# Newbie with newbie questions



## solesrfr (Mar 24, 2008)

Hello all,
First I must say that after doing a bunch of searching through the forums for information this has to be the most polite board I have ever been on. I have always been interested in birds and I have several that call my small yard home, local watering hole/resteraunt. I first got attracted to homers when Jimmy Smits joined the cast of NYPD Blue many years ago. And now I see this might be a fun hobby for my daughter and I to enjoy together. That said I still have a couple things I could not find through my research. When I do something I do a lot of research on the subject before I do or buy anything. So here are my first questions

1. There are a good number of tall trees around my yard both inside and out, so how critical is the line of sight to the loft?

2. Since this is just a basic hobby for me is keeping only 6 to 8 birds acceptable and can my loft be 4x4x8 with a 3 foot aviary? I ask because my yard is small.

I like the small loft design on redroselofts.com and thought I could just make it half the size. Thanks again.

Chris,


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Hi Chris and Welcome! Yes .. this is just about the best pigeon discussion board on the planet, and we're glad to have you here.

I'm not the person to respond to anything related to building anything .. sorry .. there will be members who can really address your questions coming by shortly.

I hope you and your family will enjoy pigeons as much as we all do!

Terry


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## eric98223 (Aug 4, 2007)

solesrfr said:


> Hello all,
> First I must say that after doing a bunch of searching through the forums for information this has to be the most polite board I have ever been on. I have always been interested in birds and I have several that call my small yard home, local watering hole/resteraunt. I first got attracted to homers when Jimmy Smits joined the cast of NYPD Blue many years ago. And now I see this might be a fun hobby for my daughter and I to enjoy together. That said I still have a couple things I could not find through my research. When I do something I do a lot of research on the subject before I do or buy anything. So here are my first questions
> 
> 1. There are a good number of tall trees around my yard both inside and out, so how critical is the line of sight to the loft?
> ...


Chris, 
first of all welcome and let me see if i can answer some of your questions.

1. line of sight is kind of important but not so much that you should not get birds. i live in the inland northwest and have tons of largetrees in my area. my birds return home and have to land on the house first before they drop to the loft. i even dropped a tree or two and prued another way back, but they still find home very easily.


2. i have seen lofts` that are very small my first loft was 4 ft wide by 8ft tall and 8 ft long i like the design of that loft you mention as well ( http://www.redroselofts.com/starter_loft.html )except i leave my fly boards open most of the time. I fly my birds daily and having the front folded to the ground like the one is in that picture is just a ramp for critters to climb up and mess with your birds (found this out when i had to remove a cat who had gone through the drops and was inside my loft. I am not sure about only 6-8 birds if you want to fly them regularly. if you have no plans to take them distances it might be ok but losing one or two birds on a drop could be devastating to your flock. I would recommended going a little bigger so you dont have to expand quickly if you decide on more birds.



you mentioned your daughter, my 13 year old son is into this as well and the local au club has ben awesome for us. the members have helped so much with questions and help. members have come by when i have had sick birds and have given me young birds as well. a lot of these guys have been racing since they were kids and the knowledge and friendship has been awesome
http://www.pigeon.org/index.html
check out the beginners corner


follow the links to my pictures and let me know if there is anything i can`answer for you. some people here have rescued ferals (wild birds) some are racing enthusiasts (lovebirds, myself, zimm) and some have fancier birds but we all love them the same and we will all try ti help when we can. let me know if i can help


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## eric98223 (Aug 4, 2007)

went back to my photobucket and added pictures of my first loft the left hand side and fly area is where i started and within weeks built the right hand half. now if you go look at my new loft pictures you can see how far i have come since then i have a 10x20 3 room building. and if you want to see what happen when hobby turns to OBSESSION go look at lovebirds loft lol (sorry couldn't resist, i'm actually jealous very much so of their set up)


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## solesrfr (Mar 24, 2008)

Thanks Terry and Eric,
Unfortunatly my yard is too small for me to be able to build a 4x8 loft. I will not be doing anything over 50 miles, if that, which is why I was hoping that 8 birds would suffice and thus a smaller loft. Your lofts gave me some more food for thought in what I might be able to design, assuming this project gets off the ground. Thanks again everyone.

Chris,


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## eric98223 (Aug 4, 2007)

no problem chris. 
my birds are flying about 40-50 miles almost every day (except for some late snow this week) and i have about 15-20 on my fly team at the moment. seem to all be making it home in good time. 
as i stated before they fly in a group and if you only have 8 birds and 2 are on eggs then all of a sudden you have 6, then you lose 2 on a flight all of a sudden you have almost on birds.

just food for thought, let me know if i can help

E..


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## ND Cooper (Mar 4, 2008)

Would something like a roller kit box work?
It's a box 5'(Tall in front)x 3' (deep) x 4' (wide) and 4' tall in the back, the roof slopes down in the back. Then you raise the whole thing up on legs, or saw horses. No nest boxes inside, only inverted vee perches ^.
The whole front opens like cabinet doors, or has double doors, inside screened, outside solid.
I just built one and it has a poop tray that slides out from the side. I still need to get 1" expanded metal wire floor ( just 4'x3') Sorry that i don't have a picture for you, I'll work on that. Check out roller websites. You will get an idea. 
I too, am only interested in keeping a limited amount of pigeons. Right now I only have 6 racing homers, but I'm thinking of getting some tipplers.
ND Cooper, Kit box is not in the picture, picture is a 4x4x8 with 3 sections (doors) and 3 shelves


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