# Loft expansion- Already!



## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

Well, due to the kindness of PT members and my club Prez, I feel the need to expand before I have even technically finished my original loft. Don't need the room as much as I need a separate aviary for my breeders and prisoners. So, basic plan is larger, separate aviary popping out of the breeder section- with a small hutch style loft at the end of that as a 3 season holding tank for the prisoners. I just need my flying section to be all flyers, to simplify my loading of birds for training and such. I have learned some good crowd control techniques, but I figure I may as well just do it. 
So- true to form, I am using a salvaged wood bed frame as the foundation for the aviary:









with a pallet up on some nice tight grain old growth fir beams for the loft part:


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

The floor to the aviary section is mostly plywood, because it will mostly be covered - I have an abundance of metal roofing, so the roof will extend from the loft on out over most of the aviary. Loft is ply floor, and misc pole building style beam constructed frame. No planning whatsoever (on paper anyway..) went into the little hutch- it is kinda fun - like being a kid again. I brought all my potentially good lumber over nearby, and am kinda "sculpting" it into a loft-lol. I installed the perches cuz they were already to go, and since it is a hutch, I didn't wanna crawl in there later !


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## Ashby Loft (Aug 31, 2007)

Wow. Already going bigger. Nice!


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## LizBerg (Dec 1, 2010)

Very nice, I love the use of found items. My original "aviary" started as a giant parrot cage I was given, I then enclosed it with scrap wood and added to it. 

I've been eyeballing those shed kits you see around. I think the aluminum ones would get too hot/cold, but the plastic or wood, add a little wire and a flight pen and away I go.


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

12 Volt Man said:


> Wow. Already going bigger. Nice!


Yup- more for "organization" of my fleet of birds- esp with having so many prisoners, trying to train late hatch, etc. I have a 3rd section, but it is my "office"- a small section right when you open the door that gives me a place to sit in my folding chair and watch the birds, write notes about ideas I have, observations, breeding and training stuff, etc. I drilled a hole in a composition book, put a length of string on it, and have it hanging from a nail. Plus, a white board for my son to draw pictures around my other notes and info- lol (see pic below of the artist and the art...) my cleaning goodies and a rubbermaid type potting bench I found on the side of the road that works good for feed storage, etc. 
So, it was either give up _*allllllll *_that, and the peace of mind of having a little buffer like an "airlock" to keep wayward birds from going astray- or expand! Expansion seems inevitable in this sport anyway, so, expanding I am.


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

LizBerg said:


> Very nice, I love the use of found items. My original "aviary" started as a giant parrot cage I was given, I then enclosed it with scrap wood and added to it.
> 
> I've been eyeballing those shed kits you see around. I think the aluminum ones would get too hot/cold, but the plastic or wood, add a little wire and a flight pen and away I go.


Yeah, found items are awesome. I personally am not fond of the plastic sheds- just from my experience in one a club member has- super stuffy inside! Needs more vents, but even with, I dunno- but knowing me, if it were free, I'd use it somehow.  . Now those metal ones are free on C-list all the time- ones I have bought new and built in the past soured me on them as a storage solution- what a pain to assemble! However, I think they could be used as a loft if windowed well, and or open screening on front wall, or open all the way in the front to the secure aviary like "horse4art" did for her pigeons. But, ultimately, it all comes down to climate- my climate is wet, but moderate. I guess that is why I didn't like being in that rubbermaid loft- really clammy.


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

I got some more work done today- only really need a few hours for this- but never seem to have the time. Anyway.....


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

Made some more progress.....


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## billyr70 (Jun 11, 2009)

Great job, it looks good so far.


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

billyr70 said:


> Great job, it looks good so far.


Thanks- trying to keep it simple so It'll get done soon.


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

Almost done..................Might actually meet my goal! 









Looks like crap- but a coat of paint will help............


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## billyr70 (Jun 11, 2009)

Now that looks cool. Keep up the good work Nay Nay......


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## JRNY (Nov 17, 2009)

Incredible what you could do with a twin bed. Just imagine if it was a bunk bed . Keep up the good work. Once your birds love home they will always come back.


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

JRNY said:


> Incredible what you could do with a twin bed. Just imagine if it was a bunk bed . Keep up the good work. Once your birds love home they will always come back.


OMG- a bunk bed woulda been awesome! But unlikely to find on a free pile. This whole expansion is gonna cost me less than 5 bucks outta pocket- 4 of that was for a roll of hardware cloth that turned up at my local recycled building supply store, the rest for nails and screws by the pound at the same place. I have extra roofing from the original loft, and always manage to scrounge up free lumber here and there. I think I even have a free can of white paint out in the garage- LOL. 

But yeah, I keep em happy- the perches are poop free from me hanging out in there with the birds, always with a scraper nearby. The birds want for nothing, and the one that got found by the group that was routing- who had been in my original lost squadron of "strong on the wing" YB is so happy to be home (after 2 months in the wild...) That she usually traps after just a few laps of loft flying- she knows how good she has it.


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## Pip Logan (Oct 6, 2009)

Hows it coming along?


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

Good man- my son was home for a few days though, so I was playin Halo and such. Now, sadly he is away again  . But I will work on it more tomorrow. I have been super fatigued lately- not sure why. Anyway, I am supposed to be earning some cabbage helping a friend build a fence, but I feel like I am not worth paying lately! So, I go slow working on the expansion and taking lots of breaks instead. Could be done tomorrow- or the next day if I get out there! Only a few more tricky parts- the roof and hardware cloth will take no time at all, so it comes down to framing the little hutch door, really. Even that is not too bad. So, it'll be done soon, and my pigeon life will be easier- lol. Rest of my life is a work in progress with a lot of unsolved variables- but lots of Hope, and Big Faith.


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

I named the 2 newest  baby birds "Miracle #3", and "Miracle #4"- cuz I am still amazed that little baby birds come out of eggs! They are out of a white cock-bird and a BB hen- I'm curious who they will take after.


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## Pip Logan (Oct 6, 2009)

__________


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## Nomad_Lofts (Apr 12, 2011)

wow nay you are very resourceful your loft is a thing of beauty


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## Nomad_Lofts (Apr 12, 2011)

my junk your treasure


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

Nomad_Lofts said:


> my junk your treasure


Yup- I always find a way. I have been enjoying watching all the misc junk I grab off of free piles become parts of my loft- esp watching it actually get used, and not just sit there in a pile of junk- LOL. Junk pile gets smaller as loft gets bigger. .

I may actually push and finish it up today- I am at a point where I don't wanna fly my flyers cuz I have to sort everyone first. I need some of those colored bands- the little dudes I started flying were easy to spot, cuz they were smaller- but now that they are bigger, I end up having to catch birds to see who is who! Annoying. But, won't be an issue much longer.


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

Well, I am having issues with fatigue lately, but I am making slow progress. 









It's ready for the roof- I just don't have the "umph". Maybe tomorrow...


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## NayNay (Mar 16, 2011)

Most of what I have been doing is not visible- like making sure all the potential vermin access points are secure, and building a divider in the aviary, as the hutch loft will house the hens, and the boys get to keep the breeder section- which will now have it's own separate aviary. During breeding, the breeders will have access to the whole she-bang, and my YB team/flyers will have their own space.


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