# Traps



## never right (Feb 12, 2010)

I have heard a lot of people talk about trapping the birds, teaching the birds to trap and was wondering what everyone recommends as far as trap doors, does everyone prefer the wire bobs that they lift up and come in and close behind them or are there better options? If you have other options I wouldn't mind seeing pictures or at least descriptions of how they operate. Thanks


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

Go to loft designs and look at the drop trap. My birds seem to like them better than bobs.
Dave


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## Char-B Loft (Dec 28, 2008)

I do not like drop traps....I use a box trap with bobs for the entry and exit...I have found this works better than a drop trap but you must use an electronic clock with this trap...


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## never right (Feb 12, 2010)

Thanks a lot I see that this isn't a one is definitely better than the other scenario so I guess I will have to try them both out and make up my own mind. Although a few more opinions would be nice.


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

I've used both and it seems like they hesatite a little befor they go through the bobs, and to lose a race by 2 or 3 seconds sucks.
Dave


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## Action (Oct 18, 2009)

*Drop Trap*

I have no experance but I liked the idea of a drop trap. I use a TIPES clock, I use a 4 place antenna that I recessed to be flush with the landing board and my drop trap is just a plywood door (adjustable opening) We will see how it works. I am a week or so from putting YBS in the new loft.
Jack


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

I'm perfectly fine with my bob traps.


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## never right (Feb 12, 2010)

MaryOfExeter said:


> I'm perfectly fine with my bob traps.


If you don't mind, could I ask what type of bobs you use and what are the dementions. Do you have a local supplier or do you order them online?


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

The first bob traps we got, I'm not sure if my dad made them, or if he bought them fully assembled. But either way, the bobs are thicker and heavier than my current ones on the young bird loft, so the old birds hesitate a bit at first until they get used to the heavy ones.
I haven't seen anything locally (we get ours from Foy's), but I could see being able to make bobs yourself. My dad said when he was little, they used to make them out of the bars on refridgerator racks. Just weld or stick them to washers, nuts, or some kind of rings that can loosely fit on the main bar, and viola! 
As far as dimensions go, we have ours spaced 2 inches apart. I believe the bobs themselves are 8 or 9 inches long. Most pigeon suppliers I think have more than one size of bob. My lighter ones are longer than the heavier ones. The trap itself can be as wide as you'd like. In the young bird loft, you can see we have ours separated into three stalls. The separators help keep fighting down (sometimes a dominant bird would stand in front of the door and block everyone from getting in). Plus once they get between the boards, it's not as easy for them to turn around and change their mind about going in, especially if there's another hungry bird behind them.










Here's the old bird loft kind. Notice how much thicker the bobs are. Also I think they may not be spaced as wide. We plan on changing them out once we get some more thin bobs.


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## never right (Feb 12, 2010)

Awesome pictures and description, thank you so much.  so if you train a yb racer to enter your racing bird loft and then at some point decide to make it a breeder and put it in the other loft then how do you teach it to go in the new trap and stay in that loft? I know totally unrelated but I couldn't help but wonder while I was looking at your pictures.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Well when moving my young birds to the old bird loft at the end of the year, wasn't that easy  The first few times I let them out, they kept wanting to go back to the other loft, but quickly figured out "Hey, the door is closed, and there's food in the other one!" haha. I had to use a settling cage to trap train to the new loft. After a month or so of keeping them in, I started letting them out again. It may also help to have a different feeding call for each loft. I don't...I use the same whistle for both young and old birds...so they were used to going straight to the other loft when they heard it. Of course now they have it identified to the current one, but I still think it would have been smoother with a different call.


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## never right (Feb 12, 2010)

Thanks a lot you are a great help. Have you ever used anything other than bobs or do you think it slows them down to go through them? Do you time race your birds and if so where do you have the strip for your timer?


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

Are you sure pigeons live in there? No feathers, no poo, nothin thats way to clean to be a loft. It seems like all i do is scrape poo and after that I'm embarassed to show mine.
Dave


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## never right (Feb 12, 2010)

Has anyone ever had a pigeon get out of the bob style trap? I have a friend who traps wild ones and he says they always get their wings under the bobs and lift them up and walk out. Becky do you have a door that closes over your bobs when you aren't flying them to keep unwanted guests out and birds in?


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## Action (Oct 18, 2009)

*Yes*

Yes I have seen my friends go out thru them. Seems they get there head under them and flip them up and out they go. Happens pretty fast and leaves you shaking your head(-Did I just see what I think I saw?-)
Jack


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

never right said:


> Thanks a lot you are a great help. Have you ever used anything other than bobs or do you think it slows them down to go through them? Do you time race your birds and if so where do you have the strip for your timer?


I've never used anything but bob traps. If I were to use any different traps, it would be drop traps for electronic or stall traps for manual clocking. I don't have any interest in sputnik traps though.

I do race, but I use a manual clock. The young bird loft has a space cut out in those dividers so a pad can slide in there, if I ever chose to go ETS.

By the time racing season comes around, my birds are so used to the bobs that they don't slow down for them. Sure, having an open hole would probably save me half a second, but usually if my birds want to go in, they go in. The stalling that comes on race day normally results from paranoia of hawks, but once they know it's clear and hit the board, they go straight in.


Crazy Pete, the first picture was before I put birds in, haha  We just built that loft last spring.


And lastly, as far as predator protection, yep. If you look closely in the second picture, you'll see the flaps are up above the traps and hooked to the wall. I just unlatch it, and it swings down over the door. It's a nice heavy solid piece of wood, so nothing's going to get in through it.
With the young bird loft, I don't have a cover to put over the bobs. However, there are little rings on both sides of each trap, so that I can slide a metal bar (about the same thing as the bobs) across, to keep the bobs in place. That's mostly to keep the birds from getting in. Predators won't get in anyways, because my landing board folds up into a built-in settling cage. When it's closed, the loft is safe, unless it can get through hardware cloth.

Here's a couple pictures to show what I mean by that. The first one was before the landing board/settling cage front was put on. But it hinges right on top of the aviary.








And you can see the 'landing board' that flips up, above in this picture.


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## g0ldenb0y55 (Dec 23, 2008)

You sure do keep a clean loft Becky!


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

I don't think mine was that clean befor I put birds in it. lol
Dave


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## g0ldenb0y55 (Dec 23, 2008)

I remember following Becky's thread on the build of this loft and thinking that white won't be white after a few weeks of poopies....I was wrong! It's still white after all those months.


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