WHY should you keep your pigeon coops/lofts clean:
Your bird’s health depends on you keeping their living environment and air clean. Think of it this way: if you walk into your pigeon coop/loft and see dust floating in the air, or if it’s hard to breathe or causes you to cough, or maybe you feel the need to wear a mask upon entering, then, it’s safe to say that you are failing your birds. Your pigeon coops should never be that dirty. That is a health hazard for the birds. Make a habit of scraping down the perches every day or cleaning from top to bottom and the floor at least once a week.
Dirt Floor Coops and Lofts: Are you one of these people who built a coop without a floor? In essence, this is a very bad idea all around, and here’s Why: A coop or loft with a dirt floor programs you to believe you don’t need to remove or shovel out the debris or litter that builds up inside. If it’s all dirt anyway, then why should it matter? Well, that dirt floor continues to build up and hold in all the dust, smell, decay, and rotting of dirt, moisture, and bacteria. Not to mention the buildup of bugs and flies as well as all the mouse infestations that bring disease. You also need to worry about the rodents that can dig underneath your structure and kill your birds. You should always have a cement, plywood, or grate floor if it’s not an off-the-ground setup. If your coop/loft is sitting on stilts or some sort of block structure to keep it from sitting flat on the ground, it would be wise to fully enclose the wraparound bottom of the coop with plywood or something else solid in structure. This will prevent critters from trying to get in, but most importantly, it will protect your birds from:
- Winter Cold Air – Winter cold winds are brutal and hard on birds trying to stay warm, especially if you are using grates as floors. The full wraparound enclosure will also help keep your coop dry.
- Summer Mosquitoes, Nates, Flies, Snakes, Rodents – Mosquitoes can cause some serious harm to your birds if you are not protecting them. I wrote a separate blog post just about mosquitoes and pigeons. Check it out.
HOW do we clean our coops:
- We use a wheel barrel to throw all the poop and debris we take out of the coop.
- Scrape all perches first, working your way down from the top.
- Scrape and shovel the floor. In our winter coops, we have wood floors, and in our summer coops, we have grate floors so poop can fall through to the ground. In the coops with grating, we use boards or garage door sections on hinges that we have attached to the coops so that there is no way any rodent can get underneath the coops/lofts. We then lift them up and clean out underneath the coops on the ground to ensure that no debris accumulates.
- Clean windows and screens, but do not make windows too sparkling clean so birds do not injure themselves hitting them without knowing there is a window there.
- If you do not have separate coops for winter and summer, then you can simply put plywood over the entire grate floors inside the coops and throw straw down on the floor for added warmth. This way, the metal grate floor doesn’t get too cold under their feet, plus it keeps the cold air out.
- Coops Must be kept dry, and you should try to keep as much humidity out as possible. We put box fans in all our coops during the summer months to keep birds as cool and comfortable as possible while keeping humidity to a minimum.
In Conclusion:
Keeping a clean coop is really no different than keeping a clean house. I will go further in depth about how we winterize and summarize our coops for optimal health in another blog post. That’s all for now; drop us a line if you have any questions.
Until next time … Enjoy the backyard fun.
