# Need Combination Storage/Loft Design, Ideas Welcome



## rfboyer (Jun 18, 2009)

*Combination Loft & Storage Shed Design, Did I forget anything?*

I need to build a coop for prisoner pet pigeons, and have encountered several challenges:

The borough allows only one shed, barn, or outbuilding per residence, and the maximum size it can be is a 150 sq ft footprint, and 14 feet high. 
They also require a plan of the lot showing placement, and either plans for the project or a brochure if the structure is a pre-fab. 
This is a PITA... so we need to "get it right" the first time to avoid bureaucratic red tape every time we want to make a significant change unless it's not visible outside.
(Oddly enough, there don't seem to be any ordinances regarding the number of "pets" a household may own,the saving grace).

This building needs to be a storage area for lumber and camping equipment (but not for lawn mower or fuel, on account of the birds) as well as a coop for 24-30 pigeons (adopted from a neighbor whose loft is closing). 

The birds are bonded pairs, and should have nest boxes (imo). I don't think the boxes need to be extra large, since I'm not planning on breeding and needing a bowl each for eggs and squeakers, but I don't want to crowd them either. 

I want a small storage/staging area in the "coop" section for pigeon-related stuff, but want storage to close it tightly against dust and other nuisances

I'd love a walk-in aviary, but I'm not sure how to manage the floor of it to keep it dry and "clean enough" in this climate (western PA). Good fortune: the "back" of the yard faces south, so the pigeons won't be "obvious" from the street with the aviary on that side. 

I'd appreciate descriptions and/or links to pictures, if anyone has a similar arrangement... Suggest away!

ETA: found a source; please read my last two posts in this thread!


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## sky tx (Mar 1, 2005)

My 6 X 16

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showpost.php?p=451707&postcount=10


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## Chocolate Head (May 18, 2009)

Shoot me a PM and I'll send you pics of what I have. I recently converted half of my 10x12 storage building into a 6x10 loft with a 3x5 aviary. I'm pleased with it. I also built a "garden loft" to separate sexes of my breeders. I'll also post a couple to share with the public, but I have to figure out how to post pics.


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## rfboyer (Jun 18, 2009)

I totally forgot that I had posted pics of the yard (from google maps) in an album here... 

On the aerial view, the space between my house ("A") and the house with the grey roof is where I plan to put the loft. (map orientation is "north up"). The yard is reasonably flat there, and there's a water faucet on the house wall near that corner. I want the aviary to face south, for max light, and to make it less obvious from the street that pigeons live there (I don't want to tempt random passersby to mess with them).


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## rfboyer (Jun 18, 2009)

*It's Here!*

Big job getting the yard ready for loft... the yard wasn't as flat as we thought! 
The frame will hold the gravel base for the building.









Our friend Carl looking at 9 tons of gravel that gets distributed to fill the frame. We couldn't have done this without his help. We owe him a lot of beer.
Shoveling and raking gravel is Hard Work! Especially when you only have 2 days until the building will be delivered.









The loft is on the left side of the building from this view. Entrance to loft is from within the building.









The big window is the opening to the aviary, 36 x 60 inches. It will have panels to close it in the worst of winter, or to keep the birds outside while the loft gets "maid service."


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## rfboyer (Jun 18, 2009)

Inside the building, the door to the loft. 
We still need to frame the inside of the walls & door to be flat, build nest boxes, perches, and shelves for drinkers.









We thought the door would be right in the corner, but it's set in just enough to put box perches as sketched in... yes, I draw badly. 









More of my bad drawing... aviary with awning and support bracket sketched in. 
We will put flat pavers on the ground under the aviary to facilitate mucking out... and probably plant some low bushes around the edge so it looks less like a compost heap.


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## jeff houghton (Jul 17, 2010)

Thats one serious pigeon loft.How many birds you housing?


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## rfboyer (Jun 18, 2009)

The whole building isn't the loft, only the 1/3 of it next to the aviary. 
I have 33 pigeons, almost too many for the space, but they will not be breeding. I'm not going to fly the birds, but since they are all bonded pairs, am configuring it similar to the cocks' compartment of a widowhood loft, mostly nest boxes and some smaller box perches. 

3 are YB, and I'll be getting one more for the odd one's mate, once Swan figures out if s/he is a cock or a hen. I'm hoping Swan will choose one of the other 2 YB, who are brother & sister... I already have a brother/sister pair (sibs of the YB pair) from last year who chose each other instead of the prospects I presented them... 

I'll soon be posting some questions in my other thread 
http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f38/furnishing-the-loft-46015.html
about the interior appointments... we're not sure of the best way to build the boxes, some finishing details, etc.


