Lofts

[turkey]

Just a little loft advice for David and anyone who can use it. It's a collection of posts from this group and other groups.

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To check and see if you have good ventilation in your loft you can light a match or a cigarette and watch to see where the smoke moves. If it moves towards your roof vents then the ventilation is correct. If it moves cross ways or towards your perches you have a draft.
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FOR WOOD LOFTS - Loft White powder.

It will do a lot for keeping things dry and clean in my wooden loft. It does work great and also makes scraping the floor easier.
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The entire loft should have ventilation, for fresh air, but should be made so you can block off the air, especially during cold winter nights.
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Nest boxes should be up off the floor so mice and rats cannot get to them.
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I like to build larger nest boxes so I can enclose them while placing a pair together for bonding and then when they have bonded, I open the doors for them, into the main loft.
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Houses are about 14" deep, 12" wide and 10.5" high. The porches (areas outside the house) are the same size. The mouse hole is four inches wide and four inches to the top.
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Paint each of our loft "rooms" on a rotating basis....each one gets a new coat every 3-4 years.
We find it makes it much easier to scrape -- even the floor gets done. It helps with bugs, the paint on the roosts and nest boxes seals cracks where mites and such might want to hide.

We use a water based latex paint...plus, a light colored paint helps lighten up the loft.
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Nesting material.....straw and tobacco stems.


Julie