Poopie Woes

[jacksmom]

My boyfriend and I are getting sick to the teeth of straightening newspaper! We have remodeled a bedroom into a beautiful home for our two blue and gold macaws...and they absolutely love it. They are flighted...and you would be amazed how much exercise a macaw can get in a 12 x 14 space!

Jack, my four year old male, loves to fly. He does it for the fun of it...which ticks off ten year old Paris to no end. She isn't much into flying...yet...but has started to flap her wings and yell loudly when Jack does it, lol.

Anyway, the problem has become...and it is driving me and my boyfriend nuts...just how the heck do we keep the newspaper on the floor? Anything we put on there to weigh it down (strips of wood, so on) is sure to get gross fast and require frequent washing. We are trying to make it simpler, lol, not harder...

Our first idea was instead of a painted floor, we should lay down linoleum sheet. This would cost about 100 or more. Then, we reasoned, we could buy a wet/dry handheld vacuum and just vaccum up the poop, then mop. Seems brilliant on the surface...

It works not at all on the paint, and I am afraid it may not work well on the linoleum either. Don't want to spend upwards of 100 if it won't work...

Another idea (one that actually just occurred to me) is to buy some astroturf...lay it in strips where they poop, and simply roll it up and hose it off outside. When it gets worn out, just buy more. And hey, save a tree.

Any other ideas? We have the ability to modify this room however we want, so don't be shy with drastic remodeling...just keep costs not sky high, lol, there is a limit!

Oh, and I should mention...neither bird has ever shown the slightest interest in chewing on what their poop lands on. Smart birds.

 

[henpecked]

I've tried a couple of different things. I put down the linoleum ,including part way up the walls, and it worked ok.Easy to mop or wet vac. The other thing was to get pond liner or plastic/rubber roofing material down in large sheets. This works really well. It's easy to roll up and carry outside to hose off and scrub.You can also "weld" a strip that turns up around the edges that help to contain the mess with flighted birds. Another option is to buy the plastic mats used under roll around office chairs. My best luck is to find someone in the pond/landscape or roofing business and buy large scrapes of the rubber and cut to size needed.

 

[sodakat]

I learned the same way as you that newspapers on the floor get rearranged when birds fly overhead.

My bird room floor is hardwood so I knew I wanted to cover it with something that would protect the wood and be easy to clean. I settled on a product called Durotherm. I actually did not consider linoleum but I guess that would have worked also.

Durotherm is a plastic product that comes in 4x8 sheets and runs about 20 bucks a sheet and I think you could cover your floor with 5 sheets. It cuts with a saw or even a strong scissors. I bought it at Menards but imagine most big box home improvement stores carry it.

The sheets are white, lightweight and completely smooth so easy to sweep and mop. The product was intended for walls, like in industrial kitchens I think, and the center is sort of honeycomb. Cages roll on it as easily as on the hardwood floor.

Duro-Therm™ from Parkland Plastics - 800-835-4110 - Mold-resistant, waterproof panels made from recycled plastic in the USA

 

[Pajarita]

I tried linoleum and the birds chewed it so I settled on ceramic tiles and a thick layer of alfalfa or wood shavings (I use an entire bale every time) covering it to prevent most of the poop from sticking to the floor but it also moves when they fly so you still have to scrape a bit, sponge it clean and 'refill' the hole with more bedding on a daily basis as well as sweep the whole thing off and wash the floor which I do twice a week. The good thing about this is that you can also simply pick up the leftover fruit, veggie or green and the chunks of bedding that got stuck together with the poop and replace it so you can make it look clean for a couple of days without killing yourself scrubbing it daily.

 

[christinereed]

We do plastic runners under Emmy's cage and playstand for easy clean-up, but we don't have it over a wholeroom.

 

[Nocturnal]

Is the entire room devoted to the birds? Why not put down linoleum and then cover with white pine shavings! You could "spot clean" this daily and totally change it monthly and it would be wonderfully clean and smell amazing too.

If not the whole room, you could build box frames out of plywood (Formica would be best though) to place under the perches.


At work we have a whole room devoted to the babies and have shavings on the floor with a threshold dividing the walk in/ sitting area. We have had this setup for a year and its fantastic!

 

[BoomBoom]

I think the pine shavings idea is great, has the most efficient and low maintenance clean-up. No scrubbing etc. But I can see the shavings flying around when the birds flap their wings, leaving the floor exposed.

 

[MikeyTN]

What is your floor made out of??? You can just buy a bunch of shower curtains to lay them down. You can buy those scotch tape hook holder things to hold the shower curtains so they won't move. Those things won't damage your floors as they come off easily. You can buy those shower curtains pretty cheap like at your dollar general store. Then just remove them once per day and wash them all in the laundry while you have a different set to lay down while waiting on the other ones to dry. On the bottom of the shower curtains have magnets inside so you can attach corner to corner.

 

[Merlee]

Many people get rolls of some type of paper and cut to fit area needed. I would stick with linoleum myself because tile grout is porus and a pain to clean. What kind of paint is on the walls? If you painted with a glossy paint, everything should come off with a light scrubbing. I have a semi gloss in my bird area and works great for me.

 

[kendrafitz]

I use the clear thick floor protectors they sell for use under desks. So far so good. I have them under her cage, play gym and java tree. Since they are clear and heavy they don't really look like anything (except the floor beneath) and they don't move around.

 

[sodakat]

I don't think loose substrate is a good idea. Too great a chance for mold, just as it could happen in a cage tray and why it is discouraged there.

You need to remove poop daily. Sweeping and mopping daily is mandatory, imo, regardless.

 

[Zazoothehahns]

Not sure if you are in the states or not, but if so, look at home depot or lowes in the flooring section. Usually they have giant rolls of the flexible semi transparent rubber/plastic flooring used to protect an area. You can buy one continuous piece for the entire room, sold by the foot. It is similar to the clear mats you can purchase to place under a child's high chair to make for an easy cleanup.

 

[jacksmom]

I really like the rubber mat idea...and am going back and forth on the shavings idea. I agree, if it got wet and stayed wet there could be a mold problem...but bird poop itself will grow mold if they keep pooping in the same spot and it doesn't get cleaned up for a few days. (Found out when I went out of town, done worry, she won't be in charge of my birds again)

A lot of good ideas here for the flooring also...though if we go with wood boxes or rubber mats we can get away with less expensive flooring...I guess I am dreaming to think I can do much else besides linoleum if I want to be able to scrub it directly off with no effect to the floor, without using some type of "liner".

As to the pond liner...funny you should say that, because I work at The Reef Farm and have access to all of that. But...pond liners are expensive, would probably cost as much as linoleum unless you run across someone selling a used one or something.

Thanks for all the ideas, guys...keep em coming!!! I gotta work now, thanks for all the help and don't be shy to keep throwing things out there!

 

[Nocturnal]

BoomBoom, actually, I have never seen the substrate move around enough to expose the floor, and you check it daily! We usually put down two to three inches.

If you clean up wet spots and frequently pooed on areas daily there will not be mold. The shavings naturally have antibacterial properties as they are still fairly fresh wood. Unless they are sitting there with a lot of moisture and filth on them they won't get moldy--- if they're getting wet and staying that way, however, mold is much more likely.