My Bird’s So Messy, Can You Help?

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My Bird’s So Messy, Can You Help?

Last Updated on October 1, 2023 by Mitch Rezman

Birds in the wild crack nuts and eat fruit dropping half-eaten fruit and seeds to the ground. Season after season new trees and shrubs grow around the canopy trees the birds are living in.

A bird eats a fish ready to lay eggs in a large lake in Illinois in the fall. The bird flies to Indiana and poops the fish eggs out in a half acre man-made lake on a farm in Indiana.

The next spring the farmer is miraculously fishing on his own private lake! Now I want you to walk over to your cage, look your bird in the eye and say “hey, this is not the rain forest, trees will never sprout from the floor, fish will never propagate in your water dish, could you stop flinging your seeds and pooping in your water dish now?“

That’s the best way I know how to teach your bird to not be so messy. Wait, that didn’t work? Wow, I’m sorry but thank you for playing.

Much like taking a winged animal that would normally cover, via flight 500 to 10,000 acres a day, restrict them to a few hundred square feet then we’re surprised the animal exhibits behavior problems and is messy.

Your bird doesn’t give a parakeet’s fart that you installed your own kitchen floor plank by plank in a weeklong project “made simple” by Home Depot. So I’ll say this once “BIRDS ARE MESSY!” Now let’s deal with it shall we?

There are four legs to the “Mess Equation.”

Cleaning the cage
Cleaning the area around the cage
Cleaning where the bird travels elsewhere in your home
Cleaning the bird.

To keep things short we are going to focus on cleaning the cage today. Great offense starts with a good defense so we want to take steps that will help protect the cage and the areas around it and then make it easier to clean.

You can protect any floor from the droppings under any bird cage with an office chair mat or sheet linoleum. Linoleum is cheaper and you can usually cut it to fit almost any size cage area and you can keep an extra piece in storage.

Office chair mats are pricier but you can choose them based upon the type of floor you have and they can also be quite easily used to protect walls behind and on the sides of the cage.

plastic isolated chair mat on isolated white

Newspaper can be a bird keeper’s best friend. It’s safe for your birds, it’s plentiful and cheap. Is primarily used in the tray of the birdcage. Some people with smaller cages will stack a number of sheets cut the size of the case tray so one can just remove a layer or two daily.

Learn about bathing your bird here

We’re not big fans of tray bedding, regardless of material because we feel it holds bacteria and moisture which promotes mold. You also cannot inspect the birds droppings which should be a daily task.

Because of the birds respiratory system the last thing we want is your bird to be near mold. Mold is the single biggest cause of aspergillosis in birds

If you want to take birdcage sanitation to the next level check out T3 anti-microbial birdcage liner from Prevue Pet

T3 Cage Liner utilizes a patented process developed by Agion^®. The liner is an anti-microbial protected paper, treated on one side to inhibit the growth of odor-causing bacteria.

If you’re not already, try putting a folded piece newspaper top of the grate of the birdcage to help keep it clean because it’s far away the dirtiest part of the cage.

Put the newspaper under her food dish, perhaps something heavier and ceramic and you’re solving two problems. With the food on the floor of the cage instead of halfway up the cage wall much more waste will go into the tray below than onto the floor.

Whether you have a dome top or a play top cage if your bird perches on the top of it why not throw a piece of newspaper on the tray of the play top or directly over the dome top, and you’ll be scrubbing less metal and cleaning less pooped on perches and toys.

What do you use to keep your bird cage clean? A couple of unique but inexpensive products that have become top sellers our website are the Mess less feeders.

To wrap things up for the day, would like to recommend an essential accessory no birdcage should be one without and that’s a Lixit bird water bottle.

I know this comes as a shock but sometimes birds will dunk their food into their water dish and even poop into the water bowl.

The food particulate isn’t too bad but you don’t want your bird drinking water holding bacteria created from feces leading to bacterial infections in their mouths. Lixit water bottles simply solve this problem.

