# Check Out My New Loft



## Benjeon (Mar 25, 2021)

Hi, new here and I have a renewed interest in my pigeons. I've had pigeons for about 20 years and before that I had them from 12 years old until I went into the army and had to get rid of them. As a kid there was a man who lived down the street and across the alley who was seriously into racing pigeons, he gave me 4 birds and I mated a champion splash cock to a white hen and my first 8 squabs were all solid white, from there I did some other crossing and ended up with some nice white racing homers. I couldn't afford to race but one day the club took my birds along on a training flight and not only did my birds beat the man down the alley's but just about everyone's in the club and after that selling my white racing birds allowed me to buy my pigeons supplies. Anyway, after I bought some land I searched around and found a few white racers and put them in a small pen. Later I took a chicken cage made from cutting down a cow shelter and made a makeshift pigeon loft out of that but it was not too pretty, in fact it was kind of embarrassing being I am a professional woodworker. I ended up having more birds that should be in the pen so I pretty much opened it up and let them free range for years. They had a good home and did what pigeons like to do and I liked watching them fly around but the numbers went up and down as predators would get them until the birds got smart about being hunted and started multiplying up to about 60 BUT suddenly a wave of predators and especially a murderous owl got into my loft at night and I was down to 8 birds. That hurt, I locked them and decided to FINALLY build a new loft! I'm going to my first pigeon club meeting tomorrow also.

I've thought a lot about how I would like to build my loft and as a Master craftsman woodworker I have a saying that I tell my customers who ask if I can build something, "If it is made out wood and I can envision it and the price is right I can build it." Now, I don't claim to be a carpenter as I kind of frown upon carpenters that think they are cabinet makers but I do know the ropes and even built my own home but I'm slow compared to a carpenter and my carpenter friends make fun of me because of the lengths I will take to get things just right.

So, this is the beginning and I thought it might be fun to share as I build it and would love any suggestions. I am likely to make changes as thing develop. I've started with an 8' x 16' concrete pad. Framed up the back wall with siding and built the front out of 4x4 because that look much better than 2x4s. I notched in a 2x8 for strength, to keep things straight and square and to mount my landing board to. I decided to go 6'8'' high so I can easily catch the birds if they try to fly over my head. 

This was last weekend:


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