# Octagon Loft



## OfficialDexter (Sep 13, 2017)

Hello everyone, not a native English speaker so pardon me for every foolish gramar mistake I make.

Little bit of history, my grandparents kept pigeons for 20 years, and I always admired them and liked them, 10 years ago ferret broke into their coop and killed all their pigeons, so with that in mind I'm trying my best to make the best pigeon coop I could. Got my first 10 pigeons in my life few days ago, so I'm learning. But anyways; 

Here's the plan I started with. I would make a 5x5 meter octagon base out of concrete. then I would have 8 pillars (12x12cm) one on each corner of octagon, and in the middle I would have 14x14cm pillar with 5 layers on top of it, here's a visual on the middle pillar, what I call "corn", http://dodaj.rs/images/LV29M.md.jpg
http://dodaj.rs/images/LV4ZI.jpg
http://dodaj.rs/images/LVDRT.jpg
Now there will be roof over the corn, and 1 meter in every direction so the rain wouldnt get directly into their homes, but that will leave 3 meters uncovered, its too expencive to cover all 5 meters. Now for the wire I was thinking about 1cm x 1cm - 1.2cm x 1.2cm PVC wire, is it good, is the hole small enough so no predators could get in? That is my concern since I couldnt find any smaller wires then that.
Here's some photos of corn so far.
http://dodaj.rs/images/LVgXp.jpg
http://dodaj.rs/images/LV8e5.jpg
http://dodaj.rs/images/LV8e5.jpg
http://dodaj.rs/images/LVqK3.jpg
http://dodaj.rs/images/LVaSA.jpg








That's for the corn, again my question is, how much space do 2 pigeons need to live, and in their space do they need light inside? My plan is to make under every pigeon living space a shelf so it is easy to clean,:








and a little window so there is enough light to get inside.
My next concern is to how much of a hole do pigeons need to get inside their home? I've read somewhere they need 16cm circle, is that too big, too small? Let me know.
I could write for hours but its time to stop, so let me know what you think and leave any feedback if possible, any critic or opinion on improvment is welcome. If you're interested I'll post more photos. Thank you.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

PVC wire can be chewed through. Or is the wire metal wire, which is then covered in PVC plastic?


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## OfficialDexter (Sep 13, 2017)

Jay3 said:


> PVC wire can be chewed through. Or is the wire metal wire, which is then covered in PVC plastic?


It is metal wire covered in PVC plastic


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

The reason I ask is that they also make a PVC fencing material that is just PVC. Squirrels, rats and mice can chew right through, and they do for the seed. Rats will kill the birds.


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## OfficialDexter (Sep 13, 2017)

Jay3 said:


> The reason I ask is that they also make a PVC fencing material that is just PVC. Squirrels, rats and mice can chew right through, and they do for the seed. Rats will kill the birds.


Yes I've taken that into consideration, so that is why i'm thinking about buying hardwide (1.2mm thick) PVC surrounded metal wire that is 12mm x 12mm, is that too big? I couldnt find any smaller then that.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Anything with larger holes than 1/2 inch will let in rats and mice.


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## FredaH (Apr 5, 2016)

OH wow, you are very skilled to be taking on a project like that. I think it will look wonderful when completed and no doubt the birds will love it too. 
Wish I could do something like that - I struggled enough just making two bug boxes and one of those fell down, lol.


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## OfficialDexter (Sep 13, 2017)

Jay3 said:


> Anything with larger holes than 1/2 inch will let in rats and mice.


1/2 inch is 12.7mm if I'm correct acording to this?http://www.rapidtables.com/convert/length/inch-to-mm.htm
If that's the case, then great I have even smaller wire then that available to buy.



FredaH said:


> OH wow, you are very skilled to be taking on a project like that. I think it will look wonderful when completed and no doubt the birds will love it too.
> Wish I could do something like that - I struggled enough just making two bug boxes and one of those fell down, lol.


Thank you very much, I'm trying my best, wanted to make a good pigeon coop for a long time now.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

OfficialDexter said:


> 1/2 inch is 12.7mm if I'm correct acording to this?http://www.rapidtables.com/convert/length/inch-to-mm.htm
> If that's the case, then great I have even smaller wire then that available to buy.


Make sure to get at least 19 gauge. You don't want things to be able to chew through it.


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## OfficialDexter (Sep 13, 2017)

Jay3 said:


> Make sure to get at least 19 gauge. You don't want things to be able to chew through it.


Yep already found the wire, that's not what I'm concerned about, main problem now is how big do I need to make the circles to be for each sleeping place and do they need to be circles at all?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

The circles will be on the outside to land on?
Or for the birds to get into the box, like a door? 
If you mean like an entrance, then I would think about 4 inches wide. Don't
know what to tell you for height. Not sure what you mean.


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