Post details to your poll responses

...and also if your fids have ACCESS to what you're using as bedding

I buy the corn cob bedding for the poop tray. He can not reach it. I like the way it looks and i feel like it's just easy to dump and pour more in. Lazy I guess. I only have two birds. So a 25lb bag go's a long way.

I use Newspaper and the parakeets and quaker can't get to it



The tiels came in a cage that had some kind of bedding stuff but they couldn't get to it either





But I had to put them in a bigger cage and it doesn't have a grate and I lined the tray with newspaper, they can get to it but they've not yet ventured to the bottom of the cage

Crushed walnut shells in all three cages, bought in 25-lb (I think) bags at the pet shop. Very clean, fresh, nice looking, easy to sift through and freshen as needed. Birds can't get to it through the grates. It's a natural product, so we can dump it outside or in the woods without feeling like we're adding anything to the environment that we shouldn't.

We just use newspaper on top of the grate and Casey doesn't bother with it. It gets changed at least twice/day.

Here is a quick fact that is important to know:

Those commercial bird beddings are a hazzard and should not even be on the market. They harbor bacteria and bedding is the main sorce of bacteria second to dirty water dishes.

The best thing to use for Birdy bedding is newspaper. There is actually something in the ink that kills and breaks down the bacteria. It is much safer and healthier to use!

ITA with Cheryle..with the exception of my Tiels

I use "Pine" chips because Tiels love to shred paper and becomes way too much works with 8 cages of Tiels...they don't bother the Pine as this is the same stuff they are born on as bedding...I would NOT use this for Quakers or any other Parrot...just Tiels JMO

I use black and white newspaper. All the birds have access to it and the Tiels are the ones who usually rip it up (although Max and the Conures will too ).

I use newspaper. Its cheap!!!!

Yup newspaper here too! Intresting about the beneficial think in the newspaper ink to break down bacteria! Im glad you said that thanks!

Hey thanks I didnt know that!!!!!! I will use news paper. Mr. Nibbles(bfa) can reach his bedding so I have never put news paper in his because I am afraid he would eat it.

I also freeze anything I buy at the pet stores because I have had a problem with bugs. When we got Mr. Nibbles his cage was infested with bugs. We had to have someone come and spary our house. Three times!!!!! Bug guy said hot water would not kill eggs or the bugs. The only thing that would, is to put it in the freezer.

Do you think putting it in the freezer would kill the bacteria in the corn cob bedding? Is it ok if Mr. Nibbles eats the news paper?

I use Corn cob bedding. When they make a mess I scoop it out saves a hassle of in and out. only reason I take it ALL the way out and clean it is if there is fruit or food on the bottom. They stay happy and healthy and they get used to me being in "our" house.

In addition to the risk of bacteria growth, you have the risk of crop impactation. Here is a great article that Majj posted for us a while back: Organic Bedding It covered organic bedding, but it can apply to any type of bedding.

Newspaper under the grate, and I put a few layers so I can take off the soiled and leave the fresh.

i use newspaper in the big cage (he can't get to it) and in his travel cage and the cage that is at my parents house i use either newspaper or paper towels... and he can get to that... i have to change it all the time because he likes to make a chew toy out of it and rip it into little pieces, wierdo.

I used to use cage pads which were nice but at 5 dollars a box and I have alot of big cages it didnt seem economical.
Connies mom told me about the glorys of newpaper. I am hooked. I can clean my cages more often if I want to and have a deal with a local paper who will let me have as much of 'yesterdays news' as I want.

I do a sort of weird thing I line both under the grate and on top. I remove and change the top layers daily which makes my weekly total cage cleaning a breeze.

I'll stand by my crushed walnut shells! All 3 cages have grates above the litter, so there's no access to it by the birds. Daily sifting gets rid of any wet clumps or poop, and it stays dry and fresh for a very long time. I toss a little extra in every now and then to freshen and keep it about a half inch deep, until it's time to change the whole tray full (not very often). The walnuts are a little expensive but they last forever, and I like how fresh and clean my cages stay. To me, a little sifting is easier and less messy than dealing with newspapers, and the birds seem intrigued by the routine, too.

Newspaper here too. I line the bottom of the cage and the grate both. My lil guys dont seem to bother it at all.
The apt complex where we live puts out the greensheet (a free paper) and I just go and get one every week. LOL

I also use newspaper. Got the idea from Majj. I put a few layers of newspaper on the top grate and change the paper daily.
The paper is cheap, it is free. I use the weekly ads paper, I usually get a few extra each week.
Do not use slick ads that are used for advertising. They usually come in the paper on Sundays and Wednesday, anyway they do here. That is not the same as newspaper

Yep, I do the same thing. I use the coloured stuff for under the grate and the plain stuff for the top of the grate. It is just way too easy

She never had access to it there was a slide in wire cage bottom 2 inches away from the bedding. I always make sure I clean out the poop and surrounding bedding and replace with fresh. If there was any signs of it being wet from water dish play or fruit then I changed it completely.

