# loft floor



## Cajunboy74 (Apr 8, 2011)

I have been interested in the sport of pigeon racing for years now but never took the plunge into actually doing it. I have been on the forums here and read a few books to gather knowledge. I am up looking at trying to contact some locals whom would help me with some info...I live in south Louisiana. But my question here is I have a metal building I am thinking about making into a loft but I am not planning to build a raised floor. It would be a dirt floor or covered with gravel or sand whatever would be better. Would this present any problems for the pigeons or any issue for keeping the droppings cleaned up? Thanks


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## rpalmer (Mar 10, 2011)

Pigeons need a floor. Earth, stone ect ... is bad.


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## flight (Dec 29, 2011)

I think it would make your life much easier if you had some type of flooring like wood. I don't think it would be that easy to keep a dirt floor clean and sanitized.


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## remo (Jan 19, 2015)

I wouldn't use a bare floor if I were you it would be very easy for rodents to get in and if you're using a metal building it may get uncomfortable temperatures so may by worth insulating to prevent in getting too hot or cold. If the floor is smooth and wooden cleaning is easier and you can disinfect easier as it will dry quicker you could possibly use a concrete floor but it will be much more of a chore as it holds muck better and it will be cold you could use it with a deep litter system but you still need to sieve it and change it, so I would definitely put a wooden floor of some kind in


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## Cajunboy74 (Apr 8, 2011)

Thanks for the responses, looks like I have my answer.


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## sport14692 (Jan 3, 2011)

I have a bare wood floor in a modified Graceland Building, Scrape it 2-3 times a week and you will be in good shape. I'm also in South Louisiana, Carencro


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## Shadybug Lofts (Mar 13, 2010)

This is the real way to do your floors. The weather was so bad this winter that I cleaned both my lofts with these floors once every 2 months and I did it a half an hour. If I had to scrape all my lofts 3 or 4 times a week, well that would be a deal breaker.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f38/t...oden-slate-floor-by-shadybug-lofts-45695.html

or this one which would be easier for a beginner to do.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f38/turning-part-of-my-shed-into-a-loft-70775.html


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## Cajunboy74 (Apr 8, 2011)

Thanks again, those slat floors really are nice.


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## Shadybug Lofts (Mar 13, 2010)

They take some work, but its well worth it. The jury is still out for me on the expanded metal floors because I haven't put a bird in it yet. You can buy the slat floor pieces, but they cost some bucks.


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## carrera mike (Nov 15, 2014)

My only comment with the dirt floor is it would be really hard to clean off their poop.. and they poop a lot... you have to clean it often if you want flies and disease away.
Good luck with your build


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## chayi (May 1, 2010)

My floors are expanded metal and I love this it's always clean all the poop falls thru the expanded metal and under the floors is 4 inches of sand, I lift the expanded metal floors by sections and rake and clean underneath.


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## rogerven (Aug 22, 2015)

What do you think of these type of floorings:
1. http://www.qcsupply.com/duraslat-wh...On5QJN4OBPCLfChKFt-GFtrqp7tYwZWOAoaAiik8P8HAQ

2. http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplie...roddtl&isDoc=N&pageId=ItemDetail&rel=nofollow


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

rogerven said:


> What do you think of these type of floorings:
> 1. http://www.qcsupply.com/duraslat-wh...On5QJN4OBPCLfChKFt-GFtrqp7tYwZWOAoaAiik8P8HAQ
> 
> 2. http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplie...roddtl&isDoc=N&pageId=ItemDetail&rel=nofollow



Those polypropeline floors are made of plastic. Rats can chew through that.


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## Eleftharios (Oct 5, 2014)

*metal floor*

I just built a new loft with expanded metal flooring and I noticed that the birds have to learn how to walk on it. When I first put them in the new loft they would snag their toes on the floor and it was cutting up their feet. It seemed like it took them a coulpe days before they figured it out. They actually have to learn to walk flat footed on it and not use their toes to grab it. Anyone out there have a similar observation?


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## rogerven (Aug 22, 2015)

I was told you are suppose to file those down. Hence I prefer this plastic and raise it with 2 x 4's. If I place that on aviary I would double up with wire under


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## Eleftharios (Oct 5, 2014)

Filing the rough edge off would take a VERY long time with the amount of floor I have. On a different note, I have both paddle or flat platform perches as well as "V" perchases. The other thing that noticed is that dropping that fall straight down onto the floor tend to build up as opposed to the droppings that first land on the "V" perches and then find their way to the floor hence "V" perches in my estimation create less floor scraping.


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