# New loft/aviary for my rescue pigeons...



## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

Hello everyone,

I have decided to build a loft/aviary for my 5 pigeons. I research online for a few days looking for ideas that best fit my conditions and benefit the birds and I came up with a loft aviary in one open space rather than the box loft with windows that many people have.

The reason for my open space is my pigeons are rescue birds and they will not be racing or flying outside the aviary do to a high number or hawks in my area.
I will like them to have as much flying area as possible (7’ high) and also open exposure to the morning sun and at the same time been able to enjoy a close and secure quarters of loft space or 4’x3’x6’ where the boxes and perches will be located all it inside the 8’x4’x7’ aviary.

The loft will be approximately 8’ feet long by 4’ feet wide by 7’ feet high.
It will consist of an area of 4’x4’ with ½ 19-gauge hardware cloths on all sides and another area cover with walls made of plywood painted with exterior water seal paint.

The floor is going to be a wood base with the same idea of half solid floors and the other half that is part of the open aviary with ½ inch hardware cloth.
The floor is going to be 24” inches wide by 72” inches high enough space to be able to enter and exit comfortable.

The roof is going to be made flat for the moment and then I will add a gable room in the next couple of week.
The front of the loft is going to be facing east and the back is going to be facing the back wall of the house.
The birds will be able to enjoy the South Florida sun in the morning till about 1 pm when the sun moves to the South west and the house will shade the loft from it.

The average temperature here are 80’s and 90’s, during winter we get a couple of killing cold fronts that drop the temperatures to the 50’s but that’s only a couple of times a year and only for a couple of days, most of the time in winter is high 70’s.

I will be posting a couple of picture today and tomorrow I will post some more as the project moves along.
I will be looking for advice on the best types of perches for my style of loft and for the quantity of birds.

Thanks in advance and all comments are welcome.

Joe

Pictures of the entrance frame the back frame, the base floor frame and the materials...
Base floor 2"x4" and front wall.. back wall and everything else 2"x2"


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

*2nd day.*

Things are moving along well.
I painted all of the plywood and 2”x4 with some return paint from HD of great quality water sealing paint for only $7.00 a gallon, retail $35.00…. Not my favorite color but trying to keep the cost down.
I also added the cloth to the main frame and the door opening.
Painted the floor pad and added the cloth...
Starting to look nice.

Joe


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## tjc1 (Aug 22, 2012)

Coming along I wish I was as ambitious as you as I would like to build a couple of small lofts for my yb


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

That sounds like its going to be great! When I was reading your description it sounded just like the temporary cage I made for my Fantails when I moved. Mine is 4X8X8 high, but sitting on a concrete slab attached to a garden shed. I covered the wire with clear plastic in the winter and had a roll up blind on the sunny side that I could open on warm sunny winter days.


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

*A little more....*

Another day of work..
Floor is done together with front wall and back wall. 
Tomorrow i will finish the side walls as well as the roof and door..
I got a better idea now of what the finish work is going to look like...
Feeling good about it...

Joe


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## Woodnative (Jul 4, 2010)

Joe-
That looks FANTASTIC!!! Glad are the one to have found these birds and glad you are enjoying them!! That looks like a very well-built, secure, airy, spacious home for them. Great job!!! Keep posting pics!


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

Nice job!


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## talpog (Mar 16, 2009)

Just curious...how are you gonna get rid of all the piled droppings?


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

It's only 5 birds and they have been with me for a few months. I already have an idea of how much and how often they poop.
If you look at the floor you will noticed that out of the 8' base floor 4' are hardware cloth, that will allow for some of the poop to drop to the ground.
I been thinking of putting a couple of bags of lava rock on the bottom of the mesh floor for better draining!
I think a couple of times a week i can scrape the floors and flush the rest of the poops with water.
I am in south Florida (Miami) 80* degrees and up most of the years the water will dry quick. 
I am not too concern with poops right now, if it becomes an issue then i can lift the loft a few inches and place pc of plywood under it that i can remove for easy cleaning...
Thanks for the observation..

Joe




talpog said:


> Just curious...how are you gonna get rid of all the piled droppings?


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

Thanks

Joe



Msfreebird said:


> Nice job!


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

Thank you so much..

Joe




Woodnative said:


> Joe-
> That looks FANTASTIC!!! Glad are the one to have found these birds and glad you are enjoying them!! That looks like a very well-built, secure, airy, spacious home for them. Great job!!! Keep posting pics!


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

*Roof and door*

Today I finished the open half of the roof, the bottom part of the front panel and painted the door and put hardware cloth on the top part. 
Tomorrow I will finish the other 4' of the cover roof, the bottom part of the door and start to build the boxes.
I hope to have some of the birds in their new home by Friday.

Thanks to everyone for the comments..

Joe


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Looks great Joe! But I would agree about the droppings. I would have gone with a solid wood floor and scrape it. The droppings collecting under there will just attract things, like rodents and roaches and flies. Scraping keeps things cleaner, unless you have a drawer underneath to pull out and be able to clean. All else looks good though.


