Finch Aviary - Care - Daily Cleaning Tasks

Daily Cleaning Tasks

Aviary Floor

The droppings on the aviary floor should be addressed each day. In order to keep the floor of an indoor aviary clean from droppings, some type of floor covering is usually provided. This covering can take the form of paper sheets or bedding/litter. See Floor Covering in our Accessories section for more information about the floor covering options available.

Paper Sheets

We use paper sheets in the form of kraft paper on the bottom of our aviary. Paper floor liners (newspaper, blank newsprint, Kraft paper) should be changed each day. The droppings on the paper should be inspected for any signs of illness. See the Internet article "Health: Evaluating Bird Droppings" for more information on how to identify suspicious droppings.

Tip: If your aviary is large, purchasing newsprint or Kraft paper on a roll may save you some time. These rolls are available in many different widths and can be cut to the appropriate length, which I find easier than laying out many sheets of preprinted newspaper or precut newsprint. Kraft roll cutters are available to make cutting the paper easier, but these tend to be expensive. See the Floor Covering article in our Accessories section for our source of Kraft paper.

Tip: When you do your weekly cleaning, lay down seven days worth of paper lining at once. At the end of each day, simply remove the top layer.

Bedding/Litter

Many people use bedding or litter on the floor of the aviary. Many choices are available, some better than others. See Floor Covering in our Accessories section for more information about the pros and cons of different beddings. Although it is more difficult to inspect droppings deposited among bedding materials, beddings tend to be a little easier to maintain. At the end of the day, you can simply rake the bedding so the droppings are buried beneath. You may want to sprinkle a fresh layer on top to keep the surface clean and fresh. If you use corncob bedding, you must be sure to remove any corncob that may have gotten wet. Corncob is highly prone to mold growth. This mold can lead to illness in your birds, including Aspergillosis. I caution against using corncob for this reason, but if you really want to use it, make absolute certain you never leave wet corncob in your aviary.

Food/Water Containers

Water bottles and bird baths should be cleaned daily, and fresh water provided at this time. To clean these accessories, I rinse the droppings off then sanitize them in the dishwasher.

Tip: Buy at least two sets of aviary accessories such as food and water containers and bird baths. This way, a clean set can be placed in the aviary while the dirty ones are run through the dishwasher. The heat of the dishwasher should go a long way toward keeping your accessories sanitary.

If you only give your birds a single day's ration of seed at a time, the seed dish should be replaced and washed in the dishwasher as well. If you use a seed hopper like I do, this is inconvenient and defeats the purpose of a hopper. Instead, I wipe the droppings from the hopper with a wet cloth and discard the top layer of seed. I then top off the hopper with fresh seed if necessary. I hold off on replacing the hopper until the weekly cleaning.

The plate/dish/utensil used to offer fresh foods should be removed and sanitized as well.

Tip: Serve fresh food on a disposable paper or plastic plate. Food particles often stick to the plate when they dry and can take a little effort to scrub clean. Disposable plates are relatively inexpensive and a nice time-saver, since they can be pitched at the end of the day.

That's all there is to it! The aviary floor and the food and water containers. That's all the cleaning that's required for the day.

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