HAZARDS AND CARE OF YOUR BIRD

by Bobbi Brinker

TEFLON

No product that has Teflon or any non-stick coating belongs in a house with a bird. Teflon - and any non-stick coating - is very serious business for birds. Non-stick coatings are everywhere - space heaters, irons, bread machines, ovens and racks, ironing board covers, waffle irons, burner pans or grilles, etc. Be sure that any product you apply heat to does not have a non-stick coating. Open a window and run the range fan on high when you cook - in case there is a non-stick coating on the grilles.

Some oven and oven components are coated with a shipping resin that can be fatal to a bird. Cook stove grilles can be heated to a high temperature in an outdoor grille to make sure there is no resin on them. It doesn't matter how careful you will be so that food doesn't burn; it doesn't matter if food sticks in aluminum or stainless steel pots and pans; it doesn't matter what the exact temperature is that non-stick coatings kill; it just doesn't matter. For the sake of the life of your bird - do not use any product or buy any item that has a non-stick coating.

SELF-CLEANING OVENS

Don't run the self-cleaning cycle with your birds in the house. If you have a new oven, run the self-cleaning cycle several times (with the racks in the oven) after removing your birds from the house. The high temperature generated by the self-cleaning feature will burn away the shipping resin if one is present. If you have not used the self cleaning feature in an existing oven, run it several times (with the racks in the oven) after removing your birds from the house to make sure that all the shipping resin, if one is present, is burned away.

Pick a summer day and take the bird from the house to use the self-cleaning feature if you need to use it or want to use it in the future. The stench from the shipping resin on the oven interior in the self cleaning mode in my new home was enough to drive us from the house. I can well believe it would have killed my birds had they been in the house.

A coating - meant to be burned away during use - on ceramic stovetop surfaces has been implicated in the deaths of birds. Take precautions, open windows, run the stovetop fan on high and keep your birds out of the kitchen, during the early weeks and months if you have a ceramic cooking surface. Will this save your bird? I don't know. An attempt to burn off the coating before the bird is present will certainly help.

TOXIC FOODS, PLANTS, CHEMICALS AND TOY SAFETY

There are many substances - foods, plants and chemicals - that can cause injury and death to our birds. Birds have also been injured and even died from poorly made toys and cages. Of equal danger are electrical cords and outlets. Childproof your outlets and restrict roaming. Please read some of the articles below to learn more about protecting your bird