# Nest box location?



## rapid fire (Mar 5, 2009)

I am finishing up my new loft and have a question about the nesting boxes. I don't have an aviary, but I have 14" of hardware cloth that wraps around 3 sides of loft and sits 1 1/2' below the roof. I would prefer that the pigeons not roost in the nesting boxes, so can I position them lower than the hardware cloth to prevent this? I will be putting 2X4's 1' below the roof as roosts.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

rapid fire said:


> I am finishing up my new loft and have a question about the nesting boxes. I don't have an aviary, but I have 14" of hardware cloth that wraps around 3 sides of loft and sits 1 1/2' below the roof. I would prefer that the pigeons not roost in the nesting boxes, so can I position them lower than the hardware cloth to prevent this? I will be putting 2X4's 1' below the roof as roosts.


Im sorry I just dont' get it, can you post a pic? pigeons will roost in the nesting boxes if they are going to use them.. if you don't want them on top of the boxes you can put up some hardware cloth to keep them off the tops..


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## sky tx (Mar 1, 2005)

rapid fire---you REALLY NEED to visit another flyer to see how they do things.
I don't think you will ever do "good" with Pigeons.


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## rapid fire (Mar 5, 2009)

sky tx, how about not insulting my abilities. You know nothing about me other than the few posts that I've made. I have had happy pigeons for nearly 2 years. I am just trying to expand and improve. Keep your comments to yourself. I have looked at hundreds of lofts and have even visited the lofts of "Big T" and others on the board. Just because one does it a certain way, that doesn't mean that it can't be improved on. As for the question about moving eggs, most people on here don't want to see eggs go to waste and I don't either, so I am willing to work with the birds so that they can have their young in peace.

Spirit Wings, I know most animals that roost will roost as high as possible in a structure. However, if they can roost where they can see out of "windows," then that is where they will roost instead. I like to keep my nest boxes as clean as possible and I was just pondering on the idea of getting the birds to use the boxes as nesting boxes and not roosts, in order to keep them from soiling them as badly. Take chickens for example, if you place a roosting bar below the level or the windows or nesting boxes on a coop, they will roost in their egg boxes, which equals dirty boxes. I will do as good as I can at drawing a diagram below. The top 1 1/2' of the loft siding will be paneling, the next 1' down will be hardware cloth that the birds can look out of by sitting on a 2x4, the bottom 4' will be more paneling. My birds fly 2 out of every 3 days, so I'm not too worried about having an aviary. When it rains, I can let them out and they love to come out and get a natural bath. As for the nest boxes themselves, I have designed them and started building them already. They have a hardware cloth floor and a piece of slick paneling that is placed at a 45* angle below the cloth so that I can scrape them daily and they also can't poop on the birds below them. Thanks for your help so far. Mark
------------------- Roof of loft
Paneling
-------------------
Hardware Cloth
-------------------
Paneling

------------------- Bottom of loft


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## sky tx (Mar 1, 2005)

Looks like the truth hurt me more than him. I do not have problems with anyone. I'm too old for that kind of stuff. O-Well I'm Only 800-900 miles from him- wish I was closer to stop by and help him. I most likely can not tell him "what" to do But sure can tell him "what"not to do.


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## sky tx (Mar 1, 2005)

*nest boxes*

In my 31 years with Pigeons I can't count the number of times I changed nest boxes.I did learn to put them up with Screws so it was easier to move them "AGAIN"


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## rapid fire (Mar 5, 2009)

I already nailed up one row of boxes and thought to myself, "I should have used screws." Do the birds adapt pretty well to these changes? My new loft is only about 10 feet from the old one. I plan on completely resettling the birds and redoing the trap training. Should I get rid of the old loft so they aren't trying to go back in it?


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## sky tx (Mar 1, 2005)

They will pick a nest box in the new loft. They should learn quick that that the food and mate & nest is in the new loft. Just don't let them in the old loft. And YES it will help to remove the old loft.


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## rapid fire (Mar 5, 2009)

If I leave the one bird that is sitting on the eggs in the old loft and move the rest, will that one bird raise the new hatches till they're weaned? At which point, the move would be completed.


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## Wingsonfire (Dec 22, 2009)

rapid fire said:


> If I leave the one bird that is sitting on the eggs in the old loft and move the rest, will that one bird raise the new hatches till they're weaned? At which point, the move would be completed.


Should be fine, just make sure that you leave both mom and dad in the old loft as both sit on the eggs and care for the babies


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## rapid fire (Mar 5, 2009)

Yeah, I have to figure out who dad is.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Check in the late morning or early afternoon to see who is on the eggs. The male should be on them at that time.

If the birds aren't nesting in the boxes, they should prefer to be out on a perch, not in a box. So I wouldn't think that they would be roosting in the boxes anyway, as long as there are enough perches. Will they have other places to perch where they won't be in front of the hardware cloth opening? If it's cold or windy, they would be in a draft.


