FINCHforum

I have a new Aviary, and at the moment I have gravel as the flooring, is this the best material to have or is there something else that would be better
Thanks

Milliemoo

Is your aviary inside or outside? For my outside aviary I use normal sand or wood chippers. Gravel isn't that hygenic, sand or wood chippers / fiber do a better job.

My aviary has a concrete floor that is covered with sand. Easy to clean and replace and the concrete can be washed when necessary. Also I don't have rats tunneling into my aviary. Disadvantage: all my live plants have to be in pots.
iso

I found this post very helpful: http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=32027.

Thanks to this forum, I have gone from newspaper, which worked but wasn't pretty to look at and was messy to clean, to astroturf. It's still brand new, but I'll let you know how it goes.

I use bark chips on my wooden aviary floor. It worked great until my bird bath started leaking (and I didn't discover the leak for weeks), and water soaked into the bark chips turning them moldy and smelly. I had to scrape out all the old chips and replaced them with fresh ones.

I'd still recommend bark chips, so long as you monitor possible water leakages. Also, if you go with bark chips, stay away from cedar as the odor can be harmful to some birds.

My aviary is in my daylight basement. The I put Timothy hay on the bottom of it. I change it out when needed and replace it with fresh hay. The birds love playing in it and my Orange breasted waxbills have used it to make a nest. I like the smell of it when I first put it down. When I change it out, I put the old hay into the compost pile.

In our aviary at work we use Corn Cob Bedding. Easy to clean.