Bedding question

Is bedding, like
what Ziggy/Darwin (thinking about names..) as bad as some people say it is?

As bad as people say it is? Probably not. But after using litter in my cage bottoms for a while, I'm now using precut liners, and I don't think I'd go back.

I think babies almost always have litter or bedding, which I assumed was for a warmth/more nestlike enviornment, but I would defer to the breeders here on that.

The problems with using bedding are mostly to do with cleanliness, plus some types can cause problems if they are ingested. Ingestion is less of a worry when you have a grate and a fair distance to the tray below the grate. And an uweaned baby isn't likely to try to eat it, I'd guess. But cleanliness is harder to manage. The litter is a pain to scoop. It's harder to see the messes (which makes it look nicer, I have to admit) and it is tempting to avoid changing it out completely regularly. I presume breeders change it out daily as a matter of course.

The precut liners are more expensive (I use Cage Catchers and I get them from Fosters & Smith, which had by far the best price when I last looked) but they are really easy to work with. I put a stack in the tray bottom and take the top one off the stack once or twice a day. I can see exactly how messy it is and also how messy the grate is, and I can easily see what the poop looks like, which is also a plus from the standpoint of health monitoring.

Does that help?

ScooterNScotty wrote:

As bad as people say it is? Probably not. But after using litter in my cage bottoms for a while, I'm now using precut liners, and I don't think I'd go back.

I have no input on shavings, as I've never used them for a bird. I used to always use newspaper, but Yoshi's cage is big enough that it would be annoying having to use so many layers. I looked into precut liners, but they were SO expensive, so I ended up getting a honkin' roll of butcher paper. It's been great, and really easy to use. I want to end up getting a dispenser for it, because it's really heavy and cumbersome. For the price, though, I think it's a great alternative!!

There's been lots of discussions on what to use as nesting material, wood shaving are excepted as the best .They need to be light ,thin shavings,usually pine that will blow around when you blow lightly on them.Normally i pull my chicks at 3 wks and get them off the shavings 1) so they don't ingest them 2) so they can have something firm to stand on and 3) so i can keep them clean,monitor droppings and keep bacteria down. But that's just me.As far as cage liner we use newprint rolls from the printer, you can buy the left over rolls by the pound and are fairly cheap.

I used to use pine shavings. I really don't have hundreds of babies per season, maybe 2-3 dozen babies per year max. Given the "low" number of babies I raise, I'd have one maybe every other year that would ingest shavings. I've never had one die, but the shavings do need to get manipulated out of the crop. Once I couldn't get a piece out and did need to take the baby to my vet as I didn't have a proper tool to get down there to pull it out.

For me, ingesting shavings was happening too often given the limited number of babies raised. I no longer use shavings. For the last 4 years (apprx.) I use cross cut newspaper out of my cross cut shredder. Babies will play with the shreds, but have yet to ingest any.

There's also a newspaper bedding product out there called Yesterday's News. I tried that before in the past, but I didn't like it. It smelled really bad after only an hour or so of being pooped on. In my mind nasty smell equals bacterial growth. Don't know why Yesterday's News smells bad, but plain newspaper shreds don't.

But as Capt says, shavings are what's accepted in the nest box. Chicks in the box don't seem to eat shavings in the box. Maybe they do? But in the box mom and dad chew it up to dust pretty much so I'd think if the babies are eating it, it would go through them easily.

LyzGrace wrote:

I looked into precut liners, but they were SO expensive, so I ended up getting a honkin' roll of butcher paper. It's been great, and really easy to use. I want to end up getting a dispenser for it, because it's really heavy and cumbersome. For the price, though, I think it's a great alternative!!

FWIW, I paid $27 for 150 22"x31" liners recently. That link has the butcher paper at 24" wide by 900' for $34. I could get 348 pieces roughly the size of the liner out of the big roll. So it's the difference between 10 cents per liner and 18 cents per liner (smaller sizes wind up costing more per liner with the Cage Catchers.). For me, it is worth almost double the cost for much less than half the hassle. But I'm the person who likes the poop-off wipes. I'll pay a little more if it saves me enough time or storage space.

Okay. Its just really confusing because I keep hearing mixed things about it. Some say its good, some say its bad! I just dont know! Id like to think stephie knows what shes doing(:
But I am still worried! Arg!

I go to the European store, make a grocery, put them in my car, go back and take some Russian newspaper, which is free(paid for adds there), grab as much as I can handle(which is pretty much as I'm strong woman) and run to my car happy, that I have my bedding material for free
I used the same for my bunny(Kubus) bedding before. Somehow those woods or paper pieces doesn't work for me.

Hannah, if you are worrying about TheBirdWhichMightBeKnownAsZiggy, I'm sure your breeder knows what she's doing! Worry about how many toys to buy, 'K?

hannahbird wrote:

Okay. Its just really confusing because I keep hearing mixed things about it. Some say its good, some say its bad! I just dont know! Id like to think stephie knows what shes doing(:
But I am still worried! Arg!