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## rapid fire (Mar 5, 2009)

Thanks Jay. I need to band them, b/c I have several that look a lot alike, which makes it hard to pick out the daddy. Yes, they will have perches out of the weather. I am going to use V-perches on the walls below the hardware cloth, but not close to the floor. I will have 26 V-perches, 12' of perch in front of the hardware cloth and 16' worth or roosting bar near the roof. My current loft has the bars near the roof and they love to roost there at night. I will set the perch bar just out from the V-perches and I will step in a little farther for the roosting bar. I will make my own v perches by cutting one 2x6 on a 45* angle and tacking it to another 2x6. This will leave the birds a flat area aprox. 1 3/4" wide and 5 1/2" long to perch on and still protect the birds below. When winter gets here, I will also cover a large amount of the hardware cloth with clear plastic, to still let in light heat, but block out cold wind. I have an expanded metal floor which I will also close off in winter. Georgia summers are hot and humid, so the extra ventilation will be nice. I'm not sure if I can figure out how to post pics or not, but if I can, I will take some and post them this week. What is the lowest y'all would place your nesting boxes? Right now, I was planning my lowest set at 1' high, but would move it all way to the floor if it would be acceptable.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

rapid fire said:


> I already nailed up one row of boxes and thought to myself, "I should have used screws." Do the birds adapt pretty well to these changes? My new loft is only about 10 feet from the old one. I plan on completely resettling the birds and redoing the trap training. Should I get rid of the old loft so they aren't trying to go back in it?


you might think about getting nest box fronts, that way you can only open up a few boxes for the pairs you have, and the other boxes will stay clean because no one can go in them.. but they are there if you ever need to use one.


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## rapid fire (Mar 5, 2009)

I like the way you think. My loft will only hold 25-30 birds, so how many nests would you recomend? I was going to build 12. Also, how far off the ground should the be?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

rapid fire said:


> I like the way you think. My loft will only hold 25-30 birds, so how many nests would you recomend? I was going to build 12. Also, how far off the ground should the be?


one nest box for each pair, so if your going to have 12 nest boxes, I would go with four pairs in there,(8 birds), open up 4 nest boxes and keep the others closed. just make sure there is room for two nest bowls, you want them to beable to feed babies in there and the hen to be on another nest at the same time, so they need the room, or they will go looking for or fightning for another box. so in one season you could have three rounds of babies, which would potentionally be 24 youngs... The other boxes can be used if you one day have more breeder pairs. or prisoners if you buy a breeding pair. oh and the nest fronts come in handy if you have an injured bird you can close him up in one with food and water to let him heal, and also the empty ones you can keep stuff in them if they are not being used for the birds.


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## sky tx (Mar 1, 2005)

Do some paper work---your loft will hold 30 pigeons-----12 pair/nest boxes=24 more pigeons-in about 2 months-now you have 54?????????? You need to buy some "Dummy" eggs


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## rapid fire (Mar 5, 2009)

I have lots of folks around that want young birds, so the more the merrier. Right now I only have 7 old birds, 2 almost weaned and 2 eggs. I only have one hen laying right now, so it will be a while before I fill the new loft. I had another hen laying, but a hawk liked her more than I did and she didn't make it back in a few weeks ago. It does sound like I would be fine to just put in 8 boxes right now and add more later if need be. It's amazing how much more you have to think about when you go from 10 birds to 30. Will I be ok to go over the 30 birds as long as I give the yb's away just as they are weaned? Be careful telling me that I am going to end up with 50+ birds, b/c my wife is gonna kill me if I keep building larger lofts


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

rapid fire said:


> I have lots of folks around that want young birds, so the more the merrier. Right now I only have 7 old birds, 2 almost weaned and 2 eggs. I only have one hen laying right now, so it will be a while before I fill the new loft. I had another hen laying, but a hawk liked her more than I did and she didn't make it back in a few weeks ago. It does sound like I would be fine to just put in 8 boxes right now and add more later if need be. It's amazing how much more you have to think about when you go from 10 birds to 30. Will I be ok to go over the 30 birds as long as I give the yb's away just as they are weaned? Be careful telling me that I am going to end up with 50+ birds, b/c my wife is gonna kill me if I keep building larger lofts


well you need to have a plan, and know why and who your going to breed for what ever reason.. so I would not just breed nilly willy, you need to start with a good foundation and go from there. do not think it that easy to find homes for the young ones, sometimes people change their minds and then you have a bunch of youngs you don't want...over crowding can cause you to have unthrifty birds, the less stress the better for your team...most I do think over stock, but try not too, I think you will have happier healthier birds if you try to stick to the 2 ft per bird rule.... now Im going to LOL.... because everyone knows how 8 pigeons turn into 40.... yes use your fake eggs and seperate the pairs, that is if that is how you choose to keep your pigeons.


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