# Saw dust for loft floor



## sreeshs (Aug 16, 2009)

Hi,

My loft is basically a converted portion of my terrace and has a concrete floor. As I typically be at home once in two weeks these days, it is getting hard to keep up with the cleaning and I am not that good at it. Currently I scrap the floor and the perches with a metal plates, then wash the floor and when its dry I sprinkle some bleaching powder and use a broom to spread it.

Recently when I visited a person's house who is basically a poultry breeder, he showed me how he uses saw dust from coconut and plam trees as loft flooring. It is very dry absorbing the moisture from the poops and once in a week he mixes some fresh amount of a type of local plaster (a white powder made from mussel shell, used for cleansing/bleaching, it's used for disinfecting after mixing with water) and rake it up. He has some 600 odd chicken in his coop and it is fresh with no foul smell or moisture.

Saw dust is readily available from the saw mills here for free. The winter is never harsh in this part of the world, minimum temp is something like 23 degree celcius.

So I was thinking why do not I do the same for my pigeon loft, thought would just bounce off with you people before taking a decision.


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## Revolution Lofts (Aug 7, 2008)

You could do it, only thing I've found with saw dust, or pine shavings for that matter, is that it would have to be deep in order for it to stay in place. I used to put 3 inches of pine shavings in the lofts here in the Canadian winters and when the birds would flap their wings, the shavings would get pushed to the edges of the loft and the center would be left bare. So I stopped using the shavings because it was a waste of shavings. I now only use the shavings to add in some more nesting material in the nest bowls of the pigeons that tend to push the nesting material out of the bowls.


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## sreeshs (Aug 16, 2009)

That was something which I was thinking about. The saw dust could fly in to the drinkers. However the one which I saw, may be due to the amount of chickens in the coop, had a weight due to the dried poops yet still not stinky. May be it will take a weeks time for the saw dust to settle in that manner to be weighted down. I can use some elevation where I keep the drinkers and feeders using bricks underneath and also around to be accessible for the pigeons.


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

Check out some threads on deep litter, there have been some good discussions on whats required to maintain a good deep litter system, Sawdust can be used, I have found it great in my dirtfloor lofts.


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## whytwings (Feb 12, 2011)

I know of some racing people using shavings , from memory I think the product was called " ezy bed " . I believe the dust had been extracted from the shaving and the birds just love laying in it , as suggested you might need quite a bit for complete coverage .

I was steered away from using shavings as nesting materials from some qualified people because there is a risk the squabs can injest some of the shavings , apparently there are threads about this which I can't say I have looked at myself .

I was wondering if sand might be another option for you to consider ??

BTW .......I am envious of your 23 degree winter tempretures


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

whytwings said:


> I know of some racing people using shavings , from memory I think the product was called " ezy bed " . I believe the dust had been extracted from the shaving and the birds just love laying in it , as suggested you might need quite a bit for complete coverage .
> 
> I was steered away from using shavings as nesting materials from some qualified people because there is a risk the squabs can injest some of the shavings , apparently there are threads about this which I can't say I have looked at myself .
> 
> ...



How cold does it get there Darren??? 10 celcius at the coldest?? lol


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## whytwings (Feb 12, 2011)

In winter ........a cold overnight temp can be 2 maybe 3 degree 
maximum day temp in middle of winter can be 9 or 10 degree C

I have to say ......I've still never seen snow in my life . I had one
chance staying with friends in Chicago , it was freeeeeeeeeeeeezing 
but no snow ....the day after I flew back to Nth Calif , wouldn't ya know
it snowed


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## sreeshs (Aug 16, 2009)

whytwings said:


> I know of some racing people using shavings , from memory I think the product was called " ezy bed " . I believe the dust had been extracted from the shaving and the birds just love laying in it , as suggested you might need quite a bit for complete coverage .
> 
> I was steered away from using shavings as nesting materials from some qualified people because there is a risk the squabs can injest some of the shavings , apparently there are threads about this which I can't say I have looked at myself .
> 
> ...


Getting sand is difficult, here there no outlets from where you buy sand, you have to get it through vendors of building materials, they use river sand and not beach sand and not a financially viable option. Saw dust is available for free just have to go and collect it from the plenty saw mills.

Sand in large quanities becomes much heavy to manage and work with, it does not go well with the disinfectant also. Sand does not absorb the mositure as well as saw dust do, the lumps of poop needs to be shoved of and replaced with fresh sand more frequently. Another problem is that the used sand base cannot be disposed off easily.

The saw dust can be eventually burned and it leaves behind the mineral rich poop and ash which can be used as fertilizers.

On the winter part, I have lived in some places where the temp gets down to 1 or 2 degree celcius and honestly I cannot stand winter (well, brandy/rum might help but still  ) and I am happy that I no more have to bear it, neither the pigeons.


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