# Parasites; dirt; floor of the aviary



## WhiteysFriends (Aug 19, 2002)

Separately, we are building our aviary, and we were planning to leave the floor uncovered, so it basically is just the dirt and grass that is in the backyard. But after seeing the horrible pigeon flies that are on the feral pij that just came our way, and reading all your postings on the BAD THINGS that pigeons can contract from their environment, we are wondering if we should put a floor in the aviary. Maybe a layer of bricks or paver stones. What do you guys think? Could we treat the soil with some chemical that would decontaminate it, but not hurt the pigeons? The birds now live in two interconnected lofts that are elevated off the ground on wooden legs. We plan to put the existing lofts inside the aviary so they can sleep inside, and have their nests inside, if they want. But we think they will probably opt for walking around on the ground a lot of the time.


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## iffan (Jun 15, 2002)

Nothing wrong with dirt floors except for burrowing animals: dog, rats, **** .. they can cause havoc. It would be a good idea to lay wire on the floor and cover it to prevent animals from coming up from the ground. Instead of doing that lay some gravel or the bricks you mentioned.
Good luck, Jim


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## WhiteysFriends (Aug 19, 2002)

Thanks for your reply. We have already dealt with the burrowing problem by having the wire mesh on the sides extend an extra 6 to 12 inches, which is buried sort of at an angle -- down vertically for a few inches, and then laterally toward the center. 
We thought this would be sufficient, but then we got to thinking about the parasites, insects, bacteria, etc. that might be in the dirt. I thought maybe spraying some broad-spectrum pesticide in there before bringing the pigeons in would make the dirt at the bottom "clean," but then wondered if germs or other pests might reenter the cleansed soil, either from underneath or from the air. If there were a good thatch of grass on the soil, I'd be somewhat less concerned, but the process of building, and burying the wire mesh as described above has wrecked a lot of the grass (and the pigeons would probably mess up the grass eventually anyway).


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## iffan (Jun 15, 2002)

Lay with gravel or the brick you intended. Only other thing i can add is make sure the floor doesnt get wet. Build at high ground or raise loft.


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