... We came up with the idea of a bottom of a bird cage that when the bird throws food or poos the bottom of the cage will dissolve it so you don't need to clean the cage as often. Since parrots usually live very long a lot of elderly people own them and we feel this product will solve a lot of parrot owner problems! But we need to know a couple things so I decided to come to the community of the parrot forums to ask some questions;
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Thank you for your time to respond, we will make sure to take all opinions and information we can, if there is anything else we should know, please PM me! Thank you!
This is a cool project and you've taken a great step engaging with your target market during the early phases. I'll leave the creativity up to your team and will simply answer the questions you asked. Here's a wall of text...
-What do you think of this product? (honest opinion please)... For me personally, my bird is rarely in her cage, so that's not the location that gets dirtiest in my home. Her table top perch is where I feed most of her food. Her window tree and hanging rings are the locations where she spends most of her time (oh, and my shoulder too), and therefore these are the places which accumulate the most poop. She's flighted and all birds are messy eaters, so food and poop end up on the floor too. I currently use Uhaul packing paper under all these (4) spaces to catch the mess. I use moistened paper towel for spot cleaning wherever needed. The biggest problem / inconvenience I have is cutting or folding the Uhaul papers to the right size so they fit cleanly in all her locations. I've often thought I would like a service where I could input the dimensions I need, and a box/roll of precut papers would be delivered to my home. Your alternative solution would need to work for all of my locations, and be sufficiently easier to save me time (if it's also cheaper, that'd be a bonus). Long story short: I probably wouldn't use your product.
Speaking of time, I don't believe the elderly are your target market; they're retired and therefore generally have more time and less money for these chores than working-aged people do (it's also likely they've been using the same system for decades, and would be resistant to change). I wonder if your target market might be bird stores and rescue organizations where they have a large number of cages to clean (but they often also have volunteers to help).
-What safety procedures do we need to take?... As you've heard from others here, birds are very curious creatures so they'll touch everything, and they're also very sensitive to airborne toxins (Google 'origin of the phrase canary in a coal mine'). Your solution will need to factor these things into its design. You'll also want to think about testing before your product comes to market. Even if your eventual product was proven safe, a community such as this would look poorly upon your company if your testing involved harm to birds during its development. Ensure the 'dissolved' byproduct is also safe for birds and humans, and any common household surfaces (cage materials for sure, but don't forget about rugs and hardwood floors or various kitchen countertop surfaces).
-What materials should we use?... Acids are dangerous as others have already pointed out. Are there enzymes that can dissolve various organic compounds while being safe? It would need to work on a wide variety of items (poop, fruits and veggies, seeds and pellets).
-Will this affect the bird in any way? If you get it right, a bird with clean space(s) will be happier and healthier.
-And if this product comes to the market, how much should we sell it for? I spend $15 for a box of Uhaul paper 2x per year, and it takes me an hour per week to maintain 4 spaces for 1 bird (time wouldn't double for a second bird, but maybe increase by 25%). You can do the math to determine how much your product needs to cost, or save me in time, in order for it to be worth my consideration.