# Fly Pen ?



## Veronica (Mar 4, 2002)

Please can some one tell me what a fly pen is? How big and such like. I have six white doves at the moment and a new baby being hatched. Poor Nab-dib has been badly damaged by the hawk. I don't know how well he will be able to fly, may be not at all. I want to protect them all from the hawks. When I was given the first pair, I locked them in at dusk when I fed them before I went to work and let them out again at lunch time when I woke up ( We work evenings ) but the doves got smart and waited untill I drove to work before they went in their hutch. So I took to locking them in at midnight when I got back. So then they would not go in their hutch at all, and would spent all night on the chimney breast in all weathers snow, wind, sleet the lot.I didnt want them lying eggs up there so I now don't lock any of the hutches at all. Any Ideas? I've lost three doves to the hawk and poor Nabbers would break your heart. 


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Veronica


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## DaveD (Jul 9, 2001)

Hi there!!

A flight pen will allow your birds to enjoy thier outdoor freedom, while protecting them from hawks and other animals. 

Basically speaking, a flight pen is a cage. You can make one out of any material that's handy, and in any shape or size you'd like. I'd recommend using chicken wire for doves, as opposed to a screen material. You'll want it to be strong enough to keep predators out.

Basically, the design and size is built to suit your needs. To me, the bigger the better, lol. The more room they have to fly and get thier execise, the better off and more happy they'll be. 

My loft has a rather large flight pen, because the last owner of this house had some sort of exotic ducks, and when i moved in, the framework was there, the wire simply needed replaced. Of course, I have almost 120 birds here at times, so the space comes in handy. There is a picture of our flight pen at our website, listed below. Mine had a 5 year old tree growing in one cornor, and rather than tearing it out, i left it and built around it. . . . .they love it, it provides shade in the hot summertime, and at least some protection from the wind, which gets to be a problem since most of what's behind my house is open fields. It can be as fancy or as simple as you like. Mine has a gravel/sand floor, keeps the weeds down and gives them grit at the same time. It also comes in handy at bath time, I don't like to get the inside of the loft wet. . but out there it's no biggie. Best of luck, Dave

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David and Kellie Dittmaier
Haven's Loft
www.geocities.com/havensloft


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## Veronica (Mar 4, 2002)

> Originally posted by DaveD:
> *Hi there!!
> 
> A flight pen will allow your birds to enjoy thier outdoor freedom, while protecting them from hawks and other animals.
> ...


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## Veronica (Mar 4, 2002)

Thanks DaveD for your help. Do your birds fly free as well as living in the flight-pen?


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Veronica


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## WhiteWingsCa (Mar 1, 2002)

just would like to mention:

If you have raccoons, weasels, or even just cats roaming through your neighbourhood, make sure your fly-pen is build from sturdy material (wire-cloth is good), with small holes....1/4- 1/2 inch is best. I read recently too that possums can be a problem as well. Oh, and rats...they are nasty..will eat eggs, babies in the nest, get into your food tray and leave dropping that spread disease to your birds, and, if the tray is empty, will even try to get larger babies or youngsters roosting near the floor.

In most cases "chicken wire" won't cut it...I've had cats claw their way right through it, and to a ****? Ha! just a small challenge....

If you can, build it so that the "door" from loft to fly pen can be closed and hooked shut from the inside. ***** can open hooks, remember. And once inside, they will devastate a loft.


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## DaveD (Jul 9, 2001)

The biggest problem i've had with the chicken wire is it tends to pop loose in the wind, as the pen shifts. Guess I should've used those heaver staples to begin with, lol. 

Thanks to you veronica. . .i got motivated today talking about flight pens, I spent a couple hours taking my winter tarps down and they're all enjoying it now. 

Rats are a major problem (see the topic "who done it" here.) On that topic. . . my rat who got a few birds and eggs was killed by the cat this morning as I cleaned. . . I was sure the cat was to blame. . and he's the hero of the day, lol. 

