Oh peewee, come here!

[peewee]

Sorry I couldn't get on line sooner.
Shelly, I tried to find the good pics of my aviary but I put that disc somewhere where I could find it and can't for the life of me remember where it is at.

I found these on the computer. It should give you an idea of what I am talking about.

Digging down and laying rock. I put a weed barrier on top of the rock then brought in the sand. It would have been a heck of a lot easier and take less time than what it did but I had to work around the birds.

Half of the sand laid down.

Just wanted to show you the igloos that I use for them. I also use terracotta pots on their sides as well.

Ra, I do use DE but, I use it very sparingly. As long as the pen is kept CLEAN there really should not be that bad of a smell. If my pen starts to smell then it is time to do a really, really thorough cleaning or it is time to replace the sand.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I knew what you meant by the igloos, our guinea pigs have one for their 'house', only it's a castle

How big is the pen and how many birds are in it? How often do you have to clean it?

 

[peewee]

The pen is @10 ft long x 8ft w x 6 1/2 ft tall. Right now I have about 45-50 birds in there. I clean the pen at least every week. That includes raking and sifting the sand. If there is hay in the pen and the hay gets wet it gets cleaned out the very next day.

 

[ra]

Wow, that looks nice with the plants and all! I will show my husband these pictures!

 

[Rozzie]

That is making me wonder about using sand in my inside pens! It would take a small amount of retrofitting. I'd need to put a couple of low barriers in some places to hold it in, but it really wouldn't take much. Plus, one of the two big pens currently doesn't have any birds in it, so this would be doable.

In the long run it would be cheaper, because I could put the sand outside and hose it off, spread it to dry in the sun, and reuse. Hmmmm.

What kind of sand did you use?

 

[peewee]

Rozzie, I used play sand from Lowe's. I'm sure your little ones would love it!

Ra, Thank you. The quail pen is one of my get-a -ways. I love to sit in there and watch the fuzz balls. But they are really hard on the plants. I am constantly replanting the pen.

 

[Rozzie]

It would be pretty easy for me to keep that clean -- easier even than the pine pellets. I could scoop with one of those sieves for cat pans (or one of the deep fryer sieves.)

Hmmm.....

It's not a rush, because I won't be filling that second pen til my new babies are grown. Then, they have to adjust to the COLD first...