? about bedding

[Lisamomofmany]

can alfalfa be used instead of hay or straw?

[ND Cooper]

I think so, maybe a mixture of all. small sticks too.
Some folks buy tobacco sticks. What you want to watch out for is a mite problem, give your birds a bath, once or twice a week. Use a large sturdy bowl or what I use is a heavy duty cow or large animal feed bowl. All my birds like to bath together.
ND Cooper

[David Ey]

I'm using alfalfa and they like it fine. Had I known there was going to be a third set of eggs I would have put them in some pine needles though.

[kippermom]

We raise horses and there is a vast difference in the content of the different kinds of hay. Alfalfa is relatively rich and high in calories and some parts of the year is has blossoms which some horses are allergic to. There is also a comon weed that grows along side of and is harvested and baled along with Alfalfa that is a common allergin as well. I doubt pijis are consuming too much of it though! As a more practical matter, Alfalfa and straw tend to have larger stalks and are stiffer. A grass hay like timothy or what the feed yards call "3-way" is working really well for us as a nest material as it is lighter weight, easier for the birds to bend and carry and thus overall, it is softer. I have used tobacco stalks as well but those are just really stiff! If I were a piji I'd prefer timothy hay!

[eric98223]

i am using straw only because i got a late start last year and didnt get long pine needles collected (as my neighborhood is full of them) straw is more messy and collects moisture and rots just seems like more work. pine needles (we have ponderosas here and they have 4-6 inch needles lovebirds has told me they buy this kind of needles from landscaper supply places in their area (here everyone hates them because of the mess) and they work great. the other advantage is they keep the bugs down fleas and mites dont like the pine or something

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