cleaning out

[Guest slugmonkey]

I fly deep litter and I scrape occasionaly I think birds need a little dirt to stay healthy I scrape when I want to see how a particular bird is doing or sometimes when I need some fertilizer for my garden  LOL  

[jimmy white]

I THINK ITS BETTER TO HAVE YOUR LOFT CLEAN, BUT NO AMOUNT OF SCRAPING OR SPRAYING IS GOING TO MAKE IT" STERILE CONDITIONS" THERES DIRT,   AND THERES DIRT??

[southbankhs]

EVERY DAY WITHOUT FAIL TWICE IT TAKES 10 MINS THEN BURN LOFTS OUT EVERY MORNING THEN YOU CAN SEE WHAT IS COMING OUT AT ALL TIMES :)

[Guest]

Jimmy beat me to the same point: there's no such thing as a clean, sterile environment for pigeons, or for that matter, children. We are surrounded by stuff that we have become immune to, or learned to live 'comfortably' with;

 

Problem is when we mix environments: children take their own little eco-world into playschool, nursery, school etc., they all mix, some might meet something they've not met before: wham!!!  even adults can come down with it.  Couple of days later - right as rain, except maybe the adults, they seem to take forever to get over 'juvenile' illnesses.

 

Still got to keep the place reasonably hygienic though; you don't leave things lying around that make ideal breeding stations - for the nightmare stuff that you DONT want to meet. Part and parcel of keeping all livestock, keeping them healthy.

[Guest]

We feed our young birds on the loft floor, which is scraped before hand, but I'm sure does contain some bacteria, my feelings are that this helps the babies build up their immune system.

 

Slugmonkey, Our neighbours come round to take away our scrapings, they love them for their gardens

[pigeonjock]

WE HAVE ALWAYS CLEANED OUT 2X PER DAY AND ANY OTHER TIME WE GO IN THE LOFT WE FEEL ITS TIME WASTED IF YOU DON'T CLEAN WHILE YOUR IN.CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS IN OUR BOOK.

[snowy]

To date the poll 'How often do you clean out when racing' shows that 90% of us clean out at least once a day. Do you think keeping pigeons in such an environment could actually have an adverse effect. Children today suffer from more allergies than ever before, the boffins put this down to households these days being kept too clean. I'm told years ago fanciers in the main used deep litter, they tell us their birds were hardly ever Ill. By cleaning out daily are we taking out of the shed the very thing that pigeons especially young birds need to boost their immunity levels.

Just a thought.

 

HOW true,

my mom used to say, we are too fussy with our kids, wiping there dirty faces everytime a speck of dirt on it,  she used to say, let them play in the dirt & get dirty, instead of us saying keep away from the dirt ETC.

GOOD POINT! ;D

[Guest]

Yeah!! Yeah!! (fones-for-us goon voice) ....  ;D

 

Lets get Westy right now and give him a good dunking in ra mud.  ;D

 

 

[Guest marvin]

if you look at most vaccinations you see that they contain a small dose of the very thing your treating for ,this is to enable the body to fight off a mild form of the infection thus building  an immunity to it , i therefore think it stands to reason that an over sterile loft cant be to good for the birds

[Guest Silverwings]

have plastic grills in the boxes , last year i lined the loft floors with Filon so easy to clean and much more hygenic ,the damp does not penetrate it .....ray

[Guest cloudview]

;)ive been on deep  litter   for last 6 months    verdict    brilliant   use a product calledeasibed  for  horses   birds  love it     its warm tothe  feet   mine that is   birds just relax   in it    about   3  inches deep    it does,nt blow   about   raked  over once  a week   is  ideal         more time to  watch  birds now     you do need afoot scraper  though

[ribble]

had deep litter down in all lofts for 2 years.at the end of last season took it all out.just put my stock back on it (nedzbed) was going to put them all on it but ive enjoyed cleaning out that much im not going to bother.do 40ft in no time....

[NANCYVIEWLOFTS]

to me deep litter is for the lazy with the exception of the disabled or eldery

    horse and greyhound trainers clean out every day and pigeon fanciers should do the same even more now with the avian flu critics about

keep less birds and a smaller loft

[THE FIFER]

deep litter may be ok for the pigeons (which i do not like) but how good is it for the fancier, they say pigeon droppings give off germs if left lying, i know deep litter couse a lot of dust. bloom etc around the loft i tried it once but did not like it and as far as being too clean in the loft i dont think so as the birds are always at sometime got theur own droppings about them, as u would have to clean out every 5 minutes to stop this, and youngsters in the nest must have droppings about them in and out the nest bowls so u are not depriving them of their imune system as far as that goes.

[ribble]

in my opinion nothing is better than deep litter or dry droppings for youngsters.nothing to do with being lazy its for the birds benefit.

[southbankhs]

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY THE BENIFITS ARE RIBBLE?

[ribble]

id say it helps build the immune system,a bit like giving probiotics.ive never had any young going wrong with ybs since putting them on litter.

[NANCYVIEWLOFTS]

YOUVE CONVERTED ME IM JOINING THE LAZY BRIGADE IM GOING ON A DEEP LITTER OF CAT LITTER DOWN FIRST ON THE FLOOR FOR EXTRA ABSORBANCE COVERED WITH 3 INCH OF EASY BED

[hooky]

over here we mostly race young birds . so each year i do not touch the young bird loft until i have finished breeding. this way it helps em get imune system up and running.and lets young get used to there suroundings.once racing starts i clean loft every third day..birds don't need us in the making fuss all the time they want to have there loft to themselfs thye need to feel comfortable and i think getting in there every day results in birds being uneccisarily stired up in there home

[speedbird]

i clean floor once aday & boxes & perches twice daily

[peterpau]

Now I know why I have no hair left must clean out more often

[sj irving jnr]

twice a day every day

[darin]

ya carnt beat cleaning out everyday or sometimes twice a day !!!!!!! and burning out twice a week !!!!!!!!!!   couldent sleep at night if i hadent cleaned out !!!!!!! but its not a bad habit to have !!!!! deep litter ? ime affraid its not for me.

[darin]

i love being in me loft and the birds are very tame !!!!!!! people who dont spend time with the birds find that there like wild fire when you go in the loft, just my opinion and it works well for me

[Guest]

ya carnt beat cleaning out everyday or sometimes twice a day !!!!!!! and burning out twice a week !!!!!!!!!!   couldent sleep at night if i hadent cleaned out !!!!!!! but its not a bad habit to have !!!!! deep litter ? ime affraid its not for me.

 

 

Maybe a general misunderstanding that deep litter = no cleaning out. I clean out and probably a lot quicker than most ... 5 minutes tops... droppings don't stick to anything other than the litter, they are raked or rolled straight into a pan, bagged and binned ... and pre-disinfected to boot.