# Young Bird Section



## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

Hello.
Im new to this site and am in the process of drawing up my loft plans.
I had a quick question.
Does the Young Bird Section need nestboxes?
I will upload a pic of the plans i have drawn up so far.
Please if anyone has any ideas on what i should change tell me 
I tried to attach it to this message but it was too big.. so I uploaded to sendspace.
I hope that is ok.
Please any help is greatly appreciated.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/5hjfil


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

you could use them for extra breeding space if needed, just put fronts on them with perches for the ybs, and take down the fronts when you want to use the nest boxes....I like yur plan by the way.


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

thank you very much for replying spirit wings
would it be ok to just use perchs and not have any nestboxes at all in the YB section?
also I thought i read somewhere on this site that the hens are ok with just perches and no nestboxes... is that true?
is my sick bay area a good idea or should i build a another small loft and have them completly seperated?


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

StoN3d said:


> thank you very much for replying spirit wings
> would it be ok to just use perchs and not have any nestboxes at all in the YB section?
> also I thought i read somewhere on this site that the hens are ok with just perches and no nestboxes... is that true?
> is my sick bay area a good idea or should i build a another small loft and have them completly seperated?


IF you have plenty of room it is okay to just have V perches and you will only be using it for young birds and singles. But it is a great way to save space, as that room can be used for both singles or youngens AND nesting couples.. 

Hens are fine with perches, as are males, as long as there are no couples.

I think a sick bay area is fine as long as there can be no contamination toyour healthy birds. You do want to be able to provide heating pad and such for them, so electricity is essential or some kind of power. I like to keep my sick birds inside so I can keep an eye on them 24/7. but anyone who is mending from injury or is not in need of quaranteen or very ill, can go there.


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

is the landing board leading only into the YB section ok?
I know this will sound dumb.. but what about racing OB do they just enter into the YB section and i take them out and return them to their own sections?
sorry for all the noob questions but im VERY new to this


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

StoN3d said:


> is the landing board leading only into the YB section ok?
> I know this will sound dumb.. but what about racing OB do they just enter into the YB section and i take them out and return them to their own sections?
> sorry for all the noob questions but im VERY new to this


you don't want to train ybs with obs so the ybs need their own trap and if you need to fly obs they would need their own trap for their section. the nest boxes need to be deeper, Im not sure about the graph paper..is it two sq per foot? if so the nest boxes are only 6 inches deep......I hope Renee post in here soon, she is a big help.


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

Oh ... 
the plan is not really drawn out to scale.
Its just something to give me an idea of what i would like built.
what size should the nestboxes be?
this will sound dumb.. should i add a landing board to both the Cocks section and the Hens section.
I would like to one day race both YBS abd OBS one day.
any other suggestions to make it a more pleasing home to the pigeons?
I do plan on having electric in the loft.
BTW... this has to be the greatest site ever for help on pigeons!!!!!!
thank you all!!!!!
new updates loft plans
http://www.sendspace.com/file/zcqg8y


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

StoN3d said:


> Oh ...
> the plan is not really drawn out to scale.
> Its just something to give me an idea of what i would like built.
> what size should the nestboxes be?
> ...


Im not the best one to help, Ive only built one 8 x 16 loft...but you need to make that plan up to scale and then you will know what you can fit in there. like the sick bay...I have no room for one and my loft is like I said 8x16...so you need to do that first before moving forward


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

I will work on my chicken scrath plans some more tonight and try to get them to scale 
thank you for all your help.
I will upload new plans in the morning.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

I got on line, read this thread and then my computer went bonkers........
but Hubby just fixed it for me. 
Here's a picture of the plans you have drawn out now. I couldn't figure out how to post it, so I just took a picture of it.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

StoN3d said:


> thank you very much for replying spirit wings
> would it be ok to just use perchs and not have any nestboxes at all in the YB section?
> also I thought i read somewhere on this site that the hens are ok with just perches and no nestboxes... is that true?
> is my sick bay area a good idea or should i build a another small loft and have them completly seperated?


You don't really need nest boxes for YB's. We have them for ours, but that's because we had plans for our YB's that didn't work out. If we had to do it again, they probably wouldn't have them. Having said that, now that we DO have them, I like them. I've got 11 young hens sitting on eggs right now and we've still got 6 weeks to race. 
As far as your old hens, perches only. Give them boxes and they'll pair up and stay on eggs all the time. Mine do anyway..........lay eggs in the floor. 
Sick bay......we have one and very seldom use it. We do use it sometimes, but I don't think I'd commit a hold section for that purpose. A couple of individual cages would be better. Most any bird that gets sick needs to be confined to a small area anyway, and if one gets injured, they really need a small space. 



StoN3d said:


> is the landing board leading only into the YB section ok?
> I know this will sound dumb.. but what about racing OB do they just enter into the YB section and i take them out and return them to their own sections?
> sorry for all the noob questions but im VERY new to this


You need separate entrances for your YB's and OB's. Once the YB's get moved to the OB section/loft, they'll learn to trap in there. 



StoN3d said:


> Oh ...
> the plan is not really drawn out to scale.
> Its just something to give me an idea of what i would like built.
> what size should the nestboxes be?
> ...


Your nest boxes should be big enough to hold the pair plus two rounds of youngsters. Ours are 32" wide, 16" deep and 16" tall (I think )
As far as a landing board for both OB sections........I don't think it's necessary. No matter how you fly OB's..natural or widowhood or double widowhood, the hens will trap into the cocks section. We put traps in both of our sections and have yet to use the one in the hens side of the loft. It's been there for 4 years. 

