# teflon



## birdgirl (Jul 13, 2010)

Please may I remind everyone especially new cockatiel owners, if you have any teflon cookware as I do, do not under any circumstances allow cockatiels or any pet bird in the kitchen when you are cooking. When im cooking, the kitchen door is kept shut and i have the window open. There is a very sad story on facebook today of a guy who had a perfectly healthy cockatiel and another bird, he was cooking something in a yorkshire pudding tin and within 20 minutes both birds were dead. I know teflon is probably covered in the hazard sticky on here but in case new cockatiel owners haven't checked this wonderful site out yet, please NEVER allow your pet birds in the kitchen when you are cooking and NEVER house your pet birds in the kitchen. I would hate for anyone to go through what this poor guy has, if my post here helps save any birds then im proud to have shared this


----------



## vampiric_conure (Jul 8, 2012)

Hear hear! Well said


----------



## Tequilagirl (Mar 4, 2013)

Best ditch the teflon altogether to be honest.

Also, the birds that died weren't in the kitchen in fact the cockatiel was several rooms away.


----------



## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

I also heard that over heated oils can be dangerous too.


----------



## TamaMoo (Jan 12, 2014)

You never can repeat these warnings too many times. I have heard that about overheated oils, but don't know the validity of the statement, so hopefully someone can answer the question.

Any fumes scare me. Our pipes are frozen in our building, so one of the maintenance guys was here yesterday to try to thaw them. With a blow torch. The number one thing they say to NOT do is heat frozen pipes with a flame of any kind. We could smell fumes up here and I got a bit upset. Well, by a bit I mean raving lunatic mom worried about her baby level of upset. 

We're still without water, and they are trying to get to us because several places are in the same situation, but I told the office I didn't want them using a torch under any circumstances, because not only does it not work, it could kill my little guy. We've made it to a whopping 13f, after starting the day at -11f. I dare not take him out, even covered, to an already warm car, to take him to a friend's or to work, if they had to make fumes again. 

But, long ramble later, fume warnings bear repeating.


----------



## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

It looks like the overheated oils one is true. Since the overheated oils can burn or cause smoke which can kill them.

I know that feeling well TamaMoo, my crazy mom side appears whenever anyone tries to harm my baby! Yesterday it was -30F here for the second day in a row. It is still really cold today. I would hate to take my 'tiel baby out in that! ><

http://beautyofbirds.com/homesafety.html
http://www.globalcrisis.info/ifyouloveyourbirds.html
http://www.naturechest.com/toptendaforb.html


----------



## TamaMoo (Jan 12, 2014)

Not long after I posted, they managed to get the pipes thawed. I am just glad I didn't have to go down there and complain or do an emergency of the boy. I think I will quit complaining about my temps after reading yours. Yikes!


----------



## tielbob (Mar 25, 2013)

Tequilagirl said:


> Best ditch the teflon altogether to be honest.
> 
> Also, the birds that died weren't in the kitchen in fact the cockatiel was several rooms away.


Using teflon cookware in a 'bird household' is inviting death. It's one strike and you're out if conditions are right. It's a terrible way for them to die, too. If you keep the stuff around, even if you don't use it, someone else in the home (a visitor for example) might and kill your birds. People do it anyway - 'I use it all the time and have never had any problems.' That's as wise as 'I use my cigarette lighter to check the gas level in my car and have never had any problems.' Such thoughts will be of no comfort as you are burying your birds because you will always know the truth: _you_ killed them. Teflon is a known hazard to birds and this information has been available to the public for decades, yet the deaths continue. The warnings can't be overstated.


----------



## tielbob (Mar 25, 2013)

TamaMoo said:


> ...Any fumes scare me. Our pipes are frozen in our building, so one of the maintenance guys was here yesterday to try to thaw them. With a blow torch. The number one thing they say to NOT do is heat frozen pipes with a flame of any kind. We could smell fumes up here and I got a bit upset. Well, by a bit I mean raving lunatic mom worried about her baby level of upset.
> 
> We're still without water, and they are trying to get to us because several places are in the same situation, but I told the office I didn't want them using a torch under any circumstances, because not only does it not work, it could kill my little guy. We've made it to a whopping 13f, after starting the day at -11f. I dare not take him out, even covered, to an already warm car, to take him to a friend's or to work, if they had to make fumes again.
> 
> But, long ramble later, fume warnings bear repeating.


They use a torch because it is a quick way to heat the pipes as opposed to using other devices that are flameless but produce less heat and will take them longer ('time is money'). They also have the torch on hand for plumbing repairs as opposed to something they might have to buy to do the thawing the right way. The flame from the torch burns off oils and other materials (including 'acid flux') that was used on the pipes when they were first installed, even if the installation was decades ago. This releases toxic gases into the air. The open flame also makes it really easy to burn down the building since it is almost impossible to avoid scorching the building materials around the pipes. Again, more fumes even if a fire isn't started.

Here's the kind of thing that happens when workers are careless using a torch:

"Maintenance workers using a blow torch to make repairs inside an apartment are believed to have accidentally started the inferno in the primarily wood structure."

article: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/27908227/massive-fire-nj-condo-complex

That happened a month ago nearby.

edit: There was another massive fire yesterday in a housing complex 5 miles from here - same cause.

(They always say the fires were caused by plumbers doing maintenance; we have had a very cold winter here and a lot of pipes in homes and apartments have been freezing. It's likely that 'maintenance' = 'thawing operation'.)


----------



## Tequilagirl (Mar 4, 2013)

tielbob said:


> Using teflon cookware in a 'bird household' is inviting death. It's one strike and you're out if conditions are right. It's a terrible way for them to die, too. If you keep the stuff around, even if you don't use it, someone else in the home (a visitor for example) might and kill your birds. People do it anyway - 'I use it all the time and have never had any problems.' That's as wise as 'I use my cigarette lighter to check the gas level in my car and have never had any problems.' Such thoughts will be of no comfort as you are burying your birds because you will always know the truth: _you_ killed them. Teflon is a known hazard to birds and this information has been available to the public for decades, yet the deaths continue. The warnings can't be overstated.


Exactly. For reference, this is what the op was referring to:

He had an Eclectus and a Cockatiel, he was cooking, using a yorkshire pudding tin he had used for many many years without a problem. His Eclectus suddenly vomited and died within minutes, 20 minutes later his Cockatiel 2 rooms away started gasping and also died.


----------



## TamaMoo (Jan 12, 2014)

tielbob said:


> They use a torch because it is a quick way to heat the pipes as opposed to using other devices that are flameless but produce less heat and will take them longer ('time is money'). They also have the torch on hand for plumbing repairs as opposed to something they might have to buy to do the thawing the right way. The flame from the torch burns off oils and other materials (including 'acid flux') that was used on the pipes when they were first installed, even if the installation was decades ago. This releases toxic gases into the air. The open flame also makes it really easy to burn down the building since it is almost impossible to avoid scorching the building materials around the pipes. Again, more fumes even if a fire isn't started.
> 
> Here's the kind of thing that happens when workers are careless using a torch:
> 
> ...


That is why I came a bit unglued on them. Between the fumes and risk of burning the place down, I was angry they would even try. Whatever they did the second time around had no fumes, no risk of burning the place down, and success. I know time is money, but had they burned the place down, four families would have been out of homes. All for the sake of hurrying.


----------

