Avian Conversations

(January/February, 2000)

by: Tom Riggs and Ross Bishop

NESTS AND NESTING MATERIALS

Tom: There are a great variety of nests and nesting materials. Regarding nests, my preference for finches are closed nests made of bamboo. I basically use 4 types of nests: large closed bamboo nests, small closed bamboo nests, tube bamboo nests (my Cubans are the only ones to use these), small closed boxes and small semi-closed boxes with a half open front. These last boxes are much recommended for Gouldians. I have never had a Gouldian nest in one!

It is important to clean and sterilize nests after chicks fledge. I use Dent A-Gene to disinfect wooden boxes after cleaning them. I treat bamboo nests with boiling water and run them through the dishwasher.

Ross: I have had good success using closed plywood finch boxes. My gouldians and owls prefer them and I like them because they clean and disinfect fairly well. However, and I will never be sure about this, I bought a Gouldian from a lady who I later learned had an outbreak of Twirling Syndrome in her aviary. The bird I bought eventually came down with it and died. Some months later another Gould caught it and I have often wondered if the second bird didn't catch the virus impregnated in the wooden nest box. Incidentally, it was that experience that got me started disinfecting seriously with Oxyfresh.

My Stars, and Cordons on the other hand, won't go into a box. Many of them prefer the egg shaped closed millet or bamboo nests. I have also learned that birds and I sometimes have different ideas about what makes a good nest box. I was shipped some plastic nest boxes by mistake from one catalogue firm. I looked at them and thought that no self respecting bird would ever go near one of these! I was short on nest boxes, so I thought I'd try one. Most of the birds ignored them, but my Diamond Firetails just love them! So much for trying to think like a bird! I had the same experience with my Stars. The experts say that they prefer tubular containers, so I bought some, and built a couple of others, and none of my Stars (or anyone else for that matter) would go near them.

One trick I learned is to line nests and nest boxes with coffee filters (unbleached). It helps to contain the mess and makes the nest or box much easier to clean. It minimizes the spread of infection. You must be careful though, to cut a notch (I find that folding is not reliable) in the filter so that the nest opening will not become blocked. Then, weigh down the filter with nesting material so that the filter will not shift and flip over, trapping a bird. I keep several sizes (4 & 6) on hand for my various sized nests and boxes.

There has been a lot of discussion about nesting materials. I know that many people buy used burlap sacks from their local feed store, wash them and then unravel the threads for nesting material. I find my birds like this best. Coconut fiber is also used a lot. I find that wild grasses are also well accepted. The list of what can be used is almost endless. Some people buy a feather pillow and give the birds the feathers for nesting material. I'd want to know what chemicals the feathers had been treated with first, though. What I have learned is that various birds have preferences, and you need to present a variety of materials to suit those preferences.

Any material poses a risk, and the important consideration is to not use something that is strong or likely to catch a bird's foot in the nest. I lost a bird whose leg got caught in a nest lined with excelsior and I will never use that material again.

I also learned an important lesson about having a variety of nesting materials available. I bought some Stars in the fall and they just weren't interested in nesting. I had coconut fiber and burlap available, so I thought they would use those things. But, no luck. I thought it was the birds. So, when spring came, as I usually do, I tossed some wild grasses into the bottom of the aviary. Within 2 days both pairs of Stars had built grass nests on top of plywood nest boxes, and I learned an important lesson about having the right materials available.

Tom: I use several kinds of nesting materials. There is a wild place behind my house that is not sprayed or anything. There are several types of grasses and weeds that grow there. I collect the grasses and take them into my utility room to dry. I cut them into 5" lengths and put them on a tray in the aviary. I also use coconut fiber, sterilized Goat hair and raffia or hemp string that I cut into 5" lengths and unravel. The hemp string is very popular with my birds. They use that first. I tried feathers once. All the birds did was pull the feathers out of the mesh bag and they went everywhere! I did not see any of the feathers get to the nest boxes. By the same token, many birds will use the molted feathers that are dropped in the aviary.

Open nests such as canary nests are used by birds such as Diamond Doves, Societies, Serins and Siskins. I don't know of any African or Asian Finch that uses an open nest. One point I should make here is that the closed bamboo nests are used by many birds besides finches. My Honeycreepers use them, my Reedlings have used them in addition to half open nest boxes. I think it is wise to give your birds a choice. Put a lot of them up, and see what happens!

