Keeping a parrot in a kitchen?

[michellet]

If he also does the cleaning, i'd be happy to have him

[MandyG]

He's an amazing cook and he likes doing it. I do all the cleaning.

Now if I could just train the birds to clean up after themselves everything would be perfect!

[jasperbird]

I know of two people who kept birds in or right next to a kitchen. My sister-in-law had two parrotlets kept caged quite near the oven, and when they were about 2 years old she found them both dead on the floor. She couldn't understand it because "I didn't burn a Teflon pan," but she roasts turkeys and chickens all the time with greasy fumes in the air. The other friend had a cockatiel for about 10 years, then bought a Macaw, keeping them both in the same cage in the kitchen by the window. The same story: after a couple of years she found them both dead on the floor of the cage and couldn't figure out why. I think it's a good idea to err on the side of caution.

[laducockatiel]

The breeder that I bought my cockatiel from kept all her birds (cockatiels, budgies and an African grey) in her kitchen. I think it would be ok as long as you don't cook while the bird is out, like you said.

[liz]

My birds have a dining room between the kitchen and sunroom. The house is well ventilated and I have ion filters in each room. My ceiling fans are set to pull the air up and down the walls. I have a fan on the floor blowing fresh air into the sun room from the floor register.

When my friends come over to play poker on Wednesdays, I put a little high powered fan on top of the french door leading to the sun room to blow smoke away from the birds then turn the vacume fan on that is over the stove.

In my fast paced life, I prefab a lot of food. I will cook 10 pounds of ground beef at one time then devide it into 10 packages for freezing. I stay with it while it is cooking. If I need to leave the room I turn the stove off and cover what I am cooking. I precook burgers, porkchops and chicken and freeze in serving sizes too. When my oven is on I set a timer just short of the done time and stay in he kitchen after it dings. If I have to leave the kitchen I set the timer for 10 minutes and put it in my pocket so I won't forget.

Rachel Ray on the Food Network has a program called the 30 Minute Meal. I can put a meal together in 20 minutes with my method. In that 20 minutes I do not leave the kitchen.

My problem is going to be this winter. I always move my birds into the dining room because the sunroom doesn't stay as warm as the rest of the house. Since I am housebound, loosing my nickles on Wednesday night is my only outlet. I may have to set up a card table in the living room.