Stovetop scents

[mastershakezula]

Hello everybody. I’ve heard that candles, air fresheners, etc... are pretty harmful towards birds; but what do you all think about stovetop scents? Throwing some ingredients in a pot and cooking them up to have your home smell good. Are these alright for birds?

I’m a person that loves scents in my home, so I would love to cook up something to make my room smell good if it means my little bird won’t get sick! I haven’t used a candle or anything like that in YEARS.

 

[saxguy64]

Hello, and welcome! I guess it really depends on what it is that you're cooking up. Most of us here keep to the side of caution. Better safe than not, you know? So, my two cents, better to avoid filling your home with yummy scents if you can. If you can smell it, there's potential to harm your bird. (and some things you can't smell can be as bad or worse) Obviously, not EVERY smell, but we don't always know where the line is until it's too late. Their respiratory systems are so sensitive, so many things can be a problem for them. If you think about it, parrots in the wild are never exposed to smells of cooking anything, so why risk it in your home? Probably doesn't help much, but it's the mindset I stick with as much as possible.

 

[fiddlejen]

Well with CAution it can be okay. I mean, certain things that you cook have a smell. Now my house is quite long -- really if my landlord were to hang a door in the passthru & install plumbing in the front half, this could easily be two apartments, or three if he were greedy. (Many of these houses have been divided up in just that way!) AND I always take precaustions of venting my kitchen when cooking, etc. So this is to say, my birds are already far-separated from my kitchen so this may work more safely for me than for some.

BUT if for some reason i wish to cover an odor or etc. I will put a pan on the stove with water AND with something I might normally cook anyway. So - maybe a drop of vanilla. Maybe with 1/2 tsp lemon Juice, sprinkle of cinnamon powder ginger powder. Spoonful of orange juice could work too. Let it simmer a while but Of Course Not boil dry. Or in summertime maybe boil water and just drop in a couple bags of peppermint tea & some ginger powder. Again, let it simmer a while but Not boil dry. Sometimes I do this on the stove or sometimes even in the microwave.

So basically yes, if you're Cautious, and use a cooking method and ingredients that would be Safe anyway, taking All normal bird-safe precautions. I think don't there's any reason you couldn't do cautious-Cooking with a goal of basically making a pleasant humidified odor in the air, rather than with the goal of drinking the herbal tea which you are basically making.