Pigeon loft flooring

[BlueEggs4Life]

LOFT FLOOR: I am wondering what others do with their loft floors- what materials do you use on them?. Right now mine is lined with about 2 inches of wood shavings as is my chicken coop. I've noticed the birds move the shavings around quite a bit, gathering it near the food hopper and edges of the loft/shed. This leaves the middle of the wood floor exposed. Every day I rake the shavings around a bit but am wondering if there are better ways to deal with the loft floor. My birds are all young and spend most of their time on the floor of the loft so I want them to be comfortable and clean as possible since they are all white homers.

WATER: Also, what works best for providing water to your birds? Right now I am using a heated 3 gallon chicken waterer since it is winter here in MI. I place the waterer up on a cinderblock to keep shavings from piling in. There is one bird that likes to sleep on top of the waterer, creating quite a mess for me in the morning. Will pigeons drink from a hanging waterer? I was thinking of hanging it and placing a metal cone shapped lid overhang like I have seen for chickens. Not sure how to keep the overhang attached with out hanging the unit. Anyone have any good water ideas?

Thanks for your ideas!

 

[FireTigeris]

I have tin panels on the floor covered with dry corn cob 2-4 inches. This works well, only sweep it out every week (EOW would be fine but I can't stand to think that they might feel dirty, blond Eurasian ringnecks (white doves) show it too well.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

My loft floor is covered with straw. I'm not incredibly fond of this, but I have a lot of straw and no shavings. The straw doesn't move around as much, so that is wonderful. Plus, the birds love to lay on it. BUT bugs can easily hide in the staw since it's hollow, and if it gets wet, can be quick to grow mold. I like shavings and they're easier to work with, but like you said, it does get blown around really easily. However, since I have my water containers up off the floor (I have mine in the aviary), it doesn't cause me a problem. The birds are mostly on the perches, which is where all the shavings get blown to, so it works out pretty good

I try to clean out the loft every weekend, or at least scrape the perches. Because we can't really afford to get new bedding every week, the floor may get cleaned a lot less

Some other ideas for bedding is pine needles, kitty litter, and playbox sand.

I'm going to try to get some cheap corn cob crumbles so I can use them in the individual cages. It would make cleaning a lot easier and less noisy (scaping the bare floor can get loud), and therefore not disturbing the nest as much. Tigeris, do you have any ideas where I can get some corn cob without spending an arm and a leg?

 

[Teach97]

I use pigeon droppings. The only other thing any of my buds use is to have a mesh bottom and let it fallout.

Use the cone thingys to stop them from roosting on the water...had the same problem...also had a bird that found a way to roost on the cone...where there is a will there is a way

 

[FireTigeris]

Standard Feed has 1.25 cubic feet for $16 I might be able to find it cheaper then that if I really looked.

My coop is 4*5*6 the new one will be 6*6*6 - so one bag last 2-3 full scrub outs.

(the metal tiles can be removed to get hosed off which makes it not as big of a deal if the cob gets moved)

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

Quote:
Ah, thanks

I'll have to do some checking around. If not corn cobs, sand would be interesting to try. I know some people who've used it, and said it was great. Hmmm...I'll just check both

 

[loftkeeper10]

Has Anyone Tryed Shreaded Card Board It Is Sold For Horse Stall Bedding I Have Heard About It But Have Not Found Any

 

[FireTigeris]

http://www.erodent.co.uk/Bedding.htm I found a rodent site that mentions it but in the UK...

Here's what you read? http://hubpages.com/hub/Animal-Bedding-with-Recycled-Cardboard

ecobale is all UK only ... www.ecobed.co.uk

http://www.greenapplehorse.com/inde...mal-bedding&catid=35:frontpage-news&Itemid=41 appernetly its in canada too- there MUST be some here.

http://www.huntclubinc.com/EquineBedding.asp here it is but NOT recycled and no prices when I glanced at it.... by the truckload??

 

[95yj]

after keeping doves and pigeons for about 8-9 years [a considerable time since i'm only 17] heres my breakdown

shavings- work well, keep poop off the floor but they get blown around when the birds fly and it can end up in food and water, they work ok for insulation in cold weather and 1 bale of shavings isn't all that expensive and can be spread pretty good, but after awhile they can get disgusting and it's hard to take the dirty parts out while leaving the clean stuff in, also moisture can be an issue.

sand- i'v used sand alot, it works pretty good, it'll protect the floor and the birds can't move it around at all, plus you don't have to give them grit, sand is probably the cheapest option with one or two bags filling a coop and costing only a couple bucks a bag, sand is also really easy to take the dirty parts out and it's harder for things to get lost in sand. however sand is a terrible insulator and will simply act as an extension of the current floor for cold.

hay- i'v only recently started using hay/straw and i'm really liking it. straw will not protect the floor as much as sand or shavings but you can spread it and shape it as you like and the birds won't move it around, it is slightly harder to take piles of poop and other dirty stuff in the hay or straw but its not that bad. 1 bale of hay goes a very long way, i can cover my 4x6 chicken house, 4x4 pheasant shack and 8x6 dove house to about six inches each and still have 1/4 of a bale left. straw does work as the best insulator. i'm not sure how accustomed people on here are with hay/straw so i'l explain, when you buy a bail of hay or straw it, you can peel it off in sections, i take those sections and and put them against unused doors and where the walls meet the ground to block extra cold air, it works great.

basicaly what i do is put down a layer of sand and then in the summer i'll put shavings over that and in the winter i put hay or straw [whichever is cheaper] onto of the sand, it works great.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

There is one bird that likes to sleep on top of the waterer, creating quite a mess for me in the morning.

I set a large funnel on top of my waterers to keep them from perching.
I"m not sure they could use it if it were hanging, since they need a place to perch while drinking.
I built a small table to set mine on​