# Loft idea



## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Here are some pictures of a pigeon loft I designed on a program called SketchUp.

In the picture it shows the loft that will be in side of an avairy that is 4 feet wide, 4 feet long, 6 feet tall not including the roof. The little loft is 2 feet long, and 4 feet wide. Inside it hase eight nesting boxes that are 1x1x1.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Here is the whole picture.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Looks like it would be hard to clean. JMO
More outside fly area would be good.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

There wouldn't be much to clean except for in side the nesting boxes area.
But it does look like it could use some more room.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

On the front of the nesting box area there are two doors for me to get to the boxes. On those doors there are trap doors one going in and one going out.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

I see...so the box inside is the 1x1.
Do you have a space limitation? Could you make the screened in area longer so they could actually fly back and forth?


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Also, it's very cute but you will want an over-hang from the roof to keep rain out...and snow.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

I put an over hang on the roof and slanted down the roof of the nesting area.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Great! Now can you give them flight room?
What will you use as a floor?


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

As a floor for the avairy I might just put it on the bark in my back yard or put some stuff like chicken wire. but not chicken wire. I am limited on space, should I lengthen it a foot or two feet?


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

You need to remember that it is critical to keep out predators. One of the ways they can get in is by tunneling underneath and coming up on the inside.
A good solution would be to put down 6 inches of pea gravel and concrete blocks on top of that. Would be easy to hose down too. Rats would not be able to tunnel in as the gravel would fall in on them if they tried...same for mice. Your outside screen should be 1/4 inch hardware cloth to keep predator and their hands from coming through. Mice may still be able to get through.
You need to make it as big as your space allows and your birds will appreciate that you did.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Here it is. now it is 5x5. Is there anything else that needs to be adjusted


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Here is a closer picture


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Much better.
Just a thought...if you were to make the back wall solid wood, it would provide more protection in the winter months and you could attach the boxes to it without legs. Easier to clean with out the legs.
Are you in Maine?


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Why not put the loft outside of the wire? Cut a hole in the wire big enough to fit the front of the loft through. That give the birds way more room to fly around. Also, how many birds are you going to be putting in this?


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Lovebirds said:


> Why not put the loft outside of the wire? Cut a hole in the wire big enough to fit the front of the loft through. That give the birds way more room to fly around. Also, how many birds are you going to be putting in this?


I was hoping you would weigh in!


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

No im not in Maine. I just did that on the program and it looks like the box would be two heavy.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

I will put that in the program. just one second.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

If I took the box out would 4x4 be enough room instead of 5x5


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

I sent Renee a PM and sked her to come back and answer this question. I know she asked how many birds do you intend to put in this aviary?
I think as much room as you can give them is best.


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Here it is revised. I intend to start out with maybe four then go up to eight.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

My first loft was 4x4 with the back of it against my house. It must have been about 8 feet tall. At that time, 1985, I didn't understand the importance of length over height. Make it only as tall as you need to walk into it. You need to make sure you can easily catch your birds and if they are out of reach you will need to haul something into the coop to stand on. It can becomes a hassel when it doen't need to.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

That looks a lot better to me. Believe it or not, any birds that you keep prisoner do not have to have "flying" room. And by that I mean, room to really FLY.........know what I mean? They will exercise their wings and need room to do that, but you could never give them enough room to actually fly......hope that makes sense. Like Charis said, make the cage part tall enough for YOU to walk in. Try to not have anything over your head or at least your arms length. It is NO FUN trying to catch a bird that can fly over your head. Just ask me. I do it every day. I also think that if you can go with the 5 X 5 or at least bigger than 4 X 4. I believe the wire that you buy come in 4 ft widths and 3 ft widths, so to save material, you would need to go 4 X 4 or maybe 4 X 8. Keep you dimensions even numbers. 
Actually, I'm probably NOT the one to give you advice on HOW to build anything.  WHAT to build, maybe, but HOW to build..........maybe not. LOL


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Cute setup! Do you intend to put fronts on the nest boxes?


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## philodice (Sep 30, 2007)

The back of the box will open up for cleaning, since it is on the outside and easy to access, right?


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## maine123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Can you put a trap door on the wiring? or would the birds get confused and run iton the wiring?


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

maine123 said:


> Can you put a trap door on the wiring? or would the birds get confused and run iton the wiring?


