sand and pea gravel

[Moses]

i went to huntly falconry centre as some of u know from my post


and i saw the guy used pea gravel and on top of that was sand , the guy working their said its less harmful this way to their feathers and easier to clean coz droppings just lie on the top


does anyone else do this , and what kind of sand is it, is it the ones the kids use to play in the back garden the sea side kind of sand

cheers

[RabbitHawker]

sand is less harsh on the feathers, but not good if you are going to feed the bird there, as it may ingest quite a lot of sand with it's food. The best( but expensive) sand is playpit sand, this has been washed, and does not stain pale feathers like builders sand may.
Chris

[Moses]

thanks bud , u are right mate , may give it a miss

and also mate, in winter can pea gravel prevent frostbite

cheers

[BrianM]

hi mate .. ive tried both i did away with the sand as it gets everywhere plus when it dries in on your bird it goes solid,, swapped over to peagravel and i like it loads ,easy to clean disenfect etc ,,, pea gravel every time and its not expensive

[KevGem1]

hi there i use pea gravel for the same reasons that has been mentioned. easy to clean and maintain and it wont get inbetween the scales on your birds feet. hope this helps KEV. :wink:

[Moses]

thanks alot brian and kev :) thats what i will do then , just waiting to sell my house and get a new one with a nice garden and start building my mews

[Hawkmaster]

Also if tethering a good on sand it can cause infections on the feet if there bate.

[OutFlying]

Also if tethering a good on sand it can cause infections on the feet if there bate.


please translate into English :? :? :?

[IAmTheWeasel]

Yup, The sand is an abrasive if it gets under the gear of the bird and will quickly irratate the birds scales.

[Moses]

cheers will do :)

[Albie]

Hi Moses,
If it's any help to you I have had this gravel in my mews for over five years ( see attached image if I've done it right!)
I have had no problems with my set up of the floor in this mews, I started with a level bed of fine concrete about 4" thick with a square left out in the middle into which I put a 4" bed of what some might call Fancy coloured smooth gravel.
Then tiled the floor all around with cheap smooth tiles from the local DIY store to make cleaning much easier.
When washing down my Hawks Mutes everything washes into the center through the gravel and even in the hottest times of the year no smells cause it travels through the gravel and into the earth below.
The beauty of smooth gravel is that the mutes wash right off nice and clean every time!
Albie.. :wink:

[Albie]

It's me again, because I did'nt know how to put up two images at the same time.
Here is the other one.
Albie.. :wink:

[Moses]

thanks alot bud :) thats a very nice mews indeed, i doubt i can build something that good :D haha

thanks alot bud, thats so cool :), looks so clean and neat like a zoo , must have cost a bomb too make mate

mate pls if u have any more pics , do u have any pics when u were building it , maybe try to make one like this myself if i can

cheers

[Moses]

sorry and also bud below the gravel u got any drainage

cheers

[IAmTheWeasel]

AHHH!!! I don't like the wire mesh........ I have seen birds destroy plumage on that kind of barrier.....Otherwise, looks like a pristeen set up!

[Moses]

i wont be using mesh anyway mate, i will be taking adrians advice and using those plumbing pipes he wrote about in his book so they cant sit on it either so will be vertical :)

[Albie]

I've got a full length of what is called "Mopstick" Hand rail running the full length of the front of the mews for my Hawk Nimbus to perch on when he flys to the wire.
I have to go to work now but will post a view of this tonight if I get time.
Albie.
Ps. Moses below the gravel I just Have soil with good drainage

[Moses]

thanks nimbus i appreciate it mate :) cheers

[Wightwings]

looks nice is it indoors?? by the way pea gravel everytime for me too.

[Albie]

The mop stick handrail I mentioned earlier, sits on brackets keeping it one foot back from the wire so when the bird flys to it he alwasys lands on the perch, no feather damageat all.
And when he turns to fly back from it, his tail is no where near it.
My Mews might look fancy but I find it very easy to clean.

[Albie]

Here's an overall picture of the extended mews with both birds on their perches.
Albie.. :wink:

[Hawkmaster]

AHHH!!! I don't like the wire mesh........ I have seen birds destroy plumage on that kind of barrier.....Otherwise, looks like a pristeen set up!
Thin bars not wire, really?

[Wightwings]

nice shovel and fork fence line...... :wink: .......seriuosly nice setup nimbus

[Spudy]

h/m i use the same kinda fenceing for my mews at the moment but for the new mews im useing a i inch square rather than the bigger size the same as nimbus;s its thicker in dieameter but smaller gauge in hole size would that be a problem for my birds feathers mate the specs run at 1 inch square with 8mm diameter metal rod wire so not wire but thin bars mate cheers spud

[Hawkmaster]

Should be fine, I have never seen damage with the Heras fencing pictured aboved. The spacing on it is 10 inches by 1 and 3/4 inches.

[Wightwings]

spud (helpful at times asleep at others)

but with an avatar the size of Texas................ :shock: :wink:

[Spudy]

lol ww you can thank tracie(ukjays nursery) for that its well cool thou and thanks paul mate would it be better to give it a spray with black matt non toxic or a brighter color lol so the bird can see it not to fly into it as my mews its in is a light gray in color but the one im in the middle of building thanks to the local freindly rspca is just bare metal so im going to treat it first mate oh btw my old mews 7x8x10 oscers now in a temp as i had to pull old one down which is 5.6x10x 9 and new one is 9x10x10 i mesured it all yesterday thanks paul

[Bubo]

for kadabra, i have sand and i have tiled underneath for easier cleaning. 9/10 he is fed from the fist but he does have a food tray where he picks his grub up from and he takes it off to his hidey hole or goes inside his little barn to eat it. So i have noticed no problems with sand for him. BUT from what i have read everyone uses peagravel for their hawks so maybe i should use that for my buzzie. for those that use peagravel do you just leave the earth underneath or do you put a cement base down first ?

[Moses]

nimbus im a convert mate, its the best mews i seen so far, i luv it :) very nice indeed how many birds u got i mean the winged ones :D haha

cheers