Get Poop Off Here

Written by Mitch Rezman
Approved by Catherine Tobsing

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Mitch Rezman

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This Post Has 5 Comments

Diana Smith
13 Aug 2017 Log in to Reply

I change cage paper in all my cages Everyday. But when I take the paper out there is always food under the paper in the tray, therefore I must vaccum the tray before replaceing clean paper. Even when I put multiple paper in the bottom. Annoying , any suggestions. I have a birdrooom in the house and don’t want bugs so I do this everyday.
1. WindyCityParrot
  13 Aug 2017 Log in to Reply
  
  Try using 2 sheets Diana so the paper forms a small vertical barrier on the front and the bck of the bird cage
  1. Diana Smith
    13 Aug 2017 Log in to Reply
    
    I use about four sheets but food gets under and feathers or chewed paper. I put paper so if goes up around sides. cant figure it out! Thanks!
    1. WindyCityParrot
      14 Aug 2017 Log in to Reply
      
      got it – I would advocate place a food dish or 2 on the paper to weight it down. You may have to move a perch or ladder so poop doesn’t fall into the dish.
      
      we structure all our cages so all poop falls on the news paper, nothing below so the birds are never walking on soiled perches.
      
      This achieves 2 things, the paper won’t lift and get stuff caught between the layers of paper. the second thing is with a food dish on the bottom of the cage more waste falls the the floor of the cage , around the cage.
      
      Heres a picture of Peaches cage. Note none of the perches or swing have any poop – it’s a while to figure oi out but worth the time.
      
      See how i fold the edges of the paper up? the white ceramic wather dish holds everything down.
      
      Poop cover over the water dish takes care of that.
      
      Hope this helps
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZVTS2bYRlU
      
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8fb44c5207ea5f220765cba1320cbd5c427be38bc37d72f57d91f98e3150c304.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a892ee2a7c8b4cd140ba2c96fe393af203bafb4cd61746f28347cc0b6f2a9ffa.jpg
      1. Diana Smith
        14 Aug 2017 Log in to Reply
        
        Thank you I have covered water containers so the water does not get poop in it. I change 1-2 times a day. I do put food dish on bottom and am careful not to put under perch or toy. Problem is the food and feathers get under paper so I have to vaccum every time I change paper always 1 time a day if not 2. But thank you so much, I really enjoy your Sunday brunch very much.
Diana Smith
13 Aug 2017 Log in to Reply

I change cage paper in all my cages Everyday. But when I take the paper out there is always food under the paper in the tray, therefore I must vaccum the tray before replaceing clean paper. Even when I put multiple paper in the bottom. Annoying , any suggestions. I have a birdrooom in the house and don’t want bugs so I do this everyday.
1. WindyCityParrot
  13 Aug 2017 Log in to Reply
  
  Try using 2 sheets Diana so the paper forms a small vertical barrier on the front and the bck of the bird cage
  1. Diana Smith
    13 Aug 2017 Log in to Reply
    
    I use about four sheets but food gets under and feathers or chewed paper. I put paper so if goes up around sides. cant figure it out! Thanks!
    1. WindyCityParrot
      14 Aug 2017 Log in to Reply
      
      got it – I would advocate place a food dish or 2 on the paper to weight it down. You may have to move a perch or ladder so poop doesn’t fall into the dish.
      
      we structure all our cages so all poop falls on the news paper, nothing below so the birds are never walking on soiled perches.
      
      This achieves 2 things, the paper won’t lift and get stuff caught between the layers of paper. the second thing is with a food dish on the bottom of the cage more waste falls the the floor of the cage , around the cage.
      
      Heres a picture of Peaches cage. Note none of the perches or swing have any poop – it’s a while to figure oi out but worth the time.
      
      See how i fold the edges of the paper up? the white ceramic wather dish holds everything down.
      
      Poop cover over the water dish takes care of that.
      
      Hope this helps
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZVTS2bYRlU
      
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8fb44c5207ea5f220765cba1320cbd5c427be38bc37d72f57d91f98e3150c304.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a892ee2a7c8b4cd140ba2c96fe393af203bafb4cd61746f28347cc0b6f2a9ffa.jpg
      1. Diana Smith
        14 Aug 2017 Log in to Reply
        
        Thank you I have covered water containers so the water does not get poop in it. I change 1-2 times a day. I do put food dish on bottom and am careful not to put under perch or toy. Problem is the food and feathers get under paper so I have to vaccum every time I change paper always 1 time a day if not 2. But thank you so much, I really enjoy your Sunday brunch very much.

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