Use mild dish soap if anything to clean items. Toys, perches (especially wood which absorbs so try plain water first) the cage, etc. We usually use really hot water and use the shower to pour over the cage part first, then then grate and bottom to get it clean. Poop Off and other products REALLY work well to get stubborn buildup off but it has a strong scent so we only use it if the buildup is really bad.
If you clean your cage once a month (clean as in scrub down, not just change the lining/paper) or preferably once every 2 weeks you should be OK. As for changing the liner/paper, do that at least once a week and preferably twice. Ammonia builds up from bird poop which makes it dangerous to them. It will kill them. Bird poop has ammonia, nitrates, phosphates and all sorts of chemicals which are beneficial to plant life but not so much for animal life, which is why it’s such a good fertilizer. Bolivia is 1 of only 2 land locked countries in all of South America. Why is it land locked? Because of a war fought over bird poop… and lost. Seriously. Look it up.
As for the kind of paper to use for lining the cage (and shredding for that matter), your best bet is to use the glossy, thin paper from magazines and junk mail (great use for junk mail). Regular pulpy paper like the kind that a newspaper is made of have a tendency to get gross fast whereas the magazine paper does not. Pulpy paper absorbs better but that also means it absorbs any bacteria and nasties. Glossy paper not so much. Since birds have little waste compared to mammals and larger pets, absorption is not an issue whereas bacteria is. Bird poop contained in itself on glossy paper, which almost acts as a barrier, simply hardens and is easily dealt with. Mixed with pulpy paper it can get nasty.
Since we’re on paper, birds love to chew especially females and even more so, breeding or nesting females. Give them things to chew, otherwise they will FIND things to chew. Those Val-u-pak coupons are great for birds to chew. Bigger birds need wood and such to satisfy their shredding urge, but small birds are usually good with paper. To make cleaning easier I try to engineer each toy and perch placement so that there is nothing underneath wherever the bird happens to be standing so when he poops it falls straight down to the paper tray below. This way it keeps me from having to scrape poop off of things like perches and toys that could just as easily not be there in the way of the bomb. (see water silo for reference) Use a plastic paint scraper to scrape off poop. You can get them at the hardware store for about 99 cents and won’t scratch the paint or any powder coating. You can also use them on almost any surface without damaging it including plastic and wood.
Whatever they use to bathe in, make sure it’s used only for that purpose. Usually we just rinse the “tub” out daily with cold water and use paper towels to wipe off any film buildup. If you change it daily and with cold water there really shouldn’t be any. The film that does form is usually from the water itself like hard water stains and also water mixed with the birds natural oils, the food crumblets (backwash) and sometimes poop. If you need to get this off I would stay away from soap since they drink from it. If you have to use soap for anything use mild (and scentless if possible) dish soap and use very very small quantities. A lot goes a long way with soap. In fact, try using half the detergent you normally use to do a load of laundry and see if you notice a difference. I certainly didn’t. That’s have your laundry costs right there. If you have small children or teenagers who play outdoor sports where you have to wash the uniforms maybe not so much but that has been the findings of many reputable testing publications. As for dish and hand soap, same thing, especially with birds. One drop usually does the trick and doesn’t leave residue or a residual scent.
Use diluted vinegar to get any crusty film/scale off and if you ever need to disinfect something use Hydrogen Peroxide. It breaks down into water eventually and it is the safest. In fact, the reason that Hydrogen Peroxide or H2O2 is in brown opaque containers is that it easily breaks down. So easily in fact that light can break that bond which will turn it into H2O and Hydrogen. I recommend Hydrogen Peroxide because it rinses away and is the safest to consume residual amounts of.
You can use rubbing alcohol too but either way, rinse anything off very well. Rubbing alcohol is similar enough to booze (ethyl) alcohol that you can actually get drunk on it but it will eventually poison you. In fact, that is what Bathtub Gin was back in the Prohibition era. It would sometimes cause blindness both temporary and permanent so it’s certainly not worth imbibing. But, it is great for disinfecting and is cheap. It can be purchased in gallon containers too at larger outlet stores. But if you do, don’t use it near the birds as the fumes can be harmful and it can be flammable. If you use it, make sure you rinse thoroughly.
