loft bedding

[aarongreen123]

Hey guys, thinking about the health and comfort of my birds, i'm looking for suggestions as to a good substrate for the loft floor. there is a plywood floor, but i would like to put some sort of bedding/litter over the floor. i've heard everything from straw, sand, wood pellets, corn cob ect... i would just like to hear everyone's opinion on this. cost isn't neccessarily an issue but i would like to be sensible about it. this is a homing pigeon loft if that makes a difference.
thanks,
aaron

[re lee]

Being it is a homing pigeon loft. You will find the birds would scatter a light floor material to the corners and such because they fly flapping wings will move floor covering. Now sand it is heavery. BUT holds moisture. It is better to just scrape your floors daily or 2 to 3 times a week.

[abisai]

Yup . . . Ats what I do, scrape it clean. Plus you can see your birds poop - an indicator of their health. Don't like the idea of breathing in teeny bits of sand rock either. But many folks use different materials and are quite happy.

[Charis]

Continue to scrape the floor. I scrape mind every day but it is cement and that makes it easier.
Very important!!!! Don't forget to wear a mask when you scrape.

[luckyloft]

I have used lets see, Sand,Pine Needels,Wood Chips,Straw, and when I first had birds Cat Litter.I think I was just trying to save myself time and work. They all have some good and bad uses except maybe the cat litter!Now I only use a little Natural White on the floor (all Wood) Scrape the floor every day when I can.Never let it more then 2 days without scraping and sweeping. That seems to work for me, but I think its up to you to find out what works for you.Different climates I am sure have a effect on what to use.I used to not like to scrape but now I like to spend the time with the birds. I find I pay more attention to them when scraping.

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by re lee

Being it is a homing pigeon loft. You will find the birds would scatter a light floor material to the corners and such because they fly flapping wings will move floor covering. Now sand it is heavery. BUT holds moisture. It is better to just scrape your floors daily or 2 to 3 times a week.

Yep........they scatter anything you put on the floor. All you do is give them something to "play" in.........just scrape the floor.......

[aarongreen123]

thanks for the replies thus far, everything makes sense.
what do you guys think of this?
http://www.redroselofts.com/wood_pellets.htm
what would the pro's and con's be using these?

[KO Loft]

I would like to offer my two cents but I have a question. Are you looking for a way to help keep loft clean or are you talking something to make the floor softer for the birds. If to keep clean just scraping is the ultimate in care, but if to keep floor softer that would be a different answer. One guy who used to put straw in their loft said that sand is a bad choice because of the dust. A subsequent report on 20/20 indicated that man made sand can be hazardous to people, and probably birds, because of the manufacturing process. He was a farmer who raced and said he believed the straw on the cement slab cushioned the floor for the birds. Crazy guy but couldnt doubt his wins lol.

joe

[Becca199212]

We put sawdust down with hay or straw ontop it's really easy to clean out you just shovel it up but they move this to the corners aswell, we have to use the power hose on the centre bit of the floor since it gets dirty quite quickly.

[warriec]

I use sand as everybody knows.I lightly sprinkle it so that there is a layer of sand between the fallen poop and the floor so it is easier to scrape, I actually sweep al the pop away. I wil post a picture of a broom I use in a different post. If you can find one, by all means buy it. Very helpful.

[TheSnipes]

Just my $0.02, I use the pelleted wood shavings. My sister uses it in her horse stalls, I just tried it out of curiosity. The floor of my loft is dirt, though, not wood, and there was always a lot of very fine dirt dust in the air, and I felt this was very bad for the birds not to mention it contributed to the loft just being very dirty and made cleaning harder for me. Since I put in a couple bags of the pellets, it's kept the dirt down and does not make dust. I'm very happy with it except that I have yet to find the fine-toothed raking tool I think must exist, somewhere, that would make getting the accumulated feathers out of the corners and raking up the poops that get on the floors easier to collect and dispose of. Most of their droppings go onto the ledges, perhces, and shelves which I scrape and brush into a bin.