Wow I am so glad to have read this. I want to go home right NOW and get it out of Nibbles cage. I can't believe pet stores sell this without warning. Milo can't reach the bottom of his cage Thank God, but my Nibbles can and has for over Two Years!!!

who knows how long before that. He's about four or five years old. I'm his second home. One year at the pet store and a year with me. Thank God for this forum!!! I did'nt see this article when Majj posted it. I am so grateful for this poll. Now being that he can reach the bottom of his cage, what is the safest thing I can use?



THANKS

I've always just used newspaper. Or paper towels in a pinch if there's no newspaper.

Thanks

Yep, I'm glad I put up this poll I'm for sure switching to newspaper. Not a question in my mind, the shavings (no matter how special they are) must go. I love my babies too much!

Newspaper here too..
My boys sometimes will go tear it up not often they haven`t for ages but I don`t mind if they do its safe and keeps them happy... I put a whole load on and just take a sheet up at a time as needed ..

I use newspaper under Indy's grate, and thats what I'll do for the Quaker too. It's cheap and recycling!

xxx

Am I the only one who uses paper towel? I use paper towel becuase it is absorbant and is safe for the girls to chew on.

I don't use newspaper becuase the ink stained the cage bottom LOL

I don't use loose beddings bedause when ever I would go change it, I would make a mess on the floor.

So just paper towel. I use Bounty, the Quilted, Qucker Picker Upper!

Well actually I was using paper towels till recently but got tired of going thru paper towels all the time so switched to newspaper lol

I've always used paper towels cause its absorbent and you can keep and eye out for poop changes.

I use precut paper linings that I bought from Foster's and Smith I think. They fit his cage bottom perfectly and are a white paper material. He can't reach it through the grate that is on the bottom of his cage.

Jeff

Since Morgan sleeps in a dog kennel I line it with the bedding that they sell for them. It is like carpet. When he did prefer his cage I lined it with either paper towels or newspaper.

I use to use the corn cob bedding under the grate and really liked it. Only had to change it once a week. But it was a little tricky trying to carry the large pan out of the house without spilling any.

So I switched to newspapers ONTOP of the grate. MUCH easier to clean. I put alot in there at once & I just start at one corner & roll up the dirty pages. And since it's ontop of the grate I don't have to spend time cleaning the grate anymore. And Bailey LOVES to be able to retrieve the toys & snacks that he drops since they do not fall thru the grate anymore.

Cheap & easy!!!

Looks like were switching to newspaper. Great post about the bacteria/newspaper.

thanks

Paper Towels. Easy to change daily!

Me too! I'm a big fan of newspaper. Sometimes I think that's the only place the news should be ... under a bird! I also put a few layers on top of the grate because it catches the food Eli drops (and the toys). Then I just peel a layer off as it soils.
On the play top I also put newspaper and it's a riot because Eli has started making tents out of it and using it to play peek-a-boo games. The other day my son went to fix Eli's tent and Eli ran towards him saying "Good Boy" I love that bird.

newspapers in mulitple layers...like some said before MUCH easier to peel off the top one and the next clean layer is ready to go!! fids can get to it but they rarely touch the floor of their cages.




That is a great cage set up!!!!!....I just love seeing how other people set up their cages and what kinds/styles they have! (i'm a dork i know..lol)

I use the black and white newspaper. I put my paper on top of the grates in case they drop a goodie and need to retrieve it. If my birds start chewing it due to hormones, I put it under the grate for a while. I am so blessed as one of my customers saves all her newspapers for me. he husband gets like 3 newspapers a day and one is New York times. Great for black and white paper. She said her husband hates taking out the recycleables so he's happy he doesn't have to do it anymore. I just grab the stack every Friday. What a lifesaver with 13 birds getting their paper changed daily!
tikileahsmom

Newspaper on the tray - every once in a while Bubba will be able to grab a corner, but most times doesn't mess with it. It's changed every day and is really easy to do. I wipe down the grate a couple of times a day if there is anything on it, so he doesn't step in it, but mostly it falls thru onto the paper or lands on the floor

I put newspaper and Collin cannot get to it

I use walnut litter for my quaker Polly.


Click to view attachment

Just a reminder on Organic Bedding...