NO BLEACH! Granted bleach can actually be used in survival situation by putting 2 teaspoons of bleach into a gallon of water and letting it sit for at least an hour. But if you have to do that for safe drinking water, you’re either A. in the sticks, in which case, a pet bird might not be for you OR B. the North Korean fat boy managed a successful test and the world has come to an end. If that happens you either wouldn’t be reading this due to the electric grid failing or, you’re worried about feeding yourself as a higher priority. At which point you’d probably either not be worrying about your bird or you would have eaten him while crying like Homer Simpson did with Pinchy the lobster.
Regardless of what you use to clean your birds affects with, make sure you have a separate cleaning cloth/sponge/scraper (pretty much separate everything) for your bird’s things. This will be almost more important than what you use to clean your bird’s things. Using the same clippers you used to snap off those toe jam filled dragon claws with, a knife to open something that your husband was using to dig under his nails after working on the car or a spoon your kids used to play with in the dirt that simply got rinsed off that can carry aspergillosis is far more detrimental to your bird than residual rubbing alcohol. The simplest chemical transfer can make your bird sick. Have dedicated items to use specifically for your birds; like nail clippers to clip their claws, small wire cutters for snipping millet buds off the stalks, long needle nosed pliers for pulling things out of the cage of a territorial female without getting bitten, scissors to clip their wings, emery boards to file their beaks, sponges to clean their cage, plastic paint scrapers to scrape the poop off the cage, etc.
For metal pieces like pliers and clippers, make sure you make them bird safe. First off, since this is a one-time purchase and it’s for your birds so don’t skimp out. Pony up the cash and spend a couple extra bucks on some good hand tools. They’ll last longer, rust less, have a tendency not to be made out of lead or other cost cutting materials and if you have birds and then when they pass on and you decide not to get any more, at least you’ll have a set of good hand tools to use around the house. Most metal hand tools come with a coating of industrial oil on them to prevent them from rusting and to keep the moving parts free from dirt and debris. Clean the tools off with soap and water, dry it off and let it air dry. Then clean it again with rubbing alcohol, rinse it off and let it air dry again. From there put a light coat of vegetable oil on it and make sure you work the oil into the moving parts like joints and such. Be sure to wipe off as much as you can so there is no excess oil. This will coat it which will help prevent it from rusting but it will not harm the bird. Granted it will not last NEARLY as long as an industrial oil and since it is made from a plant base you do run the slight risk of that oil becoming rancid and unsafe but its better than industrial oil and if it starts to rust you can always repeat the process.
If you are a firearms enthusiast or if you just like to make things last I would highly recommend (and this is for all tools and metal items you wish to keep around for a long time be it indoor or outdoor) invest $10-$20 in a container of Frog Lube CLP. You can find more about it at froglube.com and you can also find videos online of people testing this product out. Its biodegradable, has a pleasant light mint smell and is food grade safe. It take a tiny extra effort to use this and “season” your metal item but you will seldom have an issue and almost never have rust after using this product on your metal items. Hot or cold, winter or summer. I can’t say enough about it. I use this for all my bird tools and they’re still kickin’ after 8 years and this is on cheap tools before I thought to buy good ones. That’s how good this stuff is. I use it on my firearms and hand tools as well, including axes and outdoor carabiners and those items can stay out all winter and still be protected. Anyway, using it is simple and there are instructions on line on how to use it but you can also contact us if you have any questions.
Our birds love bathing in cold cold water but maybe your does not. Test out different temperatures if you want and be mindful of winter but stay away from using hot water out of the tap for drinking as hot water can burn, plus it carries more contaminants, metals and also is more likely to house bacteria. So basically, whatever you do, make sure you do the final rinse in cold cold water. As a side note, old wives tale that works, when you use a cloth or sponge to clean, rinse it fresh with hot water and then rinse it with the coldest water possible and ring it out as dry as you can. Then hang it over a clean rod to dry. This will allow you to use it longer before washing it and you don’t get that dishcloth stank.