safe freshener idea

So I constantly rack my brain over a way to get a safe 'air freshener' for birds. Being on the spectrum I'm a hard sufferer of hyper-sensitivity, specifically smells are my worst enemy (new car smell makes me wretch and vinegar smells get right up my nose making me very uncomfortable hours after the smell has gone) I know about putting fruit or cinnamon in a pot and letting it simmer but a hot pot around the house isn't exactly safe with a bird flying about. Today I had a bit of a brainwave.

Why not get a spray bottle like you would spray your birds with, and put some diced up bits of fruit in it and then some boiling water? give it a good shake then let it cool before spraying around. Anyone have any reason this wouldn't be an idea? Like as long as using stuff that's safe for birds to eat it must be okay.

How are you with baked goods?

There's a problem with fruit water spray. It leaves a residue that pests love. You may think you're being ultraclean, but there are usually cracks, crevices and corners you may not reach. One benefit of a boiling pot is the heat. Do cooking smells offend you?

How about "just baking soda" - neutralizes about anything.
(use dry, not spraybottle, just the powder in a dish somewhere)


Not very problem-free directly around flapping birds, but apart from that: its odourless and harmless...
I am sure you find a way of boxing it in- while still have ventilation holes.


You could try a steamcleaner for deepcleaning without lingering smells- but no personal experience with them...

lol do NOT put boiling water in a spraybottle- the plastic is not up to that kind of heat!

Spraying around something that amounts to predigested fruit/juice is going to encourage mold and attract critters...
(you do not want that)

Yeah, I'm thinking that fruit-water is not a good idea, as it's going to contain sugar-water/residue, which you're going to spray all over your house, and not only will it make everything sticky and attract bugs/pests, but I doubt it's going to do much good in the way of scents anyway.

This is a tough thing when you own birds. During the time that I had not "pet" birds but was breeding and had my breeders/aviary downstairs on the walk-out level of my house, which is blocked-off from the rest of my house, I burned candles all the time, and used good-smelling cleaners and such. When I made the decision to again bring a bird into my family, the first thing I did was chuck all of the candles and the cleaners. Some people with birds insist that you can safely burn soy-candles and diffuse certain essential oils as long as they are not toxic to birds, but I personally don't think it's worth the risk, nor do I think that ANY essential oils, soy candles, or anything else that emits fumes or scents are safe for birds at all, because even if what is being emitted is not "toxic" to birds, really it still is toxic to them, because any and all scents can badly irritate their respiratory systems, specifically their air-sacs.

I have seen several people on here comment that they still "have to burn something" because they "love the house to smell good, and refuse to give-up all candles", and every time I see this I just cringe, and hope that I don't see them posting next in the Health forum, or worse, the Bereavement forum. Just not worth the known risk.

The reason for asking about cooking smells is this. Most indoor pests don't like the smell of basil and it doesn't hurt birds.
Go to the dollar store and buy some cups then a mega-bottle of dried basil at any grocery store. Stores usually carry the smelliest variety anyway. Pour some in the cups. Put them in areas to freshen and VOILA.

Sugar water (from fruit) could promote mold growth and ants. Perhaps boiled citrus peels and cinnamon could produce a less sugary solution, but again, I still might not want my bird breathing those oils in...granted, they would be way less concentrated than those found in essential oils (WHICH I DO NOT use).

LeslieA said:

The reason for asking about cooking smells is this. Most indoor pests don't like the smell of basil and it doesn't hurt birds.
Go to the dollar store and buy some cups then a mega-bottle of dried basil at any grocery store. Stores usually carry the smelliest variety anyway. Pour some in the cups. Put them in areas to freshen and VOILA.

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Interesting! I love the smell of basil but like Triggs, I hesitate to leave a pot of boiling water with flighted birds. Do I just put room temp water in the cup and drop in the basil?

Aren't essential oils okay? I personally don't use them but I thought they were deemed safe for birds.

If you like the smell of chocolate and baking, make some brownies!

Boiling fruit/ basil etc. does the same thing as essential oils: it releases the oils from the plants.
So you might as wel use a drop of essential oil (without a burner underneath) - be carefull some of them stain forever! (so put them om tissues / the not-toy-for-the-bird-kind f.e.).

Why not just get some basilplants - everytime you brush against them the plant will defend itself by releasing the odeur. If you want a basil-smell?


I do not disguise the birdsmell because it is usually the first thing that will alert me something is wrong with them.
(I smell them before I see them in the morning.)

Hang some dried herbs (not for a neat household) - that will also add a nice touch.
(just make sure is a parrotfriendly one) of just (like I said before) fresh ones in a pot.

thanks everyone! This is exactly why I ask first before implementing any ideas.

Basil does sound like a good idea, I'm quite fond of the smell of basil and I use the herb a lot in cooking so definitely a good idea, and the herb is safe if a bird were to nibble on it?

It's not so much bird smell that I dislike (in fact giving a good bird sniff after a bath is quite a nice smell) but odd things, like I dislike the smell of a lot of odd things, milk for example I detest the smell of and coffee too ( to the point I can't even go into a coffee place due to how queasy it makes me feel)

Sunnyclover said:

Aren't essential oils okay? I personally don't use them but I thought they were deemed safe for birds.

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There isn't much to support their safety for birds (other than people saying, "I use XYZ all the time around my birds and they are fine"). I think that people assume natural/organic means safe for birds, but again, the concern is 1. the respiratory make-up of birds, and 2. the potential medicinal impacts of inhaled oils (aromatherapy works in humans as a means of delivering systemic, natural "medicine" to the blood stream etc via the lungs)..There are even safety guidelines for humans when diffusing, as too much for too long can be really bad.