Hope this helps some.


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

thank you for the reply Renee 
when looking at my plans you see that i have the cocks and hens in different sections that are closed off to each other.
i posted an updated version on my "plans" and added a landing for both the cocks and hens section.
Should i put a landing board in each section?
or should one be enough and which one would i add that in.. hen section or cock section.
sorry for all the questions 
i just wanna make sure i get this built correct the first time


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

StoN3d said:


> thank you for the reply Renee
> when looking at my plans you see that i have the cocks and hens in different sections that are closed off to each other.
> i posted an updated version on my "plans" and added a landing for both the cocks and hens section.
> Should i put a landing board in each section?
> ...


Well, it's probably one of those things........if you DO, you won't need it and if you DON'T, you'll wish you had. LOL
I assume this is your first loft? What about your breeders? Where are they going? 
You might want to consider making the cocks section bigger than the hens section. The hens section needs to be big enough for JUST the hens.....however, both hens and cocks will be together in the cocks section.......double the birds, double the space.  OR, have a door leading between the two sections and when they're separated, keep the door shut. When they're together, leave the door open and they have access to both sections. There's lots of different ways to do things. Just go to decide what you want.


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

wow.. you know your stuff 
I thinking of making the sick bay area a small breeding section.. or do you think its too small of an area...
Im totally lost LOL
yes this is my first loft and i have never had pigeons before.
i want the loft to be a nice cozy home for the birds.
if someone wants to redraw my plans to what they think would be a better loft please feel free to do so.
I just drew them up so i had a idea of wat to do... but thats kinda hard when ur as lost as i am 
I am limited to 120 square feet of space for my permit 
O btw i liked your sig Renee so i made one for my fav team


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

StoN3d said:


> wow.. you know your stuff
> I thinking of making the sick bay area a small breeding section.. or do you think its too small of an area...
> Im totally lost LOL
> yes this is my first loft and i have never had pigeons before.
> ...


You don't want ME drawing plans........LOL...
Going out to dinner. We'll "chat" later.


StoN3d said:


> O btw i liked your sig Renee so i made one for my fav team


OH my..........well........that's ok. I still like you.......


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

LOL... cool 
i wouldnt want anyone not liking me 
even though im a Giants fan


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

So.......where were we??? 
Oh yea....a pigeon loft.
So, let me ask you this. What do you plan to do with these birds? Are you getting into racing? Where are you getting your birds from? 
Unless you can afford to (and want to) put a big building to house all of your birds, IMO, you're best best would be to start with your breeder loft and YB loft. An OB loft can come later.


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

sorry for the delay in response... i didnt think anyone world reply tonight lol
I emailed the American Racing Pigeon Union and they gave me some numbers of local guys in racing clubs near me.
i went to a couple meetings where they were shipping the birds and met some guys who said they would give me some breeders to start off with.
yes i would like to get into racing pigeons.
do you think 120 square feet is too small for OBS Breeding and YBS sections?
im limited to 120 square feet for the permit
im actually almost done re-drawing up the plans to scale.
i will upload it shortly.
oh... plz excuse my horrible spelling


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

how 'bout those plans.?.......or are they in another thread?


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

LOOOOOOOOOL.
I was just thinking OMG I gotta get the new plans up
then I was thinking do I just start a new thread ROFL
It was like you were reading my mind.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/570mmh
Im also about to draw up some with only three sections.
Cocks andHens Section with a door or a window that can be opend or closed at will inbetween them and a YBS section


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

I think I'd do away with that fourth section. It wouldn't be used but about 3 months out of the year.
I'd go with a three section.


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

Ok here is my three section loft plans.
Let me know what you think.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/mtn24x


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

yea..i would get rid of the forth section to..now you might as well make it 16 ft long, because the pywood comes in 4 ft sheets..so it would be 10 x 16..you could go 12x 16 also....you might want more nest boxes in the breeding area?? that is if you are going to breed alot. I like that you can come in and not be right in the loft with the birds


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

I wish I could build it that big 
Im limited to 120 square feet byt the building permit 
any siggestions on the layout for a 8x12 one?
is my lastest chicken scratch plan ok?


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

StoN3d said:


> I wish I could build it that big
> Im limited to 120 square feet byt the building permit
> any siggestions on the layout for a 8x12 one?
> is my lastest chicken scratch plan ok?


Are you limited to how many buildings you can put up or just the size of the buildings?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

I think that looks nice...but I forget why there are nest boxes in the ybs section..8 x 12 is a nice loft.......I think your getting down to the nitty gritty...oh and your drawings are not chicken sratch..it looks great.


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

ok i moved the door on the YBS section.
as for the nestboxes in the YBS section I thought i read a reply from someone saying I could put some in there to be used by pairs if needed.
not a good idea? 
I can remove them np... it would be less building 
how about I remove the left hand nestbox in the YBS section and just leave the right side one?
I will edit plans and upload new ones in a second


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

That looks good to me too. I also like the idea of being able to go into the loft through a hallway and not actually be "with" the birds. However, with your limited space, I would somehow incorporate a sort of "foyer" at the entry way and make the rest of the loft for the birds.


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

ok here are new plans.
plz tell me what you think 
http://www.sendspace.com/file/5xe0uz


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

sorry lovebirds 
I didnt see you had replied.
Im limited to one building with a max size of 120 suqare feet


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