# Totally Enclosed Nest Boxes



## checkered (Dec 24, 2005)

It appears not very popular with folks here on PT using enclosed nest boxes.










It might be because of air circulation or harder to clean?

When I was younger almost 95%+ of people were using this setup. Especially in tropical to Mediterranean type of weather.

Pros and cons? I will create a small size breeding moveable nest and I'm thinking of using this...

Will it help to baffle the sound a little bit? Will it reduce the noise or make the cooing more louder with this setup?

This will be used for nesting/incubating eggs and not for pairing as the pigeons will be mated already when they hit the nest.


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## Wayne Johnson (Oct 1, 2010)

Is the cote to be in an aviary or flight?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

I think they would use them in a heart beat.. they look dark and cozy just what they like.. as far as the cleaning goes, I would put the fronts on hinges so you can swing them open to get your scraper in there. if you did that I think they would be great.. the only thing or drawback is you can't see in there at the babies very well to see how they are doing. but if it was on a hinge I guess you could just open it to look at them. It does look like what they call a dovecote in the UK for free flying garden fantails.


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## Greek Boy (Apr 12, 2010)

Checkered- My grandfather used a dove cote in Greece where he kept fancies. He fed and gave them feed, other than that they were free to come and go in his garden out back. The only difference that I saw was he kept each entrance seperated by a board between them. This was to prevent one pair taking over more than one box. If there is no seperation one cock, usually the first, could go from one to the other taking them all over for himself on one floor. It was suppose to prevent alot of fighting over who owns what. It brought back memories.- Thanks Nick..


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## checkered (Dec 24, 2005)

Hi Nick...yup makes sense with the separation.

I remember when I was a kid I have this setup in my uncle's house and then eventually with our house. We just usually mount it to a wall just under the roof. 

We didn't have any predators, cats, birds of prey so it's open all year long. 

But living in Pacific Northwest it's totally different dynamics. Birds of prey and cold weather are definitely a challenge.


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## rpalmer (Mar 10, 2011)

checkered said:


> It appears not very popular with folks here on PT using enclosed nest boxes.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That design is very old. I think over 150 years. It worked good back then and still should.


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## ForestBeekeeper (Dec 25, 2011)

I like that design.


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