Another technique I use is to place artificial greenery above each nest. This seems to give the birds a sense of privacy and comfort. I think it has encouraged breeding amongst some of the birds I keep. On caution: one should always get solid leaved plants. I once bought an artificial spider plant made out of nylon. This frayed in time and one of my Bearded Reedling hens got her leg caught in the nylon and lost her foot.

In the past I have used live plants in indoor aviaries with Gro-Lites, and it was very attractive, but it was a maintenance nightmare. I currently use a 6' artificial ficus tree in the middle of each flight. It offers a place for birds to hide, and I believe this helps reduce stress. It also provides a great place for fledglings to hide out during their first few days out of the nest. I pull the trees and hose them down when they get dirty. I find that I have to replace them about every 6 months.

LIGHT

Ross: The skylights in your aviary provide a wonderful source of light for your birds. What about some of the rest of us who are not so fortunate?

Tom: Good light is essential for healthy birds. There are two ways of getting that either naturally or artificially. There has been remarkable progress in artificial lighting during the last few years and I certainly recommend it for any indoor facility. I do not use artificial lighting because I am extremely fortunate to have skylights over my indoor aviaries which provide extremely good light. But, I am in the process of installing artificial lighting in my holding cages. I am not satisfied that these cages get the light that they need.

There are some very sophisticated computerized lighting systems that do all sorts of things - imitate moon phases, etc. They are expensive and complicated and I use one, in my outdoor aviary's shelter. Since tropical birds are on a reverse seasonal schedule - our winter is their spring - I simply lengthen the amount of artificial light to 14 hours daily as the winters days shorten. As the summer comes on, I simply allow the natural light cycle to take over.

One thing that I have found is that with the skylights the birds receive intense light during part of the day and they just love it. You'll walk into the room and it's over 90° and you'll see Gouldians and Diamond Doves and other Waxbills sitting directly in a sunspot, lolling, sunbathing with their heads back and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Some birds do not like the sun, however. I have found that for long periods of time my Lorikeets will seek shade during hot periods and avoid direct sun. And, finally, one will be able to see the true beauty of their birds in sunlight - a beauty that no artificial light can equal in revealing, in my opinion.

BATHING

Tom: I think that proper bathing is one of the most important things for birds. The practical reason is that bathing encourages preening which in turn allows feathers to insulate properly. Most birds look beautiful when bathing is regular. One of the greatest mistakes I used to see with importers was to not allow birds to bathe immediately upon arrival. Most birds arrived sticky and unkempt and should have been offered bathing water immediately.

Ross: Birds naturally defecate and urinate when bathing and if the soiled bath water sits for any length of time in the warm sun, it's trouble just waiting to happen. Especially if one of your birds is carrying an infection that is not outwardly visible. We wouldn't bathe in contaminated water, and yet it surprises me that people expect their birds to stay healthy while bathing in soiled water.

Tom: Fresh water obviously gets soiled with droppings and seed and you run risks of all sorts of problems with fouled water. It is however, high maintenance when you are providing water bowls. They must be kept clean. Although it seems perfectly obvious, I have even seen experienced aviculturists putting food and water dishes directly under perches. That is just asking for trouble!

DRINKING WATER

Tom: Certainly fresh drinking water is very important. It can be difficult to provide if you are using open dishes. I have the luxury of being home all day, so I often change water 4-5 times a day. Water dishes must be kept really clean. I use only reverse osmosis filtered water for my birds. The drinking water always has a vitamin supplement in it whereas bathing water does not.

Ross: One thing that many bird keepers do not appreciate is how quickly the supplement solutions recommended for drinking water turn toxic, especially on a warm day. Closed containers with nutrient rich chemicals are perfect breeding environments for all sorts of pathogens. This water must be changed and the containers sterilized at least daily. My drinking water containers are large, and I partially fill them so I am not pouring expensive additives down the sink each day. Water containing Nekton, for example, should be changed at a minimum daily to avoid the risk of the solution turning sour. Read the directions on the container. It's not worth the minimal expense to put your birds at risk.

Tom, you mentioned filtered water. Our tap water these days contains all sorts of chemicals - lawn and agricultural fertilizer, pesticides, heavy metals - the list goes on. Sink-top water filters are inexpensive and fairly effective. I think they are a good investment for both your family and your birds.