Based on the impacts of EEs on humans/mammals when inhaled (e.g., relaxation, energy, headache etc) there are concerns that they could have very serious impacts on birds (and honestly, it is only VERY recent that the essential oil business had started booming---they used to be unheard of in regular grocery stores). Then, there is just the fact that it isn't natural for birds to breath in tiny diffused particles of oil. This situation would be very unlikely in nature.


I personally choose not to use them (As a rule).

Agreed noodles, I've seen lots of people say "I've used Essential oils" but personally I wouldn't use them. Friend of mine is asthmatic and essential oils cause it to flare up for them so a bird's physiology I would be wary at best. I think the idea of using plants that are safe for birds which have strong smells is probably the route to go down

There is a basil-variation that has a citrussy smell.
If you like citrus is a *great* one to have in your house (and it does not taste half bad either).
There are 5 or 6 variations on the market I see all the time, but there a probably more.

I love the smell of my house after I clean and open all the windows to air it out. It smells like nothing, which is my favorite smell. Unfortunately I cant open the windows often since I live in Florida and have the AC running most of time. So for an alternative air freshener I would also say basil.If you rub it in your hand it releases the smell and it's safe for birds. I have a bunch of it growing in my back yard, it grows like weeds in this climate.

lol if I open my window at the wrong time my lovely 80/90 y. old downstairs-neighbour will fill my house with simmering onion-smell for hours.
She still cooks like it is 1930 or so, and will start her eveningmeal around 10:30/ 11:00 AM.


I do some cleaning with StMarks (severely diluted of course) - because I like the pine-smell and really cant stand the smell of a lot of cleaning products and there is not much going on in the "added extraas". It started with having some left over from extra-extra deepcleaning after moving house (and prepping for painting) and I found myself just automatically reaching for it.

Though I do a lot more with lime-juice etc. etc.. because if parrots are sensitive, the frogs are absolute hypersensitive to anything (they absorb load of chemicals through their skin, and with those tiny bodies...)

A note on "essential oils"...As Noodles and many others have already mentioned, ANYTHING that emits scents into the air can irritate the respiratory system of a bird, including their air sacs, and cause them to have breathing issues. So there are really different issues with "scents" being emitted into the air around your birds, first is whether or not the fumes/smoke is actually toxic/poisonous to birds, and then second is whether or not it's going to irritate their respiratory system and cause them breathing issues even though they aren't actually poisonous/toxic and going to kill them...at least not instantly...

There are so many different Essential Oils out there that it is very difficult to be able to know which ones are actually toxic/poisonous to your birds and which ones are not. And I'm not just talking about the type of Essential Oil, meaning it's scent/source, but also the brand that you buy and what the manufacturer's process is when extracting/filtering/bottling their Oils. There are an awful lot of cheap Essential Oil brands out there, and are what I like to call "dirty" Essential Oils, meaning that they are not simply the natural extract taken from a certain plant.

Generally speaking, the purer an Essential Oil is, the more expensive it's going to be. And you always need to read the entire label, especially the ingredients list, to make sure that there aren't a bunch of nasty chemicals and preservatives added to it. The fewer the ingredients in an Essential Oil, the better.

****Now the issue of choosing an Essential Oil that is not immediately toxic/poisonous to your bird, as there are MANY that are extremely toxic to not only birds, but to us as well. For example, I love the smell of diffused Tea Tree Oil, but it's extremely toxic to birds when they breath it in. So you always have to do your research and make a list of the safe Essential Oils versus the toxic/poisonous Essential Oils; a lot of this should be common sense as well, and you need to use your head, because even though a particular Essential Oil is "safe" or rather "non-toxic/poisonous" to birds, that doesn't mean that it's not going to cause your bird irritation in it's respiratory tract. Don't ever burn/diffuse any Essential Oil that is very strong or noxious to you, because it's going to be much, much stronger to your birds. And once again, unfortunately, the safest way to diffuse Essential Oils is to not do it in the first place.

Not everything "natural" is safe for our birds, and unfortunately, when it comes to odors/scents/fumes/smoke, they pretty much ALL are in some way harmful to our birds.

BoomBoom said:

LeslieA said:

The reason for asking about cooking smells is this. Most indoor pests don't like the smell of basil and it doesn't hurt birds.

Go to the dollar store and buy some cups then a mega-bottle of dried basil at any grocery store. Stores usually carry the smelliest variety anyway. Pour some in the cups. Put them in areas to freshen and VOILA.

Click to expand...

Interesting! I love the smell of basil but like Triggs, I hesitate to leave a pot of boiling water with flighted birds. Do I just put room temp water in the cup and drop in the basil?

Click to expand...

Wait...Do not put water in the cup, just the dried basil. Basically, you are covering odors like most candles and spray fresheners do

Grocery stores usually sell bulk containers of Giant Sweet Basil because it's the smelliest and most common dried basil.

It does NOT have to be boiled first. Although the scent lessens with time, it still is functional. To maintain a stronger smell, the basil must be replaced regularly.

Many base salts like baking soda (It tastes salty but makes great volcanoes mixed with an acid.) are odorless and used to "absorb" odors. That's a simple chemical reaction you "smell." (That's why Mentos and Diet Coke explode!)

It really comes down to this, different spices and bases make good natural deterrents. There are lots of tricks used by gardeners and homeowners alike.

Anatomically, at least according to my AV and
university anatomy class, birds are not injured by simply released spice smells. Often, dried, non-mineral spices are fed regularly to birds, i.e. tumeric. Undried spices, i.e. ginger, can be ground into chop as a health agent. ***Before adding either on a regular basis as with any medication or supplement, talk to your AV!***