Housekeeping of C&C cage

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clair26

clair26

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I have built my piggies a huge c&c cage, and for numerous reasons I am changing from woodshavings to fleece. My girls seem so happy with this new set up, but despite buying brown fleece, the sheer volume of poops is vast!

I tried sweeping up the poops with dustpan and brush, which was hard going and unsuccessful.

I tried to hoover up the poops but all that does is pull up the fleece wherever it touches and sends them flying! I have a hoover with adjustable power but despite putting the setting low, I am still pulling up the fleece with it.

So what do you do in between fleece washing clean outs?

Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere, I did a search but found nothing directly. Thanks for any advice.
 
I use a cat pooper scooper haha, I press down onto the fleece and scoop the poop up. Quite easy really. I tend to do it twice a day when the kids have them out for cuddles.
 
I use a dustpan and brush and this works well for me and it gets rid of any hair thats on the fleece. Maybe you could try some bull dog clips on your fleece and clip it to the bars of the c&c grids to stop it from moving about? You can buy them from wilkinson's for about 99p for a pack of about 20.

My grids sit inside the correx so my fleece is held down with that and it dosent move when i sweep out.

:)
 
Sorry if you are squeamish about this: I just pick up the poops with my hands! I used to wear a protective surgical glove to start off with but now I don't bother. Once they have dried a little they are quite hard and do not leave sticky traces on my fingers. I could not have imagined doing this when I first got them but a friend (who has GP) said I would. She also predicted that eventually I would not even bother washing my hands before eating a biscuit afterwards but I am not quite there yet.

In the kitchen area I just roll them up in the newspaper (that was on the floor) when I change it as they can be a little wet and sticky there. I put the roll and any poops from the cage on the compost heap with any left over hay.
 
This thread is really handy for me cos I'm hoping to change to fleece in the shed. :)
 
caviaporcellus said:
Sorry if you are squeamish about this: I just pick up the poops with my hands! I used to wear a protective surgical glove to start off with but now I don't bother. Once they have dried a little they are quite hard and do not leave sticky traces on my fingers. I could not have imagined doing this when I first got them but a friend (who has GP) said I would. She also predicted that eventually I would not even bother washing my hands before eating a biscuit afterwards but I am not quite there yet.
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Lol :)) This reminds me of when my pigs were babies and they always pooped on me or the floor and I just picked up the poo. My brother kept saying, "ew, it's poo!" but I said, it's just dry and doesn't even smell too bad. I wouldn't eat a biscuit after though!
 
I pick up each corner of the vet bed, give it a little shake until all the poos are in the centre, then use a dustpan and brush to scoop them up. I have found though that when the vet bed is well used it dries into clumps not at all fluffy, does anyone have any solutions too this problem too.
 
Some great ideas there, thank you all.
I see where I went wrong during construction now, I used grids to make the base and therefore it is connected to the rest of the grids with the correx and the fleece siting inside.
As I don't fancy taking the whole thing apart again to put the cage on top of the fleece (wish I had thought of that before!), I will go for the bulldog clip suggestion to hold the fleece in place; another great idea I never thought of!

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions, it will make my job a bit easier!
 
caviaporcellus said:
Sorry if you are squeamish about this: I just pick up the poops with my hands!
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I do two, I find the brush just flicks them all over the place! We were building the cage the other night in the new piggy room and I said to my bf "How is there piggy poop in here before they've even moved in?!" to which his reply was "Well you do carry it around everywhere with you" which I didn't believe. Until I spotted one next to a pile of clothes in the bathroom after a shower. I had to laugh. I bet I take poops with me to work as well :red
 
I use a hoover to suck up the poops each day; the key I found is having the nozzle flat on the fleece. Approach the poops on the same level from the side, not the top! You can still catch the fleece when you get near the edges, so I tend to lift the edges slightly before hoovering so the poops are more in the middle of the fleece and as such, I rarely suck the fleece up any more. :)
 
Laura-CCC4 said:
I use a hoover to suck up the poops each day; the key I found is having the nozzle flat on the fleece. Approach the poops on the same level from the side, not the top! You can still catch the fleece when you get near the edges, so I tend to lift the edges slightly before hoovering so the poops are more in the middle of the fleece and as such, I rarely suck the fleece up any more. :)
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Oooh good tip, I'll give that a go! Ta very much
 
KimberleysWheekers said:
I do two, I find the brush just flicks them all over the place! We were building the cage the other night in the new piggy room and I said to my bf "How is there piggy poop in here before they've even moved in?!" to which his reply was "Well you do carry it around everywhere with you" which I didn't believe. Until I spotted one next to a pile of clothes in the bathroom after a shower. I had to laugh. I bet I take poops with me to work as well :red
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Your post made me laugh. It's amazing how those little sausages (as my daughter calls them) get around isn't it! I have found some in the most bizarre places! :(|)
 
I use a cat litter scoop too. I turn it over and use the flat edge like a rake to gather all the poops in a heap then scoop them up. I also pick up stray ones with my hands. It takes only a few minutes to do my 3 x 4 C & C and hayloft (twice a day). Once you get a routine that works for you it doesn't take up much time. :)
 
KimberleysWheekers said:
I do two, I find the brush just flicks them all over the place! We were building the cage the other night in the new piggy room and I said to my bf "How is there piggy poop in here before they've even moved in?!" to which his reply was "Well you do carry it around everywhere with you" which I didn't believe. Until I spotted one next to a pile of clothes in the bathroom after a shower. I had to laugh. I bet I take poops with me to work as well :red
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I have to admit to tipping out a bag in work ( not a handbag) and a small pile of shavings and a couple of poos came out, I was mortified but luckily moved it before anyone else saw!
 
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