Bird Litter

[tt101]

I've used pine pellets (kitty litter)- works well but gets expensive and holds the moisture more than paper. Now using recycled paper shreds- my birds like the plain brown but didn't like the pastel colors I bought last time....wouldn't go near it for an entire day. After a few days they started putting the white shreds in the nest and ignored the blue/pink.... Weird.
To stretch store bought litter, I add paper from our home office shredder.

Just a heads up, if your buying the pellets from a pet store then you are probably paying triple or double what you should....a large 25-40 pound back is $10 at home depot

[rcirmele]

I think the pine pellets are the best. I have 8 finches in an HQ double flight cage with grates in the bottom. I can leave the pellets for a week and there is no bird or waste smell. Only a slight pine smell which is refreshing. I have all their perches at opposite ends of the cage so most of the droppings are on one side of each tray. Half way through the week I take the tray out and rotate it 180 degrees. Not the slightest odor after a week.

A couple of notes:
I have very strong wood supports under the trays to keep them from bowing from the weight.

The birds cannot get to the wood pellets.

When you put in their bath there will be a lot of water splashed out that will cause the pellets to swell and it is possible for them to swell high enough for the birds to reach through the grates. You can either scoop out the soaked pellets or spread the soaked portions evenly across the tray and then add a little fresh pellets on top.

Summary:
Very cheap when bought in bulk. Great for odor reduction. Not for cages without a grate. Watch carefully for soaked pellets that may become accessible to the birds through the grate.

[Colt]

It depends but I use Kaytee's Crushed Walnut Litter in the flights as well as newspaper in my smaller breeding cages.

[Betrue2yurself]

For those of you that don't use grates I use "Kritter's Crumble" Coarse purchased on Amazon. It's a coconut husk animal bedding. I have two flights put together (which now equals 72") and the trays are super big but don't get heavy with this stuff. It's easy to see droppings so you can just scoop up the soiled parts. I love this stuff and so do the birds.

[lovezebs]

Hi All.
I place two layers of newspaper on top of the grate and then follow up with plain white paper towels. I usually double up beneath the bathtubs to soak up the moisture.works great and my feathered kids appear to enjoy it.

[Finch Mom]

I'm using Aspen shavings fromPet Mart.. Seem ok

[mayble]

I've been around this issue a dozen times in the last year, and keep finding a new favorite. At the moment, I'm using paper cage liners from Drs Foster & Smith.
In my cages with grates I put the paper on top of the grate. No grate to clean, just pull out the top layer when necessary. At first I balked at the price but I don't think it costs any more than litter and my cages are MUCH cleaner. When it only takes five seconds to clean the cage bottom, I have no reason to put it off 'til later so they always look great.
The hardest part is finding the right size.

[Finnie]

I use layers of newspapers over my grates. Much cheaper than store bought liners, you just have to cut them to size, and overlap two if your cage is wider than the paper. If I run through them faster than my subscription, then I have bought 50# of blank newsprint or packing paper on line before.

I love being able to take away all the poop in seconds, and I can't imagine why anyone would put up with having to clean crud off of wire grates.

I guess the drawback is the time spent cutting them, and you have to have a good rolling cutter and a work surface you can't damage.

[lovezebs]

Finnie
I don't cut newspapers, just open them up and spread the pages over the grate, usually overlapping them so that I have a x2 layer. Then I spread out paper towel on top of np. I find it just looks cleaner (for about twenty minutes until everyone starts pooping) . If you have problems with np supply, just put the word out to your neigbors. I usually end up with more newspaper than I can use. During the morning clean up, I just start in one corner of flight cage and roll it all up, ball it up and chuck the whole kit and cupoodle into trash bag. My way to recycle newspapers. LOL.

[cindy]

I think the pine pellets are the best. I have 8 finches in an HQ double flight cage with grates in the bottom. I can leave the pellets for a week and there is no bird or waste smell. Only a slight pine smell which is refreshing. I have all their perches at opposite ends of the cage so most of the droppings are on one side of each tray. Half way through the week I take the tray out and rotate it 180 degrees. Not the slightest odor after a week.

A couple of notes:
I have very strong wood supports under the trays to keep them from bowing from the weight.

The birds cannot get to the wood pellets.

When you put in their bath there will be a lot of water splashed out that will cause the pellets to swell and it is possible for them to swell high enough for the birds to reach through the grates. You can either scoop out the soaked pellets or spread the soaked portions evenly across the tray and then add a little fresh pellets on top.

Summary:
Very cheap when bought in bulk. Great for odor reduction. Not for cages without a grate. Watch carefully for soaked pellets that may become accessible to the birds through the grate.

Ray....I was given some of the pine pellets...took some outside and sprayed it with water.... the pellets definitely swell, crush the swelled pellets up and it becomes like saw dust, very fine. The odor of the wet pine pellets was so strong and overpowering I had to remove it from the house out to the patio. Wet in the sun for two days the dust at the bottom was still wet and needed to be stirred up to get dry in the sun.

I took all forms of the wood pellets to my avian vet, she took one look at the dust form which can happen when the swelled pellets break apart...her comment was that she absolutely does not recommend the swelled and dust form of the pellets....saw dust can cause upper respiratory issues plus wood dust inhaled over long periods of time can cause cancer. I would not use the product at all, why risk it. She recommends paper, something non dusty.

this is an article on inhalation and complications from wood dust wood dust from the CDC.... http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pel88/wooddust.html

I use sheets of butcher paper cut to the tray size and peel the top layers off as soiled.

[asher78]

I use plain paper towels.

[ppg5tu]

debbie276 Where do you buy your Oil-Dri and is it this product?

http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-1 ... Ogod3lEAnw

We are trying to switch over to something that we will get more use out of rather than the bedding we switch every week.

[debbie276]

Yup that's it. I found it in the auto dept at walmart. I'm sure other stores also carry it, in the auto dept for absorbing spills.

[cindy]

Sam's carries it also!!!

[ppg5tu]

debbie276

Do you know if there is a difference between that one and the one they carry at Lowes? I'm just seeing which places I Can get it at

http://www.lowes.com/pd_469323-87894-I0 ... 484&rpp=48