General Hygiene

Hygiene is very important in both preventing and controlling possible outbreaks of illness. Many diseases are spread through the faeces (along with other body excretions and liquids) and contaminated food and water. So if the cage, dishes and food are kept clean the chances of spreading disease are minimised. A good practice would be to scrub water dishes every day (filling them with fresh water daily), to scrub the perches when needed (you may even want to soak them in a weak bleach solution and rinse well) and keep the bottom of the cage and the nests clean (again, you may need to soak them in a weak bleach solution & rinse well). If your birds have just successfully raised a clutch to weaning, clean out their nest thoroughly before letting them start another one. Or, if your birds roost in a nest at night but are not sitting on their eggs or their young and their nest is full of droppings, clean it out well and replace it. If you have an aviary and cannot clean the bottom of the cage, use a rake to break up the droppings so that the center of the feces can dry out. The main cause for bacteria and worm egg survival is moisture, so for the same reason you should make sure your aviary design minimises moisture build-up. Clean air is also very important, so you may wish to purchase an air purifier or to produce some means of keeping the air circulating in the bird room without creating cold drafts. 

In order to keep food fresh, only purchase fresh seed and keep it stored in an air-tight container when not in use. Never purchase foods that have bugs, webs or mold in them. Also, remove soft foods (such as egg, vegetables, fruit or cake) daily, preferably within 5 hours or so of first providing them. If you keep a mealworm colony on the bottom of your aviary, make sure that it is not exposed to wild bird droppings or other insects, because mealworms can become carriers of certain diseases and internal parasites, such as tapeworm. A better practice would be to keep the colony indoors, and to provide tablespoonfuls of worms to your birds daily (the number of worms you provide depends on the number of birds you have that eat the worms). Along with discouraging wild birds from depositing their potentially disease-ridden droppings in your aviary, you must also discourage rodents such as rats and mice from visiting. Do not keep birds overcrowded in cages, and wash your hands before and after handling any one bird, especially if it showing signs of illness.

Certain disinfectants should only be used when there is an outbreak of disease as hot water and a good detergent will normally do the job of cleaning a cage when disease is not present. If you are going to disinfect your cages or aviaries, keep in mind that disinfectants will render powerless if the area is not visually clean before applying the disinfectant (remaining droppings, foodstuffs or any other organic material can inactivate a disinfectant on contact), the disinfectant is not of the correct potency, or if the disinfectant is not left standing over the area for the recommended period of time (this should be at least 15 - 30 minutes). The best disinfectants to use around zebra finches or other small birds are bleach and Tertiary Amines (which should be diluted for safe use around birds - a common brand of this group of disinfectants is 'Avi-Safe'. Do not let the birds come into contact with any of the disinfectants until the area has been rinsed and dried thoroughly. Also be wary of using disinfectants in closed rooms where air circulation is not present, and especially around young birds as fumes can damage. The best place to disinfect a cage is where there is a lot of air circulation and no birds (as in an indoor cage) For outdoor aviaries, keep the birds away from the disinfectant and in an area where they can get fresh air and plenty of air circulation.