# Easy Box perches



## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

Heres how I did my perches- they are out of scrap- I had 2x6, but 2x4 would work fine as well. They are easy to build, easy to clean. Most poop falls off the back and gathers for easy pickup, whatever doesn't is a quick and easy scrape back to join the rest of the poop piled up underneath.

I did some 9" wide, some 8 1/2" wide- and placed them for about a foot of height. The plywood- or whatever you have handy is about 10" wide (probably narrower if using 2x4's....it's more of an art than a science.) You attach the 2x4's to the long piece of plywood- as tall as your wall- or in my case the height that lets me set them on top of where I framed the vents at the bottom. You screw or nail them in at what will be the front of the perch. Then the extra inches between the back of the perch and the will be where you can screw/nail them to the framing of your loft walls. You just do a bunch of them attached to one side like this.









Be sure to vary the distances so that when you go to assemble it, there is a nice open spot for you to screw/nail through the plywood into the perch- like this:









Heres how they look all done and installed:









In this example, I connected 3 sub-assemblies to create 15 perches.
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## shadowoak (Mar 19, 2011)

good idea putting them together looks good too


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## birdkeeper (Jun 24, 2009)

the birds are happy in their new perches. good job!


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## Jerryx4 (Jun 9, 2011)

cheating!!!!


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

shadowoak said:


> good idea putting them together looks good too


Thanks- been super easy to clean too, and the birds are happy. They really like being able to lie down. Plus so easy to make that my son and I whipped up another batch last night in about half an hour.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Looks good. We're going to make some more for the YB loft. I think we're going to make them a foot square.


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

MaryOfExeter said:


> Looks good. We're going to make some more for the YB loft. I think we're going to make them a foot square.


Becky, since you have way more experience than I, I am curious about the dimensions- a foot wide is pretty big. Mine are 8 - 9 inches wide, and I still have birds able to sit together if they want to. So, tell me more about the foot wide plan....please.


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## 1stbird24/7 (Jun 28, 2011)

thats a great idea


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

Thanks- 
Oh, and I forgot to mention, once it is as wide as you want it to be, then the final step is to nail on an end piece of plywood the same dimensions to that last row of perches. Then it looks like some kind of crazy bookcase or whatever when you are done. A big box of box perches.


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## pigeon is fun (Sep 6, 2010)

Naynay, how many birds do you have now?


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

pigeon is fun said:


> Naynay, how many birds do you have now?


I had 14, was training 6, and on their first glorious free flight, they went through all the stages of getting oriented in about ten minutes. So, 2 laps of loft flying and they were routing  . I feel good about how I trained em, but they were strong, and happy happy happy to discover that their wings could make them fly so high. It was glorious to see- not so glorious when they didn't return to the feed call. 

Anyway- one came home from that adventure- still waiting to see if the other 5 do- and need to call the local flyers to see if any of mine are hanging out with their birds. I knew it was a risk, but I wanted to give it a try anyway. Didn't want 14 prisoners. 

So, right now, 9 birds.


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## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

That was a clever design.


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

RodSD said:


> That was a clever design.


Thanks- I tried to combine the benefits of the box perch, with the ability to scrape the poop over the back ledge-and have a gap so the birds would tend to have most of the poop fall over the back- for easy cleaning- while being super fast and easy to build like a T perch. 

They are working out well, and I feel like I met my goals. Most of the droppings pile up underneath for easy cleanup, and what little ends up on the perch is a quick scrape to the back, then gathers with the rest underneath. 

The birds have their own space, can lay down, and are easy to catch.


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## ghenty (Jun 18, 2012)

Just spent a good 30 minutes looking for this thread as remembered about these box perches! I have split the sexes at my new house but the hens on V perches are a nightmare, very flighty and hard to catch so going to knock up a load of these and replace the V's.


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