cleaning out

[rockinrick]

naaaaaaaaaa i have tried deep litter / sand / grills ,, a bit of excercise each mornin in cleaning your loft out hurts noone , cmon folkies

[Peckedhen]

It's early days I know but, I've just gone on to Easibed - about 3" deep - I rake and sieve it every day and I much prefer the look to scraping the floor and using loft white. I've even put a layer in each nest box so it's easy to scrape them out daily.  Think I'm a convert.........so far!    The birds love it too.......I spent ages getting it all level..... only to find them  digging and throwing it everywhere!  ;D ;D

[mealybar]

I used an easybed type product called Just Wood which was also for horses. Found it ideal in my old loft, infact some sections still have a good layer, and its been off the market a couple of years now. When I got the new 'walk in' loft I gave it a try with the ybs, but didnt like it, tryed sand, didnt like that much either, so now with my racing loft 'walk in loft' I scrape the floors and boxes, the old loft, now for stock, still have the wood chip in and will do for the foreseeable, but I dont fancy getting the easybed, think it was about £7 a bag last time I looked, other was £2.50 a bag, same size :-/

[Tico]

I keep my youngsters on deep litter and I would say I havent noticed much difference in their health to what it was when I used to scrape them out everyday.....The only reason I put them on deep litter(3 inches woodchippings with a layer of straw on top) is that they seem to feel cosy and more content than on a bare floor.

[robert.sutherland]

doent know if its a problem but i use it now but today i was sat in my office or corn shed witch is joned to my young bird loft watching the birds thay were diging about i saw two youngens eat a few bit of wood each im thinking of takeing it out now becausethe small bits look like wheat or something or my bird are dum              yours in sport                                  BOB

[frank-123]

just watched a video where the top fanciers say not to clean your loft out to much i clean mine out twice a day you could eat your dinner off the floor i put loft white on the floor after cleaning

what do you guys doo

[TheSaddler]

Twice a day for me in every loft - stock, y'b's and old birds - Not for the pigeons though - For me, I hate to see anything looking a mess!

[Guest]

Twice a day for me in every loft,....

[Guest coxy]

i clean all my sections out twice daily

[Guest]

Each section twice a day, but YBs I clean their boxes only on an afternoon when they are out flying so I dont have to keep chasing them off the perches. I use Easibed on the floor and just take up the main areas of droppings and sprinkle a bit more easibed down.

[tam pepper]

 

 

,,,,,,,,,      every year usually , i have weldmesh on the floor , dropping fall into hydrated lime nest boxes are cleaned out after every round of young birds

i also have double doors at the front of the loft which are open every day of the year , i treat for no diseases exept for paramyxo virus , i have never had any of the diseases that i read about , never even seen young dbird sickness i only keep ten pairs in a 12 x 6 loft

 

                                                      tam pepper

[Guest speckled]

Well i clean out every day me.but i think that the y/b need to build up there own strong imuine system, but l think cleaning them out every day does not help them do this. :-/ yes doing there pertches is fine, ;D but it does not hurt them to have a deep litter for a few days. Just something that i tryed i had no sign on illness, in thr loft what so ever . Just my way Speck.

.

[Guest TAMMY_1]

YOUR'E JUST SO LAZY MY SPECKLED  FRIEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU NEED TO GO TO YOUR BED EARLIER AND THEN YOU WILL NOT BE AS TIRED AND YOU   WILL HAVE MORE ENERGY TO CLEAN OUT OR ANYTHING ELSE YOU WISH TO DO.

[rockinrick]

lol@tammy ,,:) i clean stock everyday , old bird every other day and ybs loft on fri when basketing

 

[tam pepper]

sqeaker , if you got the right stock , birds will fly to any loft , scraped or deep litter ,to make the statement that fancier,s on the deep litter are lazy is nonsense , you are assuming your method is the best , ive scraped as often as the rest of you guys , but would never return to that , you are distubing breeding birds  , cleaning out boxes every day and they dont like it ,

the main thing is to have a loft that is bone dry , and facing south or southeast , and have the ventiation right .

you would be a brave man to make that statement in the letters to the editor columms in THE BRITTISH HOMING WORLD

 

TAM PEPPER

[DRIES]

day i get beat by a loft scraper the day i pack up ha ha ha, my old mum always said bit of dirt keeps ya warm

[THE FIFER]

CAN'T BEAT THE OLD SCRAPER.

[ribble]

update on nedzbed,i wont be using it again gone dusty rather quick.easy bed is a better option.

[jimmy white]

the beauty, of the old scraper is the birds get used to you better,and seem to gain confidence in you, allthough i have deep liter now but there are reasons for it[ bad back]

[THE FIFER]

yes u tend to be about them a bit more jimmy.

[Guest ben]

We always used 50/50%holm sand,bideford grit,raked when scraping perches each day,then sieved once per month, looked the buisness,but found it  caused mild form of  1 eye cold in a few birds,also terrible for our own health,pigeon fanciers lung.

[Guest ben]

Rose,

         Can you remember if you had any odd bird getting a slight 1 eyed cold?

[andy galley]

clean em out every day, you can see if you have any problems by there droppings, we clean out twice a day ybs racers stock the lot

[Deano]

scraper every time for me like.pigeons gain confidence when your around them scraping out.this year i scrape out every two days spray the floor and a light covering of sand.

[ghost007]

I am fairly new to raising racing pigeons. I get conflicting messages from local fanciers concerning loft maintenance. Some will say to scrap the loft twice a week and others say to create a floor coating. I current have used wood pellets as my flooring. Could I get a concensus from this group as to proper loft cleaning and flooring?

 

Thank you.