CLEANING FOOD AND WATER CONTAINERS

Ross: Another place that I think bird keepers need to be particularly careful regarding the spread of infection are food and water containers. You and I use somewhat different approaches. I'll talk about mine first and then ask you to comment. I keep two sets of food and watering containers and swap them out daily. One set is used while the other is being washed and sterilized. This allows time for thorough sterilization and gives the second set of dishes a chance to thoroughly dry. Thorough drying is another good pathogenic protection.

I use small plastic and pottery plant saucers for food, closed containers for drinking water and a large plant saucer contained in a much larger plant saucer (to catch overspray) for bathing. The dishes are marked so that they go back into the same aviary, lessening the risk of spreading infection. Bathing water is changed at least twice daily, and in warm weather more frequently. I wrote about this in the Disinfectants article in the March/April NFSS Bulletin. I believe that article is available on the NFSS website.

I suppose one might ask do I need to disinfect? Let me to tell you my story - which is how I got in to all of this in the first place. I have two aviaries, mostly finches. I did a pretty good job of cleaning. I'm not a clean freak, and I don't have a lot of spare time, but my aviaries were certainly not dirty. Once a week they got washed down with detergent and then Vanodine.

I went for a year and a half with no baby birds. I knew something had to be wrong but I couldn't find an answer. The birds looked OK, no one was visibly ill. They looked just about like everyone else's. I played with diet, with lighting, with temperatures, I tried anything and nothing worked - I was at my wits end.

Someplace along the line I started to wonder if general health was an issue, so I started looking into Vanodine and found out that it didn't work very well as a disinfectant. Then somebody turned me on to Oxyfresh's cleaner and disinfectant and I tried them. After all that time of frustration, I am sitting here today, 6 months later, with nests and cages full of baby birds and adults whose condition is terrific. I thought they were fine before, but now I know what really alive and healthy birds look like, and I am stunned by the difference! Although I thought I was doing right by my birds I think that now they were constantly fighting off pathogens, and weren't up to breeding. Because of what I learned, I have started a number of other folks here on Oxyfresh, and I can see the visible changes in their birds, too. I think that cleaning and disinfecting this way is the best thing we can do for our feathered friends. And, another factor to consider is that with increasing CITES restrictions each bird we have becomes even more precious. Every one that we can keep alive makes captive species survival that much more possible, and we need that!

Tom: I certainly agree with everything you are doing. I do things a bit differently. I let the dishwasher do most of my disinfecting. I have extra sets of food and water dishes and everything is removed and washed daily.

Anything that nectar touches is a different matter. Disinfection is essential with nectar because nectar fouls so quickly and foul nectar is a terrible risk to birds. I use a solution called Desi-Lux which is produced by Nekton. Everything can be treated in it but it is absolutely essential, in my opinion, for all nectar tubes and dishes.

FLOOR COVERING

Ross: I use newspaper on the bottom of my aviaries. I find that it works well, and requires me to clean them frequently, which I think is a good thing. The fresh, frequently changed surface limits the spread of infection. On the negative side, it also means going into the aviary and creating a disturbance, which I am told can cause problems for nesting birds. I have not experienced this, however. You use another approach. Would you tell us about it?

Tom: I have tried everything at one time or another (walnut shells, pine shavings, etc.). None were very satisfactory. Several years ago I discovered a company in Montana called Bird Country that makes a litter of pelleted grass. This material is highly absorbent and doesn't harm the bird if ingested. I use it in all my indoor flights. I do rake over the litter, remove that which becomes soiled under perches and replace it with fresh. The litter is changed every 4-6 months, at breeding breaks. This works well for me.

I think that newspaper works well and I use it in my holding cages, for my pet Cockatoo, Green Cheeked Conure and my 29 year old Senegal Parrot. But, I do not use it in the breeding flights because I feel that the frequent changing is too disruptive to the breeding process.

VACUUMS

Ross: One dilemma we all face is cleaning up the chaff and seed on a cage or aviary floor. Birds make a mess! It is so easy to reach for the vacuum and suck it all up. While I know a lot of people do this, it is not the best idea. While sucking up chaff, the vacuum is also sucking up all sorts of germs, viruses and mold spores and blowing them right back out into the air for sensitive birds to breathe. We have to remember that a bird's respiratory system is far more responsive than ours and although It is easier for us to clean this way, it does add a risk factor to our bird keeping. I have not had the chance to check out some of the new vacuums with HEPA filters, to determine how well they might work in this situation.