DANGER! ORGANIC BEDDING
Christine A. Cannon,DVM
The Northwest Bird Club
Aviculturists have a new headache to watch out for, Organic bedding. We've been seeing birds die of grit impactions for years now, as we slowly (but hopefully) get the information out to the bird-owning public. Now, we have new killers.

I had a breeder find her male Severe Macaw dead one morning. She had had the bird for about a year. He had sired 12 fertile eggs during that year and had been observed feeding his mate the evening before his death. Fortunately for us, the breeder is one of those who is willing to have necropsies done on her birds, so if there is anything to learn from a bird's death, we will. When we opened the bird's body we discovered that there were signs of bleeding into the bowel. The gizzard and proventriculus were both distended with bloody food and small corn cob bedding. There was so much cob in there that there was very little room for food. Like grit, the corn cob bedding was inert and stayed in the gizzard. Unlike grit, the stuff swelled. This bird had not had access to corn cob bedding for over a year.

Another notable necropsy was an Amazon that died suddenly. His proventriculus was thickened and his bowel, just past the gizzard, showed gross evidence of bleeding. His gizzard was FULL of walnut shell bedding. He had access to the bedding for a few hours, a month before death.

A survivor that had also only had two hours of access to walnut shell bedding was seen at the clinic for off and on eating and off and on depression for five days. Fecal content of the droppings was decreased and black in color. His urates (the whites) and urine (the clear liquid) were normal. The bird had been observed to be choking or trying to regurgitate and then vomit the evening before presentation.

Blood work indicated that the bird was fighting off an infection or inflammation. The history and physical indicated that he probably had a bowel obstruction. The owner declined X-rays and barium series and would not have opted for surgery if the problem was a tumor, so we attempted medical therapy. With laxatives and antibiotics, the bird started passing more volume feces in his droppings. It took more than 48 hours to get rid of bowel bleeding.

An 8 week old Senegal baby started to regurgitate and have variable crop emptying time. The next day, the baby passed bloody droppings. We started antibiotics and he improved for 24 hours. Then he started to pass walnut shell bedding in his droppings -- 3 to 6 pieces per dropping. He had been parent-raised for his first sixteen days.

His parents were in a cage over a tray of walnut shell bedding that was thought to be out of reach, due to a cage bottom grill. That is as close as the young one got to the bedding. After three days of treatment, he had a dropping containing about fifteen pieces of the bedding... and DIED.

So please, don't risk your bird's life. Not just babies eat cage bottom materials. Adults can, and do, as well. And birds of all ages can die from that behavior. So, NO WALNUT SHELL BEDDING, NO CORN COB BEDDING and NO KITTY LITTER. Plain old newspaper, paper towels, brown paper bags, etc., work just fine. You can see and evaluate daily droppings, catching any changes before the problem is overwhelming. Color, size, consistency and number of droppings are all VERY important. Sure, it's easier to keep clean if you only change bedding once a week or so, but who knows what's going on with the droppings if they can't see them?

I am soooo glad you posted this because I was looking at some of this stuff at Petco a few weeks ago and thinking to myself that it looked like a pretty neat idea. Thought to myself that I might try some.

Glad I read this!!!! I'll be sticking to plain 'ole newspaper.

Yes its a great article for newer fid owners ..I might just post it as a new topic again for all to see...

newspaper...and no they cant get to it!

paper towel right now for our lil one.. he doesn't have access to it.. we also have some old pillow cases in there right now over the grate because he's a lil clumsey baby!

Just plain old newspaper! There is NO WAY I would risk my fids getting hold of walnut shells or corn cob shreds!!! OMG Those poor birds! What a horrible death! I'm sorry the owners didn't know!

No, it's in a tray under the cage bottom, but he doesn't have much interest in tearing up the paper towel I gave him, so I figure he wouldn't play with it, anyway.

All my cages are lines with newspaper and LIke Impy I have a deal with the local paper...I get all the old papers With two extra large cages and Dodger's cage I use ALOT of newspaper!! I line the top of the grate in Dodgers cage but under the grate in the big guys cages because they tear it up.
Paper towels seem like a good idea but seems like it would get expensive? Or perhaps its would be ust for me..a macaw sized poop would demolish a paper towel I would have to use half a roll lol

Boo's cage has paper on the grate and in the pan. The pan hardly gets soiled and I change the grate paper nightly.It's so much faster. I take a section of newspaper and lay it one way, then another section the opposite way. With my budgie who is messier, I wrap the pull out tray in that sticky seran wrap. She is cage bound and will never have contact with it. Then newspaper on her grate. It's so easy to rip off that wrap and replace it.