If Stephie's been doing this awhile, she'd probably experience problems with the shavings or not. If she's never had a problem, then she has no reason not to use them. Everyone's husbandry practices are different. That doesn't mean one method is "right" and another method is "wrong", so long as the method the person's using works for them.

Now, if she said she has babies dying on shavings but she doesn't change her husbandry practices. . .

patdbunny wrote:

hannahbird wrote:

Okay. Its just really confusing because I keep hearing mixed things about it. Some say its good, some say its bad! I just dont know! Id like to think stephie knows what shes doing(:
But I am still worried! Arg!

If Stephie's been doing this awhile, she'd probably experience problems with the shavings or not. If she's never had a problem, then she has no reason not to use them. Everyone's husbandry practices are different. That doesn't mean one method is "right" and another method is "wrong", so long as the method the person's using works for them.

Now, if she said she has babies dying on shavings but she doesn't change her husbandry practices. . .

Shes been doing it for years, and she really cares about her birds, not just trying to make money.
I think its fine, im just going to ignore those people who make rude comments about it(its no one on this forum btw!)
Ug some people I just want to flick in the nose! Okay anyway, thanks for your guys help! I dont feel like I should worry anymore.

hannahbird wrote:

patdbunny wrote:

hannahbird wrote:

Okay. Its just really confusing because I keep hearing mixed things about it. Some say its good, some say its bad! I just dont know! Id like to think stephie knows what shes doing(:
But I am still worried! Arg!

If Stephie's been doing this awhile, she'd probably experience problems with the shavings or not. If she's never had a problem, then she has no reason not to use them. Everyone's husbandry practices are different. That doesn't mean one method is "right" and another method is "wrong", so long as the method the person's using works for them.

Now, if she said she has babies dying on shavings but she doesn't change her husbandry practices. . .

Shes been doing it for years, and she really cares about her birds, not just trying to make money.
I think its fine, im just going to ignore those people who make rude comments about it(its no one on this forum btw!)
Ug some people I just want to flick in the nose! Okay anyway, thanks for your guys help! I dont feel like I should worry anymore.

Yeah, well you know. Let's play fill in the blank: "Opinions are like ___________, and everyone's got one."

That's why we're here in Paradise. We're here trying to understand that multiple opinions can all be right . . . and they can all be wrong. Use sense and interpret what's best for your situation.

BTW you can buy a enzyme capsulefrom the GNC store that breaks down wood shaving in the chicks crop, i have to get the name from Josie but it has something to do with Cellulite, when mixed with water or pedilite and given for 3 to 4 days it works great. It would also work for chicks that ingest paper products.

henpecked wrote:

BTW you can buy a enzyme capsulefrom the GNC store that breaks down wood shaving in the chicks crop, i have to get the name from Josie but it has something to do with Cellulite, when mixed with water or pedilite and given for 3 to 4 days it works great. It would also work for chicks that ingest paper products.

Really?! I had no idea! Yes, please let me know what it is! Thanks!

LyzGrace wrote:

ScooterNScotty wrote:

As bad as people say it is? Probably not. But after using litter in my cage bottoms for a while, I'm now using precut liners, and I don't think I'd go back.

I have no input on shavings, as I've never used them for a bird. I used to always use newspaper, but Yoshi's cage is big enough that it would be annoying having to use so many layers. I looked into precut liners, but they were SO expensive, so I ended up getting a honkin' roll of butcher paper. It's been great, and really easy to use. I want to end up getting a dispenser for it, because it's really heavy and cumbersome. For the price, though, I think it's a great alternative!!

for a pretty cheap dispenser you can get closet rod brackets and a large dowel screw a couple of screws into the dowel to keep it from shifting.
This is what I use to hold the newsprint remnants.

Margaret wrote:

I go to the European store, make a grocery, put them in my car, go back and take some Russian newspaper, which is free(paid for adds there), grab as much as I can handle(which is pretty much as I'm strong woman) and run to my car happy, that I have my bedding material for free
I used the same for my bunny(Kubus) bedding before. Somehow those woods or paper pieces doesn't work for me.

I JUST LOVE free poop paper the ultimate recycle
These days the ink in newspaper is Soy based and is better for the animals than the chemical based ink.

That's what I've heard, that fresh newspaper ink has some kind of disinfected qualities. I don't know if it's true or not, but I remember old remedies from my grandmother to put newspaper liner under clothes. One more time I don't know if it's true or just old fashion thinking.
Plus, why pay, if I can have it free legally. The prize I'm paying is probably make those security guys watching me in the camera store laughing, as they see how much in the one time I can take

We've always used pine shavings for all our birds, never had an issue until we got our GCCs. Tika reaches thru the grate and eats them so now they have newspaper.
For people who use liners, why spend money on something when you can just use newspaper which comes free?

These days everything is about "green" we grow a garden and when I use the pine in the nest boxes then change it out we use it in the garden the poop is great fertilizer and the pine discourages a lot of pests as well as discouraging weeds between the rows, we also use the "used" newsprint to help in the compost, bird poop is "hot" and speeds up the composting process.