open plan house... kitchen worries

[Annne]

Thanks everyone for the help!!! I can relax when i cook now haha. I read so much stuff on the net saying "DO NOT HAVE YOUR BIRD NEAR THE KITCHEN". It's so good being on a forum and hearing others opinions and experiences!

are you in an hour or apartment? if you are in a house you could roll your bird outside while you are cooking, open the windows near where your cooking and use the extractor fan above you stove if you have one

have you tried spray oil? i use it but i dont know if it smokes because iv never tried to make it smoke

I'm in a house but it might be annoying to roll that big cage every day. The area he's in has 3 walls and 2 of those walls have big windows so putting the exhaust fan on and opening up all the others windows should be enough?.. plus not burning food

This is a photo to show where the cage is in relation to the kitchen

[Michael]

Don't bother rolling a cage around, if the bird needs to be nearby but away, think about getting a travel cage that you can carry from place to place but leaving the bird in during cleaning, cooking, or other times you may want it to watch but not be out. It's totally worth having one both for at home and to take the bird places.

[laducockatiel]

Well with my parrot breeder, she also has an open plan house. What she does with her kitchen is she has a curtain instead of a door, the curtain can be opened and closed depending on whether the birds are out or not. The curtain is kind of transparent.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Ventilation is a key, too. A really good vent hood can dramatically limit the amount of smoke/odor etc. that travel away from the range top. In decent weather, open the windows when you cook.

[Michael]

I always wondered if opening windows makes things better or worse. Which direction does the air end up moving? You see there are windows and opposite ends (some by the kitchen and some by the birds). I often worry that opening the windows will actually blow more fumes towards the birds rather than away. I don't have the possibility of a hood vent. Any ideas?

[entrancedbymyGCC]

With a vent, the air will move in from outside if its properly set up. You can also get a fan and set it up so it's blowing out a window forcing the flow in the direction you want. But I think in most cases if there is a large air flow and you are dealing with normal cooking by product, getting the air moving so the smoke doesn't pool in the room is good even if some of it is getting blown towards the birds in the process - it's still more dilute than it would otherwise be.

Are you sure a vent hood is impossible? We had to get an island style one, which was considerably pricier, but it works very well now. I guess running ventilation could be a problem in an older building.