# Interior Ideas



## rcwms90 (Apr 28, 2011)

So i'm building my first loft. And right now i have a bunch of these boards left over from it and by time i'm done ill have a ton more. There 1x4's and the left overs are 2 ft each. I'm gonna have at least 8 of them by the time i'm done. Id like to cut them down again and use as perches but how? I like the V perches but i dont know if i can get the corner cut or not lol im still getting used to my circular saw. And how would i mount them? lol help me out a little because i think im over complicating things. My lofts 4ft tall 4ft high and 3ft wide id like to have maybe 8 birds max but not soon.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

They prefer a flat perch and it's easier on their feet.


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## rcwms90 (Apr 28, 2011)

Great! ill go flat style then that's easy enough. how long should each perch be? they are 4 inches wide already.


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## Ladygrey (Dec 10, 2016)

I’m a bit confused. You are building a hutch that would only house a pair of pigeons (2 birds) and you are going to get 8 birds? You can save the wood for the extra loft your going to need imo. 

Perches do not have to be anything fancy. A 2x4 put up as a shelf, with a 2 inch space in the back of the “shelf” so when you scrap the droppings off they fall to the floor and do not get stuck between the wall and the perch. I put dividers upwards, every 14 inches to keep down fights over space area of the whole perch. Or you can make a T perch with them.


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## rcwms90 (Apr 28, 2011)

Well it should hold 8 birds but I’m not gonna buy 8 from the jump. But if I get more I’d like to have atleast double of the amount I’d need. Thanks for the tips! I think I’m gonna redo my shed and make it a loft one day. That’s a lot of money and planning tho so I’ll stay small for now.


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## Ladygrey (Dec 10, 2016)

rcwms90 said:


> Well it should hold 8 birds but I’m not gonna buy 8 from the jump. But if I get more I’d like to have atleast double of the amount I’d need. Thanks for the tips! I think I’m gonna redo my shed and make it a loft one day. That’s a lot of money and planning tho so I’ll stay small for now.


What type or breed of pigeons are you getting? That can make a difference on space size and what they need in living arrangements. 

Also what are you doing with them? Example, show pigeons, homing pigeons, or rollers? That can make a difference in what you need in a loft. 

If you get things understood from the beginning, this can save you a lot of trouble after you actually get some birds, esp with keeping their needs first.


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## rcwms90 (Apr 28, 2011)

Homers mostly. Would enjoy rollers but cant find them locally


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

rcwms90 said:


> So i'm building my first loft. And right now i have a bunch of these boards left over from it and by time i'm done ill have a ton more. There 1x4's and the left overs are 2 ft each. I'm gonna have at least 8 of them by the time i'm done. Id like to cut them down again and use as perches but how? I like the V perches but i dont know if i can get the corner cut or not lol im still getting used to my circular saw. And how would i mount them? lol help me out a little because i think im over complicating things. My lofts 4ft tall 4ft high and 3ft wide id like to have maybe 8 birds max but not soon.



I'm confused. You said it was 4 ft tall and 4 ft high. That is saying the same thing, no? What is the floor measurement?


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## rcwms90 (Apr 28, 2011)

Jay3 said:


> I'm confused. You said it was 4 ft tall and 4 ft high. That is saying the same thing, no? What is the floor measurement?


Yea don't know how I messed that up. Sorry for the confusion hope this clears it!
(Excuse my not having a roof or aviary yet. Roof comes tomorrow.) Got this inspiration from @amoonswirl but i don't think shes active anymore to see it.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Thanks for clearing that up. amoonswirl kept rollers, and some do keep them in small kit boxes. Although I don't think that fair to the birds, for homers you need even more space. They are larger birds, and more aggressive. At the minimum, they need 2 square feet of floor space each, and once you put boxes and things in there, that will take up more room. Just by the 3X4 foot floor space, that would be enough for 6 birds at the maximum. But more room is better. There will be times when they can't be flown, and they need room to move around and live in there. When too crowded, they are stressed and will fight. When birds are stressed it causes illness. Crowded birds aren't happy or healthy. And they breed. If they do that, it will be very over crowded in a short time.
They also need windows for light and air. They can't be kept in the dark.


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## rcwms90 (Apr 28, 2011)

Jay3 said:


> Thanks for clearing that up. amoonswirl kept rollers, and some do keep them in small kit boxes. Although I don't think that fair to the birds, for homers you need even more space. They are larger birds, and more aggressive. At the minimum, they need 2 square feet of floor space each, and once you put boxes and things in there, that will take up more room. Just by the 3X4 foot floor space, that would be enough for 6 birds at the maximum. But more room is better. There will be times when they can't be flown, and they need room to move around and live in there. When too crowded, they are stressed and will fight. When birds are stressed it causes illness. Crowded birds aren't happy or healthy. And they breed. If they do that, it will be very over crowded in a short time.
> They also need windows for light and air. They can't be kept in the dark.