Yes, you could put a trap in the wiring, but you would need a landing board of some kind.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

That is a cute design but if I could suggest one thing. We rehab birds and did not anticipate having to keep any so our aviary was built on the ground. Because of disabilities, etc., we have had to keep several pigeons. While having the ground as the floor is not bad, birds are more prone to get worms that come up from the ground. We have battled worm problems for a while now and sure wish we had put in a wood floor. We plan to correct this problem this spring/summer.

We have had some relief by covering the ground with the material you use in gardens to keep down weeds, then layer wood chips on top of that which we change about every 4 weeks.


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## ND Cooper (Mar 4, 2008)

I think that the roof is going to be too heavy, plus it's so tall, could it handle a good wind? ND Cooper


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

ND Cooper said:


> I think that the roof is going to be too heavy, plus it's so tall, could it handle a good wind? ND Cooper


Good point. So, why the TALL roof? Why not just a flat roof?


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## DEEJAY7950 (Dec 13, 2006)

Please put in that trap to the fly pen with a landing board of course, there may be a time for them to fly free and a time just for the aviary


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## ezemaxima (Jan 12, 2008)

Lovebirds said:


> Yes, you could put a trap in the wiring, but you would need a landing board of some kind.


Or you can place the trap doorwhere the roof of the nestbox meets the avairy to eliminate the need for a landing board but make sure you can close the trap door to keep unwanted intruders.


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## Hambone (Feb 19, 2008)

Cute little setup . I also have a small loft and aviary . Its 5x3x3 and houses 4 birds . Most of it is hardware cloth with an inclosed area on one end . I freefly the birds daily and they are outside most of the day , so it basically is used for nesting security at night . Otherwise I would be pushing it , as its borderline too small . 

One thing not mentioned yet I dont believe , is that you need to separate the oldbirds ( parents ) and the youngsters after they fledge out and are a few months old . Once they are juvenile birds the parents want them OUT and will pester them constantly in a small space , keeping them away from the food bowl etc . They dont attack viciously or anything but torment them mercilessly . They all fly together and forage on the ground no problems , but in the small loft they get pretty upset .

I suggest you add a partition in your loft to keep peace and separate the YB and OB's . I'm dealing with the same issue here and am going to re-engineer and modify my small loft . Right now the OB stay in the loft at night and the two younsters stay outside in a dog carrier .... but I'm uncomfortable with it as the carrier isnt secure against predators like I would like it to be . 

Maybe somebody else can jump in here and make suggestions for us . 

Looks neat though ! 

Bob


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

I can't make any suggestions to your set up, but you know that the adults and babies need to be separated so that's good. 
It is true that at some point, the parents don't see their kids and "their kids"......just another bird that's intruding in their territory. IF the space is big enough, it probably won't be a problem, but in a confined, small area, it can be and usually is a problem.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

some ideas.? from forshame cottage arks. I like some of their products.


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## Hambone (Feb 19, 2008)

Hi Spirit Wings ,

Now thats a cute little setup too . Would be easy enough to copy and build from scratch with local Home Depot materials . Speaking of materials , have you priced hardware cloth lately ? Whew ! Its crazy as its doubled in price at least over the last year and a half or so . I guess all building materials are going nuts with price now that I think about it . I was fortunate I had all the materials in my scrap lumber pile to build my loft except for wire cloth . 

I like the idea of an airy open setup because it blows the feather dust away .... healthier for man and bird . 

Yeh , I'm going to have to come up with something a little different than I have to keep peace in the bird family .

Thanks , Bob


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

hi BoB, wow i did'nt know it has gone up so much. I still have a huge roll left over from a bantam coop we built 2 years ago. more than enough for the new loft. thank goodness. yes, I like that aviary too. I would like to bulid one for some fantails or doves. I don't think it would be too hard. and of course it does not have to be as fancy. thanks michelle


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## ND Cooper (Mar 4, 2008)

I'm getting buy with chicken wire, the last place we lived, a couple of tweet birds would get in every once and a while, but not here, not in 2 years.
Ham- my loft has 3 sections because of the same problem that you are haveing. It's 4x4x8 Long. It's worked so far for me.


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## Guest (Apr 1, 2008)

that is a very nice coop there , just remember if you do have it to the ground like that you must make sure you have it secured so that nothing can dig underneath, because if they can many critters will try and you dont wanna have to go thru that kind of heartbreak ..heard wayyy to many storys like that happen to others thru the years . best of luck building your loft


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