Oppossum's are a major concern!! They tend to burrow under the wire to get into the pen. . .keeping that in mind, there is a wire floor under all the gravel and sand here. 

One setup i've seen pics of but didn't use is a thick wire fencing, with chicken wire on the inside. The chicken wire will prevent escapes, (esp. in a small breed. . .like doves) while the thicker wire will keep out raccoons and such. I only used the thick wire in the flooring of the pen due to the cost, however. 

As for flying free. . mine used to here. I had a nice kit of rollers, but they refused to settle in here, and the last time i let them out, 23 took off and didn't return. After that, they're going to have to be happy with the flight pen, I sold the majority of them off and just kept enough of them to use as foster parents for some of my fancy breeds. Good luck, Dave



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David and Kellie Dittmaier
Haven's Loft
www.geocities.com/havensloft


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## Veronica (Mar 4, 2002)

But isn't it beautiful to see a flight of white doves - flying round so high in the sky they are little dots, and then droping slowly lower and lower as they fly round and round in a circle, the males showing off gliding in with their wings held up in a V shape, they can't do that in a flight pen. And if I lock them in for any lenth of time I know they will never use the pen again. What to do? what to do? 

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Veronica


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## WhiteWingsCa (Mar 1, 2002)

Veronica:

I assume that by "doves", you are referring to white homing pigeons? I know a lot of people refer to their white homers as doves though. I have both homers (coloured and white) and ringneck doves, and my doves can't fly more than a few feet at a time. 

Hawks are a major problem with pigeons. Especially at this time of year, when there are few songbirds around for a natural food source. There are a few things you can do, however, to reduce the risk of loss to the hawks.

I did a lengthly search for other web sites with articles, and only came up with one so far that offers any help:
http://www.theriver.com/Public/raptor/lstmsg00q4/974673162.arc.html 

The last response is the most helpful.

The part about varying the time you let your birds out is most important.

And, if you feed wild birds, you are inviting the hawks....they quickly learn there is a ready source of food, and come more often to your property. Then, when the birds migrate, all that is left is your pigeons!

Pigeons can be (and often are) left locked in a loft (with a reasonable sized fly pen or aviary) for months on end....Many racing people keep theirs in from October till April without any harm to the birds. Once the songbirds have come back from their winter vacations in the south, it is safer to let your birds out.

One other theory we've heard....

Some racing guys suggest having a few white pigeons, since the hawks seemed to always pick out the white ones first. Well, we've heard it isn't the white birds that are necessarily the "target"....it is the "different" bird in the flock. Someone did a test somewhere, and found that yes, whites were picked out of a flock of coloured birds first. BUT, when a flock of whites was released, with just a few coloured birds, it was the coloured birds that got nailed by the hawks first.

Nasty as it sounds...it is a fact of life...some hawks eat birds. So, some people are actually keeping some "extra" birds in their flocks, to allow the hawks to have something to eat, but also to keep the birds they really want to keep safe. That old "cirle of life" thing.


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## Veronica (Mar 4, 2002)

Thanks everyone for all your advice and WhiteWingsCa for the web site address on raptors. Information is everything. Forwarned is forarmed and all that.

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Veronica


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## wildbird (Mar 29, 2002)

UGGGGGGGGGGG, Yeah, please make the pen out of Hardware cloth (tough wire) with small holes....NOT chicken wire. The RACOONS will chew right through the chicken wire, plus don't stop the end of the wire at the ground level, run it a foot or so into the pen laid out on the ground and "spike" the wire down and cover with dirt, Racoons will dig under the wire if possible. ALso, Possums will eat your birds too. ~ All our rehab center's flight cages are made like this as we have found out just how VICIOUS racoons can be~


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## Veronica (Mar 4, 2002)

Thank you wildbird for your reply but the hawks won. I lost all my best birds and have no heart left to keep any more I gave the only remaning pair away along with sad damaged "Nabbers" and his mate, all very depresing. I live in Wales along with every species of hawk all homing in on my white homers anyway I give up

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Veronica


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