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

Hay Jay, nice to see you here...

You and Dima are my two favorite people on this board.

I will let it run for about a month and see how things evolve.
I have a gang of rescue chihuahuas that run the yard and keep everyone and everything in the neighborhood under control.
Flies and roaches if they are attracted to the droppings yes that can be a problem.

Lets how it goes and i can alway add another 48" to the floor of solid wood if needed...

Thanks for everything,

Joe


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

They're very cute, but I bet they're asleep at night when rodents are out. LOL.


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

*I started building the Nest boxes today.*

After chatting with my pigeon mentor have decided to build 4 boxes and not six to give the pair a little more space.
I only have 5 rescues right now and I will be bringing in another hen to complete the pairs.

The boxes are only there to follow the birds natural process of laying their eggs and seating on them for 18 days but I will not allow the eggs to hatch I will be replacing them with fake eggs to keep the population under reasonable number in case another bird needs a home.

The dimension for each box is going to be 12”x20”x15”

The bottom part is going to be made of ½ cloths to allow for the dropping to land on a plastic tray.
I will post more pick tomorrow...

Joe


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

That's great! I'm sure your birds are going to love it. And you will be happy with it too.
Am looking forward to watching it come to be.


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

*hope to finish nest boxes tomorrow..*

Another couple of hours or work on the nest boxes.
i got the paint all done and the floors.
I also finish one of the doors..
Lets hope i finish tomorrow.
This project has taken more time than expected..

Joe


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

*Continue*


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

*Continue*


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## jafacanyan (Jul 17, 2013)

Dogs look great. Loft looks good!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Yes, it's looking good.


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

*Doors*

I finished all doors today.
Tomorrow I am bringing the boxes out to the loft and introducing some of the pigeons to their new home.

Joe


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

NIce. Will those doors be removable for easy cleaning?


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

It was a Great day today. 

I finished the 4 nest boxes and manage to get it installed inside the loft with very little effort.
Establishing a set of measurements from the beginning has helped me with the assembling phase of the project, everything has fit spot on.
Now that the loft 99% done I relocated my young hen and young cock to the loft with their mother.
They loved it from the moment they set foot on it; they spread their wings and seem amaze at the blue sky and the soft ocean breeze.
I gave them fresh water in a new 2 inch water container and food and when I came back an hour later they were all wet and one of them was seating inside the water container taking a sweet bath, LOL LOL LOL…

I will hope that the young cock will take possession of one of the boxes soon so that I can bring in the old cock inside the loft in the next couple of days without having any fights...

The only items left to finish in the loft are some additional perches and a small house type food container that I don’t have to attend to everyday.
Do you guys have any recommendations for water containers...? I am thinking about the bottle types like hamsters use that drip the water slowly as by gravity.

Thanks to all,

Joe

4 Nest boxes with an open space on the bottom for future rescues.




Opening with a small perch!



Doors open for easy cleaning!


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

Loft before installing Nest boxes..



Loft after installing nest boxes..



Inside loft..



Secured door from inside and outside....


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Nice. You do have a roof of some sort to keep the rain water from the house roof out, I hope?
What is the floor, as it will get wet in bad weather.


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

WOW! Nice job!


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## jafacanyan (Jul 17, 2013)

Well it turd out very nice, just wanted to wish you good luck buddy, hope it works out for you!


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

Floor is made of solid wood with plywood on top and is painted for water resistance.

The roof is also made of wood and it covers 50% of the loft the other part is made of Cloth.
The rain from the roof does not enter the loft area at all....
I will be adding a gable roof as my next weekend project. That will provide even better protection from rain...
House is also getting remodel and gutters are part of the plan...

I already place the 5 pigeons inside the loft.. As anticipated i had issues with the males fighting.. I locked them inside the nest boxes and let the two youngsters and their mother run the loft for a couple of days till they get used to their new perches...

Thanks Jay for all your help...

Joe


Jay3 said:


> Nice. You do have a roof of some sort to keep the rain water from the house roof out, I hope?
> What is the floor, as it will get wet in bad weather.


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

Thank you..
I placed a few perches today and i will be adding a new feeding trade soon.

Joe



Msfreebird said:


> WOW! Nice job!


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## Joe Black (Nov 21, 2012)

Thank you so much..
It really is better than i expected and the birds are loving it..
God knows the house looked like a zoo with 4 chiwis, 5 pigeons, 1 quail and a 80 new rescue dog we just got a couple of days ago...

I will be adding a few things here and there to make better...
I hope my birds stay healthy to enjoy their new house...

Thanks

Joe







jafacanyan said:


> Well it turd out very nice, just wanted to wish you good luck buddy, hope it works out for you!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

You did a great job and I'm sure the birds will just love it. There will always be things you want to add. That's part of the fun.


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