@Lady Jane and
@Hankmacaw
Very good points and question. What about Viruses?
Well, most viruses that we are concerned with are human type, and not known to be zoonotic (move between animals and humans). The Flu generally moves from animal to human. I have discussed this with the vet and it is not known to go to parrots (heaven forbid this ever happens it will not be good).
For the 'common' viruses I am not concerned because a lot of them are envelope viruses.
An envelope around a virus is a "lipid membrane" an example of this is fat, fats are lipids chained together. The BEST way to get rid of these kinds of viruses? SOAP. soap has 2 ends to it a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic end (water-loving vs water-hating). soap attaches to lipid layers (grease, fat, food, etc) and pulls it apart into water. Well it does the same thing to viruses.
COVID-19 is an envelop virus, and this is a big reason the CDC pushes hand washing with soap over sanitizing with alcohol. Alcohol doesnt really do anything to viruses unless its been submerged in >70% Isopropyl or >60% Ethyl alcohol for 3-5 minutes whereas soap literally takes it apart and kills it.
Another point is this: MOST viruses require a host to survive. Most viruses die within a few hours outside of a host. In college I got to explore the difficulties in growing viruses. its hard, and you have to have the right conditions (which is why most viruses are studied in situ - in their host).
@Hankmacaw About F10, I dont have a lot of experience using it because it is not common in the US. But what I was talking about is ingredients, not necessarily brands- even though I put examples in parenthesis. I looked it up:
SDS F10SC vet disinfectant
It has one of the ingredients listed above
And yes, it would work well I imagine, I just prefer bleach.
For bird related viruses? This is tricky, I havent looked at the type they are as much as I have human ones. I would hope that if you have something like PBFD in your flock you would be aware of it. If you are trying to maintain control of it something with a surfactant would be good (soap) and a disinfectant. so if you can mix soap in your cleaner if you are really worried about it.
I use bleach with dawn soap, bleach will kill anything I am worried about and soap helps remove grime on the cages.
I really enjoyed this! I really hope this was helpful, and feel free to shoot more questions at me.
Thank you!