Ok thanks for letting me know! And they wont be in the dark at all. That left side door comes all the way up and i'm building an open space aviary for them to go in whenever they need. Waiting till next weeks payday but it will be similar to the one on my chicken coop here :








Just a little smaller then that. but surely not overcrowding just wanna get a few birds and see how its gonna work out.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Still nice to get some light and air circulation inside the coop. Air ventilation is very important for their health. And if it were very stormy outside, and they were kept inside, they would be in the dark.


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## Ladygrey (Dec 10, 2016)

Aviaries are not included in living space. That is in addition to what they need. 
Homing pigeons if let out need a landing and window to fly back in the loft. You only mention homing pigeons , but still not sure what you want to do with them. Examples: 
*Fly around the property . 
*Racing
*White pigeon release
*Training dogs (best not to elaborate too much)
*show birds
*breeding... this choice is important as pigeons will mate and try to nest even if the needed space is not provided, example nesting on the floor, which is not a good idea, because the cock bird will think the whole floor is his and go after any pigeon that lands on it, then In the scuffles the hatchlings get hurt or tossed around from the disruption. 

Imo if I Could go back in time when I built my loft, I would make the non-breeding section (flyers and young birds)have box perches. Reason being , the pigeons pair up and nest anyway, the box perch gives them a safe place to play house and build nests and lay eggs, In turn I use fake eggs , so no live hatching is going on as these type perches are too small for that. But serves the birds natural inclinations. I did follow the good rule, twice as many perches as there are birds, cuts down on fighting over their perch/s they claim. Pigeons will fight over perches. 

If letting them hatch their real eggs , that is a different matter. A space with only pairs , with nest boxes big enough for two nests, two grown pigeons and two growing squabs, so you see where space is important esp if breeding. Only pairs were in my section when I was breeding, so fighting over space and mates is minimized and these birds do not go out to fly , in case a hawk got them and could not return to their babies. The breeders are locked in the loft for their safety . Fighting over the nest boxes happen in the beginning but they soon settle it out , the boldest cock usually getting his choice , and the others picking theirs. Then all settles down in building of the nests and hens laying eggs and pairs incubating them. No loft is perfect but, if you learn all the needs of the birds, then build it with purpose, you will save a lot of trouble in the future. Here are my breeding nest boxes , with a divider in the middle you can’t see, so one separate on each side.

Edit:I’m having upload difficulty, but the nesting boxes are shown under loft design under member daisydoo, post “ What size and type of nest box I am total newbie? “


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## rcwms90 (Apr 28, 2011)

Ladygrey said:


> Aviaries are not included in living space. That is in addition to what they need.
> Homing pigeons if let out need a landing and window to fly back in the loft. You only mention homing pigeons , but still not sure what you want to do with them. Examples:
> *Fly around the property .
> *Racing
> ...


Sorry for replying late!
ill add some proper venting and btw im just gonna do some flying around the loft kinda thing. Hopefully ill find some rollers but im not sure.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

You may want some homers rather than rollers. Without breeding and training, and with just a handful of birds, you aren't going to have wonderful rollers to watch. They will more than likely just fly around. But they are also more easily caught by a hawk than a homer. And they get lost easily, unlike homers who are much better at finding their way home. So homers are a bit safer.


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## rcwms90 (Apr 28, 2011)

Jay3 said:


> You may want some homers rather than rollers. Without breeding and training, and with just a handful of birds, you aren't going to have wonderful rollers to watch. They will more than likely just fly around. But they are also more easily caught by a hawk than a homer. And they get lost easily, unlike homers who are much better at finding their way home. So homers are a bit safer.


Ok thanks for the tip. I'm looking into adding more space and extending the coop a little bit somehow.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Homers will be fairly easy to find too. Let us know how you do.


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## YaSin11 (Jul 23, 2009)

Nice to the see the progress on your loft rcwms90 

Looking forward to the updates.

Wish you Good Luck with your pigeons when you get them.


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## Mchris (Jan 14, 2021)

rcwms90 said:


> So i'm building my first loft. And right now i have a bunch of these boards left over from it and by time i'm done ill have a ton more. There 1x4's and the left overs are 2 ft each. I'm gonna have at least 8 of them by the time i'm done. Id like to cut them down again and use as perches but how? I like the V perches but i dont know if i can get the corner cut or not lol im still getting used to my circular saw. And how would i mount them? lol help me out a little because i think im over complicating things. My lofts 4ft tall 4ft high and 3ft wide id like to have maybe 8 birds max but not soon.



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