Lofts, Deep Litter, Or The Scraper,

THE FIFER · February 28, 2015

How do u keep the loft, is it the scraper or deep litter, and how often, and what do you use, any tips or ideas, how do you keep your nest boxes while breeding, .

alex young · February 28, 2015

Have used all systems over the years but now it's the scraper.I clean the loft three times a day when breeding,twice when racing and once during the winter.I clean around the nest bowls each time I top the galley pots up and at the same time touch the y/birds beak which makes them very tame on being weaned.I only have twelve pairs so it doesn't take as long as it sounds.

greenbar · February 28, 2015

easi brd below the perches,floor cleaned every day and dusted twice a week, nest boxes have newspaper on the floors of them,with a crisp box in each of them,nest bowls wraped in newspaper,when the y/bs are weaned the lot go in the bin,the bowls get rewrapped,and sprayed,

Whats it called Cumbernauld · February 28, 2015

Two sections at the moment, clean one each day and find this much better for me and the birds.

Takes about 10 min a day, then every second weekend we do a deep clean get into corners ex, takes about 30 min each section.

Happy cleaning

Have used all systems over the years but now it's the scraper.I clean the loft three times a day when breeding,twice when racing and once during the winter.I clean around the nest bowls each time I top the galley pots up and at the same time touch the y/birds beak which makes them very tame on being weaned.I only have twelve pairs so it doesn't take as long as it sounds.

Really no heard off that one need try it this year

Mossgiel · February 28, 2015

Was at LSC quiz last night and this question came up. Davie Elliot stated he has not cleaned his loft for 2 1/2 years, the droppings are now coming up through the floor grills and that's the way he likes it. As long as every thing is absolutely dry he has no problem with these conditions. He even went on to say, when he moved his lofts a few years ago, be bagged all the old droppings and placed them in the loft at it's new location. The other panellist, Stuart Maskame, cleaned his lofts every day throughout the racing season and once a week during the off season.

As they say many roads lead to Rome.

blackdog · February 28, 2015

floors, nestbox's all have easi bed on them, trying a new thing this year where i don't use nestpans, just letting them nest in the easi bed, up to now not had a clear egg, every things bone dry, no damp floors in this weather, saves me time as i have pfl so i have more time to watch the birds exercising :emoticon-0138-thinking:

Bryngwynt Lofts · February 28, 2015

Scrapper everyday,I scrape am & pm.Also clean bowls around ybs,and start touching there beaks.Find it helps when weaning them,as they are use to seeing a hand,and won't do them no harm.Top up there galipots twice a day,so ybs see me and think see me and they get fed as well.

buster151 · February 28, 2015

Scrape every day all boxes and floors x2 in season, use harkers and baby powder in boxes and floors

showman · February 28, 2015

Was always a scraper guy, which I did at least once a day (3 lofts). However, I recently gave a lot of thought to trying deep litter as having a heart condition I want to try and make things easier for myself, but keeping the health of the birds to the fore. I thought I'd experiment in the stock loft which is 8x6 with 6 widowhood boxes. Having not paired up at the time I saw this as a good place to start. Even though it was clean, I gave it a really good clean out, and finished off with the hoover. The deep litter was then laid and spread out to a depth of approx.2". The drinker and grit pots were already located on a 4ft shelf so there would be no problems there. There is a 3ft roll-top feeder on the floor.

I realise that at present there are only 6 cocks in there and things will change when the hens are introduced. So far I'm really pleased with the litter and saves scraping the floor every day. We'll see how things go, but so far a thumbs up from me. :emoticon-0137-clapping:

peter pandy · February 28, 2015

Used Barley straw for years until modern farming methods meant the Barley stalk was only half the size and combine harvesters chopped it even finer so went back to the scraper. When Easy Bed was introduced for horses I moved onto that with a 6" channel under the perches and a removable wire netting cover in case Youngsters threw up and it stops regurgatated food being eaten. This channel is shoveled out daily. You can purchase a plasic dung remover grape which picks up the droppings and leaves the Easy Bed from any agriculture store so their is little bed being wasted. Nest Boxes are hoovered daily and I would say my loft is dust free.

oldstrain · March 1, 2015

deep litter of kiln dried sand and beech woodchips for all sections but perches and boxes scraped daily ...grills for hens but sand and chippings underneath ,flight has grills and trays underneath ,birds are healthy and happy I do change the litter every 6 months by removing half of whats their and replacing it with new so its recycling all the time as it does get dusty ...main thing with deep litter is that its bone dry

neila · October 10, 2015

floors, nestbox's all have easi bed on them, trying a new thing this year where i don't use nestpans, just letting them nest in the easi bed, up to now not had a clear egg, every things bone dry, no damp floors in this weather, saves me time as i have pfl so i have more time to watch the birds exercising

how did this turn out for you ? cant see it not working if the easi bed is deep enough