# Nest Box fronts...



## moonshadow (Mar 26, 2007)

So, I'm actually in the final stages of applying for the loft permit. I'm planning to use the basic design of Lovebird's Widowhood loft, but I'm wondering about the nest boxes. I am planning to put nest boxes in both sections vs. hen boxes in one side, for the simple reason that it seems to make my loft more versatile. I can use either side for my breeders and fliers as the group fluctuates in size. Is that an okay idea? I mean it couldn't hurt, right? Also, are the nest boxes in this loft bigger then most? And what kind of nest fronts should I be putting on? The builder offered to make ones like Lovebird has for $7.50/each is that a good price? Also, is two sections enough? This size loft is already pushing it for the permits allowed in my neighborhood, so the size must stay the same. I can however, tweek the plans if needed.


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## Avion (May 28, 2007)

I designed my loft after Lovebirds loft but I put in three sections instead of two. The loft is 8X16 with three sections of 4X8 and a hallway that is 4X8. I have the breeders in one section, the cocks in one section and the hens in the other section. Here is a front view of the loft.

George


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Avion

Do you have any pics of the inside?


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## Avion (May 28, 2007)

Here are a couple of pics of the cock side and hen side, and the breeder side. George


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## LUCKYT (Jan 17, 2009)

Nice Loft! Dave


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

moonshadow said:


> So, I'm actually in the final stages of applying for the loft permit. I'm planning to use the basic design of Lovebird's Widowhood loft, but I'm wondering about the nest boxes. I am planning to put nest boxes in both sections vs. hen boxes in one side, for the simple reason that it seems to make my loft more versatile. I can use either side for my breeders and fliers as the group fluctuates in size. Is that an okay idea? I mean it couldn't hurt, right? Also, are the nest boxes in this loft bigger then most? And what kind of nest fronts should I be putting on? The builder offered to make ones like Lovebird has for $7.50/each is that a good price? Also, is two sections enough? This size loft is already pushing it for the permits allowed in my neighborhood, so the size must stay the same. I can however, tweek the plans if needed.


I would go with more sections like George did since this is the only loft you can build. Also, NO, do NOT make nest fronts like the ones in my widowhood loft. No good for breeding in all the time. You need fronts like Georges' and like the ones in the big loft of mine. They need to open up completely....makes cleaning MUCH easier. And the nest boxes need to be big enough to hold two bowls/two rounds.........
Also, you might want to skip the hallway? But I think a small entry way that you can enter without the birds being able to escape is a good idea....don't ask me "how" to do that.......it's just better if the birds can't go sailing over your head when you walk in.


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## g0ldenb0y55 (Dec 23, 2008)

Very nice loft George!


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## Brummie (Feb 16, 2009)

I just scanned the site.Moonshadow, you have to get a permit to have a loft?
Your thought's on this? Pro/con?


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## della (Jan 29, 2009)

What a stunning loft! I'm jealous!


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## LUCKYT (Jan 17, 2009)

If i had to have a Permit to have a loft, i would move! Thank god i live in last in the last part of my county, were there is no Town!


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## moonshadow (Mar 26, 2007)

I wish I could move! I grew up in the country, so I'm not used to all the rules! However, I do like our city and I like our house. I don't know if it's good or bad to have a permit. I think our city made enough hoops to jump thru that only a serious pigeon person would attempt it. I've been working on this since November, but I'm the first to try to legalize everything. The other pigeon owners just operate illegally and hope they don't get caught. After all my work with the city it shouldn't be so hard for the next person, which was my goal. 

Avion, do you have a way to take video of your loft? Would you mind doing a video walk-true for me?? I'd love to see how you set everything up? I was considering having a non-pigeon person build my loft, but I don't know (as a beginner fancier) if I'm going to be able to explain everything to this poor builder.


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## moonshadow (Mar 26, 2007)

Okay, I'm thinking about the whole 3 sections thing... I like the basic lay-out as it is. I like the hallway idea because I can store my supplies in there. So what about dividing the loft this way...










I like option #1 because once the birds aren't YB's anymore I could just open the door between the sections. However, if I did things that way I'd need two traps on that side. I figured I would put a divider in the aviary on that side vs. having two aviaries. Anyone have any input on this way of doing things?


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## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

I think the reason why you don't want to put nest boxes similar to the breeding section is to prevent the hens from mating with each other.


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## moonshadow (Mar 26, 2007)

You're right Rod. That does make sense. However, if I divide it like my little drawing shows, then what?... Where would you put everyone?


