# What are the hallenges hobbyists have with a small loft?



## DCIndy (Sep 24, 2010)

*What are the challenges hobbyists have with a small loft?*

Since I was kid, I have always wanted to try my and with homing pigeons. Well, finally, at 43, the adventure begins.

I built a very small loft, 4'x4' the slopes from 4.5' in the front to 3.5' in the back. I have an aviary attached to the loft that is 4'x6' for a total size of 4x10.

I realize that ideally I would have built a much larger loft, but to keep my keep my happy home life happy, I had to compromise. The loft could not be viewable from the house, so the building space, behind the garage, is pretty small.

So, from what I have learned, all will be okay as long as I keep my population to 7 or 8, which I am concerned will be challenging. How challenging will it be to limit -- or possibly eliminate -- breeding among pigeons?

I would think I can't be the only person who keeps pigeons that, for one reason or another, does not have a large, walk-in loft. 

Can any of you seasoned experts give me a little insight as to the challenges I will have relative to the size of my loft? 

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Darrin


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## sky tx (Mar 1, 2005)

When they mate and lay eggs--swap/Switch the eggs for "dummy"eggs.
This will keep them from starting another round for about 20-30 days.


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## cbx1013 (Aug 12, 2009)

Having started in the last couple of years, and working with a similar small loft- here's some of my thoughts. YMMV

Plan on fewer. 4-6. They will breed, unless you are super diligent with the eggs. Most people cannot resist letting just a couple hatch, and viola! Too many pigeons. You can't really count on aviary as "living space." 

When you see a lot of scuffling, fighting for position, etc. going on... you know it's tight for them. This puts them under stress. Stress makes it harder to keep them healthy. Crowding also makes it harder to keep the loft clean, which is a big problem with keeping the birds healthy.

Spend twice as much time learning about loft maintenance, cleanliness and disease as you do racing, training, breeding... Make sure your loft is easy to clean. You'll be doing it a lot, and convenience helps. If it's not convenient, your birds will suffer, and you will not enjoy them as much.

Think about why you want to keep the birds, and what your goals are for having them. This will help you to know how many birds you should have as a working population, and what types/size of a loft/lofts will support that.

I've learned a ton here. Still learning every day. Check out the "Resources" section. A wealth of info there to help you understand the care the birds need and deserve. Good luck!

Don


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## Jaysen (Jun 21, 2010)

Not sure why the loft has to be hidden, but the only way my son and I are managing with a small loft is with the support of the whole family. The other half and the daughter actually clean when we are out, feed if we have conflicts, and will fly the birds if the weather if very nice and the bird are calm. If they didn't like the birds it would be unmanageable due to mess and lack of space for feeders.

The other advantage is that the Mrs now wants me to build a bigger loft. Everyone wins.


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## logangrmnr (Jul 14, 2010)

I have a small loft 4x8 , 5 foot in the front and 4 foot in the back with 7 birds. Half is ply floor and the other is hardware cloth. I only have to really to clean half. Only takes a minute. But I do clean out a 10x25 foot racing loft for a guy that's helping me get in to the sport, and man the first cleaning sucked. But I have it down now. Cleaning mines a breeze 7 birds to 200. But now I want a large one. Maybe in a few years. Use dummy eggs to stop the breeding or build another small one for the hens. If they can't see each other then they can't make all those beautiful babies.


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## atvracinjason (Mar 4, 2010)

I started the same way just this year...the problems I encountered 
1. with no way to enter the loft myself it was hard to crate birds and had a few get past me when I didn't want them to
2. It was harder to keep cleen than my loft thats 8x16
3.with limited numbers on birds lossing 2-3 was devastating loss(20-30%)
4.when birds got hurt it was hard to care for them properly
-check out my pics..before I built my new loft I raised my old loft on stilts and set it above a small chainlink dog kennel....with this I could at least get in with the birds although I was still cramped, and still lock them down in the box for safety


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