Below is an email that I received from you. Wonderful info, but I do have a question about one of the suggestions. I have a "teil". Is it really SAFE to put newspaper on TOP of the grate??? My Merlin would chew the newspaper and maybe eat it. But if it's safe, this sounds like a great idea. Also, if I put his food dish on the newspaper, then won't I wind up with poop in the dish? Thanks for all your info and a great website.

Linda W

Dear Linda 

Newspaper is safe and is printed with vegetable inks. You could have it for dinner.

Your bird may chew at it, chew some up and might consume some, none is a problem unless you see he is in fact dining exclusively on it, then you have to pass on this idea for your bird of course.

"I" admit to being a "lazy" bird keeper. I don't want to wash a bottom grill every day.

A fresh piece of newspaper (or Kraft paper off the roll, or plain print free paper off the roll or even wax paper, the paper is not the issue it is the ease of cleaning that the article was written for.

Every morning the bird would get his fresh and clean paper, this dish on top of it.

NOT placed under a perch so poop falls in it. Food dishes should not be filled so full daily that they end up staying in the cage day after day either to collect debris that could be unpleasant.

If an errant "poop" hits it, change it, simple as that.

End of day, remove the paper and dish and replace with fresh. EZ.

In general my bird (Indian Ringneck) would not mess with the paper at all, unless I was out longer than he liked and he would take his frustrations out on the paper. That's okay too.

Hi Linda

 We get calls and emails all the time with people asking "why is my bird so messy?" . It's important to understand the "mess" on your kitchen floor is really meant to be the forest floor.

Birds are meant to sow seeds and spread them throughout their natural habitat. One of the best examples I have are small ponds in the middle of nowhere. You'll be driving on a summer day and see fisherman with fishing lines in a small body of water.

Have you ever asked yourself where are the fish coming from? Bird Poop - that's where. Birds will eat fish or fish eggs in a "mature"  pond or lake , fly elsewhere & deposit the undigested fish eggs in another perhaps smaller body of water. Fish will hatch from these eggs and so it goes.

Because of their high metabolism, parrots generally poop every 15 minutes. Combine that with husks from bird seed, feather molt and dander - well I don't have to tell you. Yes birds are messy - we can help.

Here's a some things you can do to reduce bird cage clean up chores.

1. Place a sheet of newspaper on top the floor grate as well as under it in the tray - Less grate cleaning. (Safe??)
2. Place food bowls on the news paper (on the grate) not in the food dish holders - Seeds go into the tray not the floor
3. Fill food dishes 1/4 - 1/3 full - Birds will become less selective and dump less
4. Lose the metal seed guards - Less metal to clean
5. Introduce some pellets and fresh or frozen vegetables then reduce seed usage (Tried this. Merlin will NOT eat pellets. He's too spoiled I guess.)
6. Use a hand held steam cleaner to clean the cage
7. Place an office chair mat under the cage to help protect you home's floor ( I did this. I really makes a difference)

Of course at-the-end-of-the day you still do have to clean so here's some great stuff to help you through your journey with your birds.