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

RodSD said:


> I think the reason why you don't want to put nest boxes similar to the breeding section is to prevent the hens from mating with each other.


The "boxes" are really perches, not boxes. They're only 4 inches wide, so the hens don't nest in them. They just nest on the floor.......LOL


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

You're not racing your birds, right?


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Lovebirds said:


> The "boxes" are really perches, not boxes. They're only 4 inches wide, so the hens don't nest in them. They just nest on the floor.......LOL


OH, you were probably talking about George's pictures.......I see what you're saying now..........


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

I would make the breeder section just a bit bigger and then divide the other section in half for your flyers. Don't know that you would need two traps though? A divided aviary is good though. One solid wall between the two sides. I would suspect that at some point, you would want to separate the sexes, so it would be easier to do if the aviary has a solid partition. 
Somtimes, I open my doors so that the birds can have the whole loft. Hubby gets mad cause they poop in the hallway.....but I tell him, it's THEIR house, not mine. They can poop wherever they want. 
You need to decide how many pairs of breeders you plan on having the build the breeder section according to that. You don't NEED a lot of breeders. All of your birds will be old enough to breed from in no time and they multiply FAST!! LOL


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## moonshadow (Mar 26, 2007)

I would really only need about 2-3 pairs of breeders, I would think... I am only applying for a 50 bird permit. I do plan to race a little bit. Probably not right away, but sometime in the future I'd like to. I do want to have GREAT birds, so I will probably buy one or two high quality pairs. How big of a breeding loft would I need if I had 2-3 pairs? Or is 2-3 unrealistic? Also, where would I put young birds in the loft set-up your described, lovebird?


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## moonshadow (Mar 26, 2007)

Anyone else??


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

moonshadow said:


> Anyone else??


I would go with the three sections, one for breeders w/ nest boxes and then the rest have the box perches in them, they will make nest in them but you won't be breeding in there so you can use the dummie eggs, that would keep them off the floor, well most of the time anyway. you can have a fly team in one and breeders in another, when it comes time for young weaned babys close one section and put the weaned ones in there. otherwise you can open one door for the fly team and they can have two sections, if you want to seperate the sexes when not breeding the cocks can stay in the breeding section and the hens in the second and young unsexed birds in the third or if you know all the sexes you can open the door to ajoining and the hens can have both.


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## moonshadow (Mar 26, 2007)

Questions!!










If I have very few breeders it seems to me that option #2 would be good. I won't need a third trap on the end and that would be good. My main question is if I put the YB's over on the far end and trap train them over there, can I call them into the other trap when they are on the team? Or will they always try to return to the far trap?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

If you do not have any prisoners, then I would put traps on all the sections, just so you can use them just in case you want to loft fly anyone in that section, but if you have the prisoners that is another story as they can not be let out. so. say you have enough birds and not breeding, your cocks are in the breeding section and the the hens in theirs and the younguns in theirs,you would let them out seperate and they will go back in the door that is open to them. now say you don't seperate the sexes and you have pairs in the breeding section but not breeding, you can let them out to loft fly too as they would have a trap for their section. if you have a fly team that is all together in the two sections with the door open to make it one then they will all go in the door you have open for them where they came out.


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## moonshadow (Mar 26, 2007)

I am pretty sure I will have 2-3 breeding pairs that are prisoners. So then I figured they would need an aviary and not a door to the outside. That's why I thought I'd put them on the right side end. The other sections would both have doors outside and traps. 

Like this:










The red labels would only be during breeding season.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

moonshadow said:


> I would really only need about 2-3 pairs of breeders, I would think... I am only applying for a 50 bird permit. I do plan to race a little bit. Probably not right away, but sometime in the future I'd like to. I do want to have GREAT birds, so I will probably buy one or two high quality pairs. How big of a breeding loft would I need if I had 2-3 pairs? Or is 2-3 unrealistic? *Also, where would I put young birds in the loft set-up your described, lovebird?*


You could have one section for YB's and the other section for the older flying birds....to be honest.........if I was you or if I was ME  and could start over again........I would try SO hard not to have prisoners.......it's hard to do, but it would be nice if you have a loft full of birds that are broken to YOUR loft and not have to worry about them escaping or never flying again. If you have a section for breeders, a section for flyers divided into two sections, then you should be ok. At some point during the year (winter time) you will want to separate the birds by sex and not fly them because of the hawks. At that time, the cocks could have a section and the hens could have a section, and whether their prisoners or not wouldn't matter because they would be locked down anyway.


