WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO ... EAT CEMENT?

Recently I placed grates over the trays in my bird cages. That isn't my favorite thing to do because my cages are very large (80" wide by 40" deep) so I find it easier to open the cage door and remove the soiled paper. With the grates in place I have to pull out the tray which adds a bit more work since I have 8 cages to clean.

This change is only temporary to help the bird sitter who'll be taking over bird chores while I make two short out-of-town trips. I'm not trying to create a bigger work load for the sitter, but rather prevent her from having to open the cages to clean. If she did that, the birds would be out in a flash and she'd have to put them back in. I told her she wouldn't be handling the birds ... so I needed to change the cleaning routine.

Where is all this leading? Now I have to clean bird poop off the grates every night. While I was really moaning about having to do this, I've found it surprisingly easy. But that's entirely because my new cages have a finish to the powder-coat that makes removing bird droppings and food an easy task. All I have to do it spray the soil with a couple of squirts water (with Pet Focus disinfectant added) and wait a couple of minutes then easily wipe off the debris. No problem. Trust me, that wouldn't have been the case if I was still housing my birds in their old cages. They were powder-coated, but once soil dried on the surface it was a big pain the neck to remove it ... done only with several water sprays and lots of scrubbing. With 13 birds housed in 8 cages daily cleaning was truly a chore.

My new bird cages are sooooo much easier to clean, so I can't figure out why it took some extra effort the other night to clean an area of the grate in Bailey and Sadie's cage ... my B/G Macaws (photo above). There was something offered in their diet that day that caused some of their droppings to stick to the grate like cement. Well, perhaps that is an exaggeration ... but it did take an extra spray or two of water and a few minutes soaking time to remove this small area of poop. Normally, their droppings lean to the watery side because they really chow-down on their fresh veggies and fruit which have a high water content. While I haven't done so yet, I'm going to be introducing some organic natural food mixes and different birdie breads into their pellet and fresh food diet. These new foods are being shipped as I write this. So soon I'll find out how these new foods may not only contribute to the birds overall good health, but how they might impact my daily cleaning routine. I really don't think I'll have future "cement" removal chores in store for me ... mostly because of the finish on my new bird cages.