Loft floor substrate what do you use?

Hope this is the correct place to ask this question

:Need some help
In the summer I don't use anything on the loft floors I find it easier to just scrape them about 3 times a week. Most of the birds prefer to spend most of their time outside

My problem comes in the winter, here in WI. we can get alot of snow that can last for a week or longer and/or frigid blowing winds. This makes cleaning almost impossible because I have to open the loft doors wide enough to get my wheel barrow in the door and can't close it once its in.

I tried sand but couldn't figure out how to sift the poop through without some going through too. Wood shaving blew around every time a bird flew and are a pain to clean up and seem to stay damp to long in the cold weather, the same goes with straw.

I would love any ideas

Thanks.

I'm sorry you didn't get a responce, Robin and I honestly don't know what to tell you.
In my chicken house, I used cement block floor. My friend Landy uses mats in her loft...the kind you would see in a horse's stall. Maybe that would work.

I use Vinyl in mine and nothing sticks to it, just swipe it and mop it and its done

How big is your loft and how many birds? I use wood shavings. It blows around a bit but it's absorbent and the poop is easy to pick up. I use a hand broom and lightly sweep the poop on top into a dustpan. It then goes into a small garbage bag. Then I fluff the shavings that are left. I replenish the shavings once every week or two. I could skip a couple of days of cleaning if I had to. The big fluffy shavings blow around more than the smaller, heavier shavings. Maybe try wood chips instead of shavings? I haven't had a problem with it getting damp in winter. I keep the feeder and waterer up on bricks which keeps the shavings from blowing into them. My loft is only 7' square and about 15 birds so I think it works well for me.

:eek: Robin, just came across this thread. :eek:

I also have "issues" with my floor covering too.

I have a cat poop scooper to sift through the sand.

I would leave the wheel barrow in the fly pen area and use a plastic bucket inside the loft. It will take extra steps going back and forth, but the door will be close if the wheel barrow is out of the loft.

I have tried straw on the floor but it holds moisture. And the wood shaving get into their water containers.

I like the sand the best but it is expensive. I use about five 50lbs. bags a week.

Like Jenaka, I would skip a day if the weather is bad. That might not be easy where you live. Snow can be difficult to deal with.
I look at the weather daily and will move up a cleaning day to avoid cleaning during rain.

Not sure if this helps.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions & help

I will take each one into consideration.

Birdbarn wrote:

I like the sand the best but it is expensive. I use about five 50lbs. bags a week.

:eek: You mean you take out that much every week and replace it? 250 pounds a week?? You must have a jumbo pooper scooper. And I thought I had it bad with cat litter I use for 10 cats.

Sometimes the bag of wood shavings I buy will be more like small but heavier chips. They don't blow. If I could get chips like that all the time I would definitely use them.

:eek: Jenaka, I do the "big clean" every three days and use two bags for the main birdbarn and one for the Jacobin loft. I really hate poop. And with sixty plus birds in the birdbarn it can get messy. I wish I had another way to do it. I have a large hole behind our pump house that I use to discard the bad sand.

I'm open to any suggestions.

I was recently at our local gravel pit and was asking about having a dump truck filled with sand delivered. In the long run it would be cheaper even with waste. Would need a large drop cloth to put the sand on to avoid wetness.

Robin-Sorry, I did not want to hijack your thread. I hope you have come up with a new idea to solve your dilemma.


:WHAT?: If you come up with a new procedure, let us know.

Birdbarn wrote:

Robin-Sorry, I did not want to hijack your thread. I hope you have come up with a new idea to solve your dilemma.


:WHAT?: If you come up with a new procedure, let us know.

Hey no problem Haven't come up with anything yet I'm kinda leaning toward sand at the moment.

If you are using that much sand I would definitely get a truck full, in the long run it will cost you less. Just make sure you get it screened or there will be small rocks & pebbles in the mix.

My daughter works at a gravel pit thats how I know about the different sand & gravel.

So far for me sand is working the best. I buy the screened and washed, just like beach sand. I tried the cheaper sand but it looks and feels like dirt. I even tried doing half and half but it still did not look right. Oh well, sand for now.