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## moonshadow (Mar 26, 2007)

I guess I would assume that I would start with prisoner pairs and slowly phase into all flyable birds. Either way I think 2 bigger sections and one smaller one would be okay. I'm applying for a 50 bird permit with the intentions of keeping about 30. I think that 30 should be an easy amount for my loft to handle.


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## Big T (Mar 25, 2008)

Since you are going to wait on racing, Renee has a very good point. Get six or seven young birds and raise them, then breed them when they get older. In one year I have three pair and 15 babies. Some of the older babies are pairing up now. I understand the need for prisoners, I just want my birds to fly.


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## moonshadow (Mar 26, 2007)

The thing is I want proven racers with pedigrees for my breeders. I already have 4 prisoners that are pets, so I figure I'll need a prisoner section in my loft anyways.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

moonshadow said:


> The thing is I want proven racers with pedigrees for my breeders. I already have 4 prisoners that are pets, so I figure I'll need a prisoner section in my loft anyways.


ok, so you are wanting just a few prisoner breeders, so that would be in the smallest section. just remember they have to live in there their whole life, which could be 15 years or so, and that space can not be used for the cock birds as it may not be big enough for all the cocks you may end up with. and then your taking away space for the hall, believe me you will want every extra inch for the birds in the long run, I would make two 8x6 sections and one 8x4 for the young birds, and just have a door to enter and a small space for the feed, you can keep alot of stuff in the house or basement that you don't use often. I built just a simple lean to off the back of mine and keep things on hooks under that and the feed is in a metal can. I would think twice about the prisoners, you do have four, but at that number if you wanted to fly the birds in the breeding/prisoner section when not breeding you could always basket them up and then let out the others to fly and excercise, If you wanted to basket them up from that section your trap door should not let any one out but the ones coming home can get in there, I just think you may want to use that section at some point and you limiting yourself in space alot. the cocks are best left with their nest boxes when you seperate them, so you can have the cocks in the breeding section the hens in the other two and open the door, or cocks /ybs/ hens all in their own sections, and you would be able to fly all of them seperate if you wanted to as they would all have their own trap. right now, I have 9 birds Im working with training for single release, they are in my middle section for ybs, but since I don't have any ybs now, I keep them there seperated because with all white I know these are the birds im training for funerals for single release. the others I can fly on another day and they go in their section, so it is handy, for me anyway, to have three sections, the breeding has not begun yet here, but when that happens they will not be let out of there, untill breeding is over and the cocks are just in there or my pairs still in there at least they would be able to be flown and come back in to that section.


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## moonshadow (Mar 26, 2007)

My builder came up with an idea...



> If we moved the door/hallway to the center of the building you could have bay1 6'x8' and bay2&3 4'x6'.


What do you think? It's the most economical, so I like it. I also don't loose my hallway which I feel like I'll definitely need as we have a small house and a single car garage. That hallway will be the only storage that I will have. I plan to put a counter in there and hopefully some shelves. Our winters are very harsh, so storing outside isn't too practical. I'm still fighting with my city for my permit, so who knows if it will ever get built anyways...


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

moonshadow said:


> My builder came up with an idea...
> 
> *If we moved the door/hallway to the center of the building you could have bay1 6'x8' and bay2&3 4'x6'. *
> What do you think? It's the most economical, so I like it. I also don't loose my hallway which I feel like I'll definitely need as we have a small house and a single car garage. That hallway will be the only storage that I will have. I plan to put a counter in there and hopefully some shelves. Our winters are very harsh, so storing outside isn't too practical. I'm still fighting with my city for my permit, so who knows if it will ever get built anyways...


Sounds good to me. You can put the door/hallway anywhere you want to. And the "bays".......LOL,, tell him it's "sections".......LOL 2 & 3 would be 4 X 8 wouldn't they?


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## moonshadow (Mar 26, 2007)

Lovebirds said:


> Sounds good to me. You can put the door/hallway anywhere you want to. And the "bays".......LOL,, tell him it's "sections".......LOL 2 & 3 would be 4 X 8 wouldn't they?


"bays" LOL.  Oh, yeah they would be 4X8.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

moonshadow said:


> "bays" LOL.  Oh, yeah they would be 4X8.


The first thing I thought of was a car wash........although the pigeons would probably love a little conveyor belt that "rides" them through a shower of water......LOL One wing UP. Other wing UP..


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## moonshadow (Mar 26, 2007)

ROFL. I would probably get put into the AU catalog with a special article about my Pigeon Wash.


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