I’ve always enjoyed a rainy day. I live in Florida, so during rainy season it rains nearly every day in the afternoon. The sky opens up and the downpours are fairly impressive. You don’t really feel like going out when the wind is fiercely blowing and it’s raining sideways. I have learned to make use of that time wisely by doing little jobs here and there that need doing inside the house. 

Many of them involve looking after my three African Greys.

There seems like there is always something to do when you have birds in your life, so you might as well get some things done when you really don’t want to go out. A clean bird area is a healthy one. 

One of the things I do is pull the enclosures (cages) out away from the wall to give the floor a good vacuuming and mopping. It always gets  dusty on the back side of the enclosures (cages) so you might as well give that a quick wipe with a wet microfiber cloth while you’re back there. While the enclosure is pulled, you can vacuum or sweep and give the floor a quick mopping and shove the enclosure back. Remove the papers and replace with freshness, wipe down the rest of the enclosure. Perhaps you have time to rotate a toy or two to give them something interesting to play with that they haven't seen before. I keep a stock of fresh toys for just that purpose. Repeat with each enclosure. Out of fresh toys? My first Grey Parker absolutely loves a good tussle in his enclosure with a paper plate.

And it is a riot watching him play with one. I keep paper plates in the house just for that purpose. 

If you have a dander species like my Greys that tend to shed dust everywhere, you can use this time to dust a few things. I prefer a tidy home, but with three Greys in the house, a full time job outside the house and a lot of work writing, it gets difficult. This dust issue is a good cue to change the filter on your furnace or air conditioning unit. 

Now that things are in order and your indoor world is tidy, you might want to think about making a bird bread. There are a lot of recipes out there that make a beautiful bread. I have included one of them here: Birdie Biscotti  

And as long as you're making bread, you might as well make a big one or several smaller ones, because bird bread freezes nicely.

 Including one or two of your birds in this effort is always nice. I try to have one with me when I am doing anything around the house be it vacuuming or doing the dishes. They love the fact that they get to be with you and it doesn’t matter that it isn’t direct attention where you are engaging them in an activity. Ambient attention works well in this case and they do so appreciate it. 

Once that bread is made, you might want to take a look in the fridge and hunt for any leftovers you might be able to include in their evening meal. Do you have any leftover rice and vegetables from last night’s dinner? Remove some and put in a bowl for use later when it is dinner time for them. I never seem to remember these leftovers when I’m dishing up dinner, but it goes a long way in adding to the variety in their diet as long as what you are giving them is healthy.

You can always find ways to make things better for your flock on a rainy day. The trick is using the time wisely.