Birdroom, where do i beging

[elacleo]

Hello everyone I am new here,
I am looking to turn a smaller room into a bird room for my birds (the birdroom will be used during the daytime by the cockatiels) to fly free our Parrots (Aferican grey and Cockatoo) have the livingroom) but will have the cages in the birdroom (all cages) so I am wondering "where do I beging" on turning the spare room into a birdroom, what steps did you start with? what are "Must haves"? Obvously a Air purifier, what paint brands are safe for birds? what did you use as far as perching, toys etc? Love to see pictures of your Bird rooms!
We have 5 cockatiels, a aferican Grey and a cockatoo!

[cml]

Welcome!

"Must haves"? Obvously a Air purifier, what paint brands are safe for birds? what did you use as far as perching, toys etc? Love to see pictures of your Bird rooms!
We have 5 cockatiels, a aferican Grey and a cockatoo!

You dont need an air purifier imo, as long as you clean the room thouroughly, and often. There is a debate whether or not a humidifier is beneficial or not, but it makes more trouble than it helps as I see it, and I shower all birds regularly instead.

What you DO need to do though is bird proof the room:
*Make sure there are NO electrical wires that the bird can chew on.
Here's some suggestions: http://theparrotforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=10471
*Make sure the bird cant fall down behind stuff, and thus get stuck.
*Make sure to proof the window, if necessary with an extra lock or something so that someone doesnt accidently opens it.
*Dont keep things that are dangerous to birds in the room, such as ink pens etc (long list here, use your judgement and ask if you are uncertain.

Paint shouldnt be a problem unless your birds eat the walls, but I would go with a waterbased paint which is allergetically tested, there are such paints out there I believe:). Still, when you paint, move the parrots to another room and make sure to keep a few doors closed between them and the paint while its drying and make sure to thouroughly air the room out afterwards. You can also move them to someone else for a couple of days if you are nervous, but if you do as above, I do not think its necessary.

With perches, you can do pretty much anything . Thats the fun part.

I built a tree a while back which you can find here (ive since dissambled it though, as they continously started fighting on it )
http://theparrotforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=8025&p=58710&hilit=tree#p58710
Here's a guide on building regular perches I did a while back:
http://theparrotforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=9761&p=66638&hilit=tree#p66638
Indefine built this a while back, which looks great:
http://theparrotforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10923&p=76379&hilit=tree#p76379
Mrbowlerhat has built some really nice stuff, see here:
http://theparrotforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=11431
Polarn built a nice tree as well:
http://theparrotforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=8965&p=61098&hilit=tree#p61098

Make sure its all easy to clean.
And lots and lots of toys of course .

Again, welcome to the forums!

[Pajarita]

I disagree. An air purifier and a humidifier is essential in any birdroom. And, with a too, a grey and tiels, you will want one that is for a larger area than the actual one of the room as they are all dust birds. I don't use them in the summer because I keep the windows open and use a fan to blow air in from the outside in one window and to suck it out on the other (this doesn't only keep the air clean but it also creates a nice draft that cools it when it's very hot) but, as soon as the cooler weather starts, I turn them on during the entire day and turn them off at night (and don't forget to clean the purifier every few days because their powder clogs those filters something awful!).

A tiled floor is the best solution because anything else can be chewed up (my grays and toos always try to nest on the floor and that means scratching and chewing it). I also cover all the windows and doors edges and molding with corner beads to prevent their chewing them. There should be no furniture in it, just cages, stands, branches and natural ropes for perching. Make sure the cages and stands legs don't taper into a V at the bottom, birds can get their heads stuck in them and break their necks trying to dislodge them. I also have metal grids that I use as feeding platforms hanging from the ceiling (they also use them as perches as I stick branches there) which have ropes tied to them as 'bridges' between the platforms (if your tiels are anything like mine, they will use them for perching most of the time).

Any home depot or similar store has paint that is not only non-toxic but also has zero VOS, just ask for it and they will direct you to it. I recommend painting the walls a sunny yellow if the room doesn't get a whole lot of light because it makes a dark room look lighter in a sunny way.

The light fixture can be an inexpensive shop light (I have two of two tubes each with three full spectrum ones -Ktemp closest to 5500 and CRI higher than 93- and one UV tube).

Having a birdroom for birds to be able to live cage-free is the best gift you can give them - kudos to you for doing them such a kindness!

[cml]

I disagree. An air purifier and a humidifier is essential in any birdroom. And, with a too, a grey and tiels, you will want one that is for a larger area than the actual one of the room as they are all dust birds.

Just make sure to clean a humidifier daily, as its a great growing ground for bacteria and can affect parrots health very seriously if you are lax with cleaning.

A tiled floor is the best solution because anything else can be chewed up

Aye, a tiled floor or a plastic floor is great. Both are easy to clean and cant be chewed on (as there is no cracks in either).

[cml]

Always nice when you put the time in to write a long answer and the poster disappears ^^....

[GlassOnion]

I have an Austin Air air purifier but no humidifier. I take my guys to shower almost everyday. If I didn't, I would have a humidifier, especially in the months when heating is used.

[billy-1]

hi all just brought 2 proven pairs of african greys at the moment i have a spare room so they are happy i cleaned the cages just did not disturb the nest boxes after a week looking for some cameras i got them and put them over the nest boxes the wirds cannot touch the wires everything is ok that way but im wondering when i get a out building a shed im not sure of the set up , what i was going to do is build a larged caged area so my shed is safe from chewing but with me having 2 pairs is it ok for the pairs to see each other not sure just asking i no its ideal to do the best you can big open flights but im thinking of safety aswell i would not like to go out to them and someone as broken in so i am looking at the full picture any ideas please and if anyone has any plans or ideas please let me no thanks for reading

[Pritnear]

Hi. I'm a newbie here, and wanted to thank you all for responding to this thread. I loved reading all of the responses and learned a few things.