Cooking safely with parakeets in the home

I’ve been thinking lately about cooking and how to safely cook around budgies.  They process air much faster than humans so the smallest pollutant can be fatal.  Most people know that things like candles and cigarettes are big no-nos for birds, but there are several things to avoid specifically while cooking.

The big one to stay away from is Teflon pans. It was with some sadness that I got rid of all my non-stick cookware the day Toby came home. It’s safe to use stainless pans, like the Cuisinart 733-30H Chef’s Classic Stainless 5-1/2-Quart Saute Pan with Helper Handle and Cover, although it certainly increases my risk of burning things!  Which, I am joking about, but we make every effort not to introduce cooking smoke into the budgie’s breathing space. It’s not recommended to keep parakeets in the vicinity of a kitchen because of all the contaminants, but with a small house we really don’t have a choice on that.

Because of switching to stainless from non-stick, it may be tempting to rely more on cooking sprays that grease your pans, these are also bad for budgie airways. That’s just a good reminder about any spray, really, from hair spray and deodorants to home scents.

Another big danger zone is your oven. A new oven is deadly to birds, and needs to be run for a long time to release all of its breaking in fumes, which I believe are burning off some coating on the interior of the stove. Basically you either need to remove the budgies from the area and run your oven at a very high temperature several times or if you buy from a local appliance store it’s my understanding you can pay a little extra to have them do this for you.

We are pretty much without our oven at this point, we bought it last fall and thought that we had burned everything off properly, Patrick spent two days at home with Toby in another room and the oven running/house vented, and we were able to use it around Christmas last year, but really didn’t do much with it after the holidays.

Flash forward to this year when we went to heat up a frozen pizza and realized that it still isn’t done giving off fumes.  So, we’ve agreed to skip the oven this winter and work on getting it properly broken in this spring/summer when we can move the birds to another room AND vent the house without making it too cold.  Fortunately we have this toaster oven, BLACK+DECKER CTO6335S 6-Slice Digital Convection Countertop Toaster Oven, Includes Bake Pan, Broil Rack & Toasting Rack, Stainless Steel Digital Convection Toaster Oven that is pretty big and safe to use until we sort out the oven issues.

Also watch out for the self-cleaning oven setting, this releases fumes that will kill your parakeets because the oven heats itself to about 900 degrees and this super heats the chemical coating inside.  If your oven needs to be cleaned it’s much safer for your birds and you to use natural products like baking soda, vinegar and your own scrubbing power.  I would also suggest that spot cleaning your oven after a spill may help avoid the need for devoting an entire day to oven-cleaning down the road.

The best tool in my kitchen is my Crock-Pot SCCPVL610-S 6-Quart Programmable Cook and Carry Oval Slow Cooker, Digital Timer, Stainless Steel, we usually throw something in it on Sunday morning and it has us set for dinner for at least two or three nights.  The slow cooker is safe for budgies because the insert is ceramic and has no coating – YAY! If a recipe calls for it to be coated with cooking spray I take it outside, but I think in most cases I could replace that with greasing it with butter anyway.

Beyond taking care about what products you are cooking with I would also strongly caution anyone about having parakeets or other companion birds outside of their cages while you cook. Even a budgie that you think is clipped for his “safety” can make a random leap onto a hot surface or (heaven forbid) into a pot of boiling water.  We discouraged Toby from hanging out on the kitchen counters when she was young and subsequently she and Kelly never land on them, but I’m still careful to tuck the crock pot out-of-the-way while it’s on, and they are not allowed out if we are preparing food either using knives or heat.

For me this all adds up to a pretty good excuse for cooking less and eating out more!  Also, not cooking equals more time for parakeet bonding, so, win-win on that point.  Seriously though, if you love to cook and bake you can still do so safely with budgies, but like most facets of bird ownership, you just need to be mindful and careful of the dangers to your feathered kids.

7 thoughts on “Cooking safely with parakeets in the home”

    1. I just got a parakeet and live in an apartment that is all open to kitchenette and living room area. I was worried about cooking bacon in the microwave and if the fumes would be too much. The cage is next to the table and chairs, that is about the only place for it. Guess I will forgo the bacon just to be on the safe side, or do you think it will not harm the bird?

      1. Forgoing bacon would be very sad indeed! I don’t think it will harm your birds to microwave bacon unless you’re cooking it to the point of burning/smoking.

        I’m the world’s laziest cook so I buy pre-cooked bacon that I then microwave and we’ve never had a problem. Our parakeets are maybe 10 feet away from the microwave in a totally open layout.

        I always hesitate to provide information like, “this is totally safe” or “this isn’t” because there are inevitably variables that I wouldn’t consider and I don’t want to be responsible for endangering your pets, but I’ve never had a problem with microwaving bacon or any other kitchen smells, outside of smoking/burning food which is certainly dangerous.

  1. Hello, thank you for the informative article!

    I’m moving out soon and since there is no oven in my flat I will have to buy a mini oven. Is the BLACK+DECKER oven in your article safe from the beginning or do I need to burn off the fumes as well?

    Also, do you have any recommendations how to keep my budgies extra safe? My flat is not very big (one room, 26 qm/ ~280 square feet) and I’m scared that I might harm them while I’m cooking.

    Thank you very much!
    Greetings from Germany,

    Dia

    1. Hi Dia,

      I’m sorry for the delay in my response! In my experience the black and decker toaster oven was safe from the beginning. I recommend if possible that you open a window the first few times you use it just in case, and maybe use a fan to blow any possible fumes away from your bird cages.

      The best thing you can do to keep your budgies safe during cooking is not burn food, which of course I know no one sets out to do! If I find something is getting smoky in my kitchen I always open a window immediately and use a fan to blow the smoky air away from them. So far go good!

      Mine are in a dining alcove directly outside my kitchen and have not been harmed by my cooking, so I do think your space will be fine!

      If you’re able to get an air purifier too, that couldn’t hurt.

      Best of luck to you!

  2. Hello, thank you for the informative article!

    I’m moving out soon and since there is no oven in my flat I will have to buy a mini oven. Is the BLACK+DECKER oven in your article safe from the beginning or do I need to burn off the fumes as well?

    Also, do you have any recommendations how to keep my budgies extra safe? My flat is not very big (one room, 26 qm/ ~280 square feet) and I’m scared that I might harm them while I’m cooking.

    Thank you very much!
    Greetings from Germany,

    Dia

    Btw: Sorry if you got this comment twice, I wasnt sure if it submitted the first time since I couldnt see it one the page.

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