your house also has the option to let you make no go zones anywhere you want. I have one by the recliner close to the kitchen where the living room and kitchen spaces meet. It always gets trapped behind the recliner so I made a box around it and now it never gets trapped there. You could do the same for all the paper areas and boings etc, plus you could buy one with the obstacle camera built in and it would be better at self avoiding anything it could get stuck on.
I HAD one that had the camera but one of the wheels sticks so I retired it for now to upgrade to the self empty version which is really great, you just replace the bag after a month or so and double check it actually emptied itself because sometimes garbage will block the self empty ports. They still aren't perfect but the main areas of the house stay pretty clean and makes it easier to deal with the trouble spots the creatures leave us.
I also have a Shark Stratos cordless-stick vacuum and it's a beast with very strong suction and a power head, plus a small cordless wet dry vacuum, and a couple of different old school Royal canister and upright vacuums built like a Kirby.

 

[WillowQ]

Hmm. Maybe if I got a shark vacuum that would help. Dustbustering around bird cages is slow and annoying.

 

[WillowQ]

I'm going to share this with my husband. Maybe then he'll agree to adopt that orphan Patagonian conure . He says four cages are more than enough.

_I_ might be interested in a Patagonian Conure. They are a really neat species of bird.

 

[Fuzzy]

Yay good job! You can do it I believe in your abilities to stick to the new routine! You'll be so much happier for it especially getting that much needed sleep!

Thanks, April! Got nearly 8 hours sleep last night!! Instead of the usual 4 - 5 hours. Yay - I enjoyed cleaning this morning. It took far less time than in the night, plus I could see the dirt better in natural daylight! Win win! Night 2 done, although I had to stop myself from spot cleaning too thoroughly!

 

[Fuzzy]

Hmm. Maybe if I got a shark vacuum that would help. Dustbustering around bird cages is slow and annoying.

I dustbuster around the cages too. Trouble is all the birds go into shower mode if I bring out the big vacuum cleaner! Which was the reason why I bought the dustbuster in the first place.

I also have a Shark Stratos cordless-stick vacuum and it's a beast with very strong suction and a power head

Just Googled - looks fantastic! Cordless is absolutely ideal! Terry does this sound more like the dustbuster or a proper vacuum cleaner?