Tom: I, on the other hand, use a shop vac daily, and I have never had a problem that I could trace to this practice. I do, however, also have a HEPA air filter with an ozonizer which runs 24 hours a day in the bird room, plus a ceiling fan which is vented to the outside. In really warm weather I can also open the bird room door to the outside. Maybe these are factors in my not having problems caused by vacuuming.

CAGE CLEANING

Tom: Cleaning cages is, of course, very important. For my holding cages and parrot cages etc. The paper is changed daily. I clean the perches before they get dirty. Eventually the whole cage will need cleaning. I fill the bathtub up with hot water and Oxyfresh Cleansing Gel, put the cage in the tub let it soak a few minutes. Then scrub it down with a stiff brush. I then spray with Oxyfresh Dent-A-Gene to disinfect. For larger cages, I take the outside, hose them down, do the Oxyfresh and Dent-A-Gene thing and allow them to completely dry in the sun. How often depends upon what type of bird is kept in it and how quickly it becomes soiled.

NAIL CLIPPING

Tom: Nail clipping is also often neglected by bird keepers. Nails must be clipped. Not only is it uncomfortable for the bird to sit around on long, overgrown nails, it is dangerous. Birds with overgrown claws can get caught on everything - cage wire, nesting material, and can sprain or even break their legs, rip off toes, etc. This was really brought home to me when I had a friend who had a pair of hanging parrots. These birds are very prone to overgrown claws. One of the birds had a night fright and its claw became entangled in the wire it was hanging from, and it shattered its leg. The bird had to be put down. You see many finches in shops with lost toes, even broken legs because their claws have not been clipped. And by properly clipped I mean that you must remove the hook of the claw. Just clipping the tip of it won't do. You've got to remove the hook so that it will not get caught. There are certain birds like Weavers, Strawberries, Goldbreasts, in fact, most of the reed-bed birds, whose nails grow extraordinarily fast and must be maintained regularly. How often? As needed. I keep an eye out and if I see a bird with its nails getting too long I catch it up and trim. One thing I do when I receive new birds is to check their nails and, if needed, clip them immediately before putting into holding cage.

Birds with clear claws are much easier to clip because you can see the vein, and clipping is fairly straightforward. Birds with black claws are another matter. You have to judge as best you can, and you are going to have an occasional problem. It happens to everyone. Either you misjudge where the vein should be or the bird moves at a critical moment and you end up with a problem.

I have never lost a bird to loss of blood from nail clipping, but you don't want to be cavalier about it. On the other hand, don't panic. Have materials on hand ahead of time and move swiftly and decisively. For smaller cuts a Styptic pencil is quite effective. An ointment called Quell varies in effectiveness. You can dip the foot in hydrogen peroxide and it will sometimes help. If the bleeding is bad you can cauterize the claw. If you smoke you can use a cigarette, otherwise heat an instrument like a knife blade and apply it to the wound. Although the thought of doing this is somewhat daunting, this is a very effective technique. The claw tissue is largely dead so the bird feels very little. If this happens to you, isolate the bird until you are certain that the bleeding has stopped.

Nail clippers for thicker claws works well (I.e., whydahs, weavers, reedlings, and most of medium sized softbills).

Ross: Clipping nails has been a nightmare for many bird keepers. I know it used to be for me. When I started keeping birds I picked up a pair of cheap nail scissors from a local pet store. I now refer to them as "butcher shears". Trying to use these things made clipping nails an utter nightmare. Nail cutting day in our aviary was an absolute horror. These clippers didn't allow me to see where I was cutting and I got a lot of bleeding and learned a lot more than I ever wanted to about cauterizing. Someone suggested getting a really good set of shears. I spent about $12 on a good pair of professional nail clippers from Hornbeck's, and it's been the best thing I have done in the aviary.

I still keep a styptic pencil handy in case I make a mistake. And I think it's a good idea. I also learned that if you really blow it and can't stop a clipped nail from bleeding, the edge of a heated knife applied to the wound will cauterize it. It's a drastic step, but better than having a bird bleed to death.

I have also learned to schedule my clipping sessions so that they do not coincide with nesting periods. It's pretty disruptive to catch and clip a whole aviary, and you just don't want to do that during breeding season.

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Note: If you have suggestions, comments, other ideas or disagreements we welcome your thoughts. You can send them to Ross Bishop, P.O. Box 6105, Santa Fe, NM, 87502 or email ross@dsrt.com. We will try to respond to comments in future columns.

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Last modified: February 25, 2005
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