FINCHforum

I have a question about the cage floor.
I could not find anything clear on the search.
What are some of the pros/cons of using the grid that comes with most cages vs no grid.

I am partial to the wire grid to keep the birds out of thier poop, granted I have to scrape the poop off the grid every couple of days. But want more feedback before I build my next cage.

tnx

sea sand with little crushed shells + grid ...... works good , smells nice and the birds love to pick on the little particles .

Ray

Ray
I'm just thinking about the mess I have in my cage. We change the paper every 2 days, beyond that and my wife says it starts to make the room smell, even with an air filter 3ft from the case.
How do you clean the poop/droppings out of the sand, or do you just dump everything out every few days?

i clean all my cages every week and it doesn't have a bad smell , the sand i use smells good and is sold in 25kg bags ( 50 pound ) sold for about 7 us dollars , i just take everything out and dump it .
ray

I use newspaper in every cage (finches and parrots). It gets changed once a week and does not smell.

I do not like leaving grates uncovered as there is the danger of birds getting their feet or even wings caught if they land wrong. If I could rip all the grates out - I would in a second, and just lay newspaper in the trays.

I also don't like the grate. I figure that if you're trying to save time in cleaning, well it's a heck of a lot easier to slide the tray out, replace the paper, and slide the tray back in...than it is to remove and scrub that darn grate! Not to mention the fact that it's not particularly nice for the bird's feet. My GBs like to root around in the hay I put in the tray, overtop of the paper. It gives them something to do, to look amongst the hay for the bits of veggies, or dried bugs or mealworms, or crushed eggshell I scatter there.

I scatter treats in the areas not directly under perches, then spread a layer of hay overtop. I change the paper daily, so the issue of poop getting eaten or walked in is not a big issue. And the birds love to "search" for the food.

In my homemade cage I didn't put a grate. Here's the link to my cage: http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... highlight=
And here's the store bought cage I modified by removing the grate (which was supposed to be permanently attached):
http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... c&start=30

Liz.
I know what you mean about the wire gird.
I watched a new bird and it had "problems" cuz it did not know how to walk on the wire grid and kept falling in between. It had to learn how to walk on it. Same when the chicks fledged, and were on the cage floor. They had to learn how to walk on the grid. I put in a piece of plastic so they could have a place to go w/o their feet falling through the wire grid floor.

But ... what about their walking in their poop?
That was one of my concerns.

My other concern with direct access to the newspaper by the birds is, if they can rip it, that is nesting material.

I wonder why mine has a smell?
They do use the bath 2 or 3x a day, and even though the covered bath keeps most of the water in, some of it does splash (get flung) back into the cage and onto the newspaper in the tray (w the poop on it). That is the only thing I can think of that is creating the smell, when the poop gets wet again.

Yes, I think the wet paper itself also has an odd smell, as well as the wet poop. I change my paper every day, and I do it right after their bath. But there was someone on here awhile back who had 12 or 13 zebras in a cage and said it was very foul smelling and he couldn't understand why, since he changed the paper fairly often. Turned out the smell was one of the seed mixes that had some added stuff like dried fruit. Maybe the smell is from something other than the poop.

The mom and dad like to bath and I think the kids picked up on it. The kids usually bath 2x and sometimes 3x a day. One of the new birds has not gotten into bathing yet...despite the commotion when the 4 kids bath then dry themselves off.

My wife changes the paper every other day, since they are HER birds.
I just get stuck with the feeding chores.

The next cage will be mine, when I breed the penguin.

Wow - that's a LOT of bathing! I would imagine wet paper, wet seed or wet poop would smell.

Mine usually bathe once a day and don't make that much splashing with the exception of the Society Finches who go nuts with their water cups.

I do not have cages, but I use newspaper on the floor under the poop areas...... I change it every other day.

Liz
Once they figured out bathing, the parents seemed to like it. And the kids just picked it up from them, but seem to like it even more. Its funny to watch them. They act scared about jumping in, turning around several times. But once the first one bathes, they all follow.

I used to have a bath tray inside the cage. But they splashed SO MUCH water all over the place, inside and OUTSIDE the cage, that I got a Plenn Plax outside hang-on bath with a cover to try to contain the water. Well the first time in was a big disappointment, to me. The water leaked out all over and onto the floor. This is a basic design defect of that bath.

I did 2 versions of a fix,
#1 was silicone sealant around the edge of the cover, forming a drip rail, so the water would drip INTO the tray, rather than follow the edge of the cover to drip outside the tray. It worked, but the birds would pick at the silicone, separating the silicone from the cover.
#2 used expoxy, and that has stood up to their pecking...so far. And has kept the water inside the tray.

This has kept most of the water in, and so far none outside the cage. This also conserves water so they can ALL bath w/o me having to refill the water. Whereas the open tray would loose a visible amount of water after just 1 bird bathing.

But, that leaves the opening open for the birds to splash water back into the cage. So right now, I get the 4 kids and 3 of the 4 adults bathing and splashing. Some of them splash a LOT more than others. But every once in a while the paper is sooo wet that it is very obvious they were having fun.

Oh and speaking of water cup, they also use the bath for both a toilet and to drink from. Every time I change the water, within an hour I find poop in the water.

I think it is far worse for them to walk on grids than to walk in poop.

Ahh silly fids - they need a shower curtain!

My birds rarely poop in their water cups... luckily for them and me!

I have only one cage with a grill and a pair that is breeding in it currently.The only good thing that i can see is them not getting to spoiled food,but all my other birds have not fallen ill that don't have a grill.I change the newspaper one a week or twice depending on how many birds are in there.Never mind if they toss a chick or the chicks end up on the floor(knock on wood)its extra work cleaning the grill.Anyone have a good way of cleaning grill