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## Shadybug Lofts (Mar 13, 2010)

I see you used the same vent in the back like i put in a post on here. If i did that i wouldnt be able to get to the loft door for all the stored stuff. LOL


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## rfboyer (Jun 18, 2009)

Shadybug Lofts said:


> I see you used the same vent in the back like i put in a post on here. If i did that i wouldnt be able to get to the loft door for all the stored stuff. LOL


Vent in the back?  
The "people door" is in the "back;" since entry is from within. I figured I couldn't sacrifice the wall space for another door to outside; also escape attempts will end up still within the building (potentially messy and a nuisance to catch, but I think better than a lost or injured bird outside). 
That means there has to remain a path inside the building to the loft entrance that will eat up some storage space, but most of what will be stored near that inside door will be loft supplies (feed, medicine chest, bath trays, extra drinkers). Greg had already resigned himself that "his" storage area wasn't going to be as big as he wanted, which was bigger than the borough allows without getting a variance (= extortion and jumping through hoops) so he will deal with it. 

I RPA'd* a decent piece of finished plywood to make a drop-hinged table in the staging area on Saturday, and scored a double ferret cage (about the size of 2 generous nest boxes, stacked, with a shelf below, on casters) for cheap (along the way home from market), to use for isolation if/when needed. 

We're still a bit muddled regarding plywood choices for floor & boxes... got good advice from one of the "real, old fashioned" lumber yards. They have some good close-grain plywood that I think we'll use for the floor and the horizontals of the nest boxes, and then use 1x boards for the verticals, since I'm not sure we can notch out plywood for the shelves without making a splintery mess. (I want these fitted together well so less junk gets stuck in the cracks & corners, so we're treating this like furniture rather than rough-ish framing... maybe I'm crazy, but my hands are killing me from trying to scrape the ancient crappy boards where my pij are now living to get them "clean enough" --the best I can do with those is a step better than squalor). 
So, for a consolation prize, Greg gets to buy a new router, which he already wanted but needed a good excuse. 

We also looked at lauan, and everything we've seen sheds splinters if you so much as give it a dirty look. Another of those things they don't make like they used to. 

The next question is what, if anything, to use to finish floor & boxes... I don't think we want paint, since scraping will make chips. I have most of a bottle of "Perch Oil" that was Lou's, but I don't like the smell of it (smells like kerosene, blech!) and wonder what other kind of oil would be appropriate to help "seal" the wood so droppings don't soak in and/or make it warp. I've seen the "whitewash" type stuff mentioned but don't really know what it is, where it comes from, or how to use it.

This is one of those times I really miss my dad. He was an expert woodworker and frequently used linseed oil to finish pieces, but I don't know if it's safe to use, or whether he used raw or boiled. 

*RPA = Rag-pickers Anonymous


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## Matt Bell (May 5, 2010)

boiled linseed oil


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## Shadybug Lofts (Mar 13, 2010)

The little black square thing on the side at the bottom is that a vent? I guess there one on both sides.


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## rfboyer (Jun 18, 2009)

@Matt - thanks; I was not sure which kind. Is there any brand or formula that's "safer" to use for the pigeons? (assuming there will be some pecking, not just contact with feet/feathers)

@Shadybug - yes, the black square thing is a vent... and there's one on each side. They're 9x12 on the inside. The screen is the soft wussy stuff, so they will get 1/4" hardware cloth also. And I want to make the 1/4" piece a panel I can take off to get the spent feathers and other rubbish out of the space behind it... it bugged me that I couldn't get the grid off the ones at Lou's.


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## Shadybug Lofts (Mar 13, 2010)

I will show you tonight after work i had to work day shift how i solved the problem of cleaning behind the screen on your vent I will take pics and post. no removal of the screen.


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## Shadybug Lofts (Mar 13, 2010)

Here is how i solved the screen problem










I put the screen on and left a slot on the bottom to clean out debris.


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## rfboyer (Jun 18, 2009)

Ah, I see... is that 1 x 1/2 grill? After you scrape out the "big pieces" from behind, do you vacuum with edge tool, brush it out, or ??? (the only brush I have that would fit in there is a toothbrush!)

I'm thinking about making a "header" and having the grill slide out of a track for cleaning, and similar for the extra grill I will put on the windows. Kind of like the lint filter in dryers mfg by Whirlpool ;-)

Busy Beaver has 1/2" hardware cloth that's plastic coated, but I don't remember the gauge. It might be as heavy as 16. I'm thinking about that for the aviary. Home Despot has 19 gauge 1/2" cloth and it looks less substantial than I think I'd like... 

There's a nice piece of 1/4" cloth I can RPA from Lou's loft (it's an extra) for the windows & floor vents.


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## Shadybug Lofts (Mar 13, 2010)

I really don't think there will be much get behind the screen but the slot is 2" wide so you could get a vacuum crevice end in there. I only put the screen on there to keep the the birds from building a nest in there. When i put in my fan i will have to make a removable one because of all the feathers that will suck up against it.


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