[Maggie-NC]

Originally Posted by TheSnipes

Just my $0.02, I use the pelleted wood shavings. My sister uses it in her horse stalls, I just tried it out of curiosity. The floor of my loft is dirt, though, not wood, and there was always a lot of very fine dirt dust in the air, and I felt this was very bad for the birds not to mention it contributed to the loft just being very dirty and made cleaning harder for me. Since I put in a couple bags of the pellets, it's kept the dirt down and does not make dust. I'm very happy with it except that I have yet to find the fine-toothed raking tool I think must exist, somewhere, that would make getting the accumulated feathers out of the corners and raking up the poops that get on the floors easier to collect and dispose of. Most of their droppings go onto the ledges, perhces, and shelves which I scrape and brush into a bin.

I would like to offer a caution about dirt floors.

When we first started rehabbing pigeons about 14 years ago, the only housing we were told about, or saw, were open, dirt floored aviaries. For several years, we took our pigeons to another rehabber's home to get their flight time and become wild in one of her aviaries before being released. Then, they gave us a small aviary which worked fine until we started keeping some of the non releasables and needed a larger place for them. Again, we built it open, with a dirt floor. We have since built a second aviary that is just like the other one.

This worked fine for several years until we started having problems with both coccidiosis and worm infestation. Not so much problems with coccidiosis unless we have a very wet season but the worm problem continued to persist until our vet told us she thought we had a worm colony established in the aviaries. We had one pigeon (Whitey, who is my avatar) get sick last November with an acute case of worms to the point we almost lost her. She stayed in our house until May and it was touch and go for her for about 3-4 months.

Our vet contacted another vet in Oklahoma (also raises pigeons) who said there is really nothing wrong with a dirt floor but advised us to take precautions. He said we needed to dig up at least 2" of earth and replace it with sand each time we cleaned the cages. This would remove the worms and casings each time.

We have not done this as yet because we want to completely revamp the flooring but can't do it until cool weather gets here and we can release some of the pigeons. That will enable us to move all the pigeons into one aviary and use that while we work on the other.

What we have done is go to Home Depot and purchase a material that is used in gardens to place on soil that helps keep weeds from growing. We are using this as a barrier. We staple it to the side of the aviaries and then put bark/shavings on top of that. We still continue to remove the bark about every 3 weeks and replace with fresh.

I am hoping that we can put a plywood floor in this fall and eliminate this constant worry about worms. Anyhow, I just wanted to share this with you and ask you to be particularly watchful for worms.

[TheSnipes]

Originally Posted by Lady Tarheel

I would like to offer a caution about dirt floors.

[SNIP...]

Anyhow, I just wanted to share this with you and ask you to be particularly watchful for worms.

That is good info, thanks for sharing. The spot mine is in was raised to make the loft/aviary, and i planted some annual grass in the outdoor area for them. (The birds did mine the seeds but lots of the grass took ) it was inside the loft proper that the dust was a problem and motivated adding some bedding. I think replacing the bedding (at least) at regular intervals sounds like a reasonable preventative approach. It is several inches thick so taking it out might remove any unwanted invaders.

I can't go with any kind of floor where my loft is, as that implies "permanent" structure, I guess, and I can't do that in the space that I have available (zoning ordinances).

[KO Loft]

Again my 2 cents but you should also be careful with what is required by local ordinances. A dirt floor here in Michigan is usually not allowed because of the rodents it attracts. Food on ground leads to mice and rat infestations, no matter how clean you think you got it. Also your pigeons will become prey in their own coop. A loft could be required to be torn down because it does not meet local ordinances. Convenience is great, but make sure you do not violate local laws. And for those of you who think you have a cement floor are safe lol, well just say attorney client privilege will prevent me from saying anymore lol. Follow local ordinances!!!!!!!!!!

[TAWhatley]

Originally Posted by TheSnipes

I can't go with any kind of floor where my loft is, as that implies "permanent" structure, I guess, and I can't do that in the space that I have available (zoning ordinances).

How about using concrete pavers as the flooring? I have a duck enclosure that uses them, and it works well for me. The ducks do require rubber mats to make it easier on their feet, but that wouldn't be necessary for pigeons as they don't spend all their time on the floor. Though it is a bit of work to "dig" them up when the time comes, it certainly wouldn't be considered a permanent structure.

Terry