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Just to clarify.. Is this only when kept on the ground or are you say'in bobs in a "long term" wire condo should should be periodically treated as well? Bill
Thanks to Everyone for the info,I have started treating the birds.So far so good made the problem is fixed.The only thing i cant understand is why yall say its not good for Bobwhites to be on ground for to long. Remember Im from South Georgia so" So not a very smart Man"
right now here where I am is really sloppy because of the rain we just had under neath the cages is nasty wet and every now and then like now I will use dry pine straw I have stored in a small barn to soak up some of the wet, it is great at absorbing a goodly amount of water I would not leave it under the pens for any length of time though it gets really nasty quick just a coupla days and then it goes into the compost pile
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Speaking as someone who keeps her birds on the ground (cots not bobs, bobs are a bit more sensitive than cots).
Fist of all yes, bobs are ground birds but in their normal environment they have miles of acreage to cover and they will very rarely poop in the same place more than once much less consistently over and over in the same spots. In captivity they have no other alternative but to. The build up of poop in any area that is not kept up very well will start to have a negative impact on the birds. Then add in the feed waste (food that gets stuck under poop piles, leaves and or hay and it starts to mold) and depending on the soil that you are keeping them on you have to factor in all the "bugs" in the soil that can make your birds sick. You also have to factor in the amount of rain you get. If you lay hay one day and it rains the next that hay will be soaked. If you leave it in the pen it will start to mold and decay and that can lead to many other problems such as respiratory issues. Not to mention if you do not give your birds enough shelter to get out of the rain (if they choose to) you will have some wet and shivering birds to deal with.
If you choose to keep your birds on the ground, in a very secure pen, then I would suggest that you:
A) Dig down and remove at least six inches of your soil and place a weed barrier down (something that will still let water pass threw for those rainy days) and lay down play sand. This will help with all of the "bugs" in the soil that could make your bids sick.
B) When cleaning your pen, take a sifter and sift the sand to get out all the poop balls. This will help in keeping the sand a little cleaner for a little longer before you have to replace it.(You may not have to replace the sand in your pen if you keep up with cleaning properly but my little ones throw so much sand out of their pen during their bathing and sand is lost in the cleaning of their pen that when I need to get more sand I just clean out what is left in their pen and replace with new.) Then you have to sanitize the sand. Every time a bird defecates it also urinates. So you need to deal with that as well. Taking a mild bleach water mix like JJ suggested is a good way of doing that. I have also sprinkled the pen with a light dusting of lime while I am raking and turning over the sand.
C) You MUST keep your birds dewormed. Even with all the extra work and cleaning you cannot skip this!!! So you need to ask yourself what you are planning on doing with your birds. If you are raising them for meat and/or egg production you need to factor in the worming process. I do not have the knowledge about how worming your birds before slaughter affects them (how long after worming before you can safely process your birds for consumption) because mine are pets only. Someone with more knowledge about that can help you. But I know that you have to wait two weeks after worming before you can eat the eggs. If you are raising your birds for eggs to eat is this something that you can deal with? Maybe use those eggs for incubating your next batch of birds. I treat my birds at least four times a year. That is 8 weeks of eggs that are either incubated or blown for other things.
Good luck with your birds and if you still have questions feel free to ask.
Thanks peewee and others, I learn more and more everybody. I meanly raise to my birds for training my Boykin. No harm is ever done to the birds. I grow and release them on some proptry i lease. Trying to get the population up
Thank you for the advice everyone. I'm currently using shavings for my indoor pens and hate to have to move the birds, dump the shavings, disinfect the cage, add shavings, move the birds again...you get the picture. I never thought of sand and just sifting it. This seems like it would be much less stressful for the birds. How often would you disinfect the cage? Right now I'm cleaning it every 3 days (I only have 3 birds so far).