# The makings of a true young bird racing loft...



## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

Here is the 8 X 20 loft I picked up a month ago. It was in sad shape. The roof was rotted and saging in. The rats were chewing through the 2x4 studs. 

Before I show you any pictures as the rebuild progessed. What do you think of it so far??

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## ejb3810 (May 21, 2012)

It looks like it will be a project that you can make something useful from. How far did you have to travel with it? Hope you left the rats at the old location.


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## Pigeon0446 (Apr 22, 2007)

I would have just started from scratch. I wish I just knocked down and started over with the YB coop I have now. After putting a new back wall in and a new roof. It wouldn't have been all that much more work to have built a brand new coop.


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

Depending on what it coast, it looks like a good place to start.
Dave


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## luckyloft (Oct 21, 2006)

Diamond in the rough. Jeff


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Seeing what you did on the last loft, I think this one will turn out cool. Banded 3 today probably the other 4 tomorrow. Probably give you one out each of the first 7 pairs. All good stuff


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

Crazy Pete said:


> Depending on what it coast, it looks like a good place to start.
> Dave


I paid $100 for it. When finished I will have a little over $1000 into it and a full months work.

This is after gutting it, cleaning scraping and bleaching. You canalso see a little of the new roof that is being put on.

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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

ejb3810 said:


> It looks like it will be a project that you can make something useful from. How far did you have to travel with it? Hope you left the rats at the old location.


I halled it about 50 miles without the rats...

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## ERIC K (Mar 29, 2010)

Doesn't look as bad now . I think you got your $100. back just in the plywood siding and floor alone.


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

I'll bet the finished product will be a great young bird loft.
Dave


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## Pollo70 (Jan 3, 2012)

Coming along just like any restoration project,


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Looks good


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## Peckerwood (Feb 28, 2014)

*loft work*

Sometimes you use what you can get your hands on. Mine is coming along just fine from free stuff on craigs list like wood and wire.
I say thumbs up! Great find.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

The loft is not finnished yet but I have it set in place and 36 young are already in it.

View attachment 29735



It has two dividing walls giving it six foot sections on each end and an eight foot section in the center. As you can see the front door is gone and instead there is a screen door on each end. There will be solid doors that will go on the outside of them for bad weather and at night.

You can see I added a 6" vent area all of the way around the loft and there will be vents with fans blowing the air out at the top of both gable ends.

The board accross the bottom is for the new young placed in the loft, so they all can get up off the floor at night. After all young are settled that will be replaced with perches. There will be 16 roost boxes on each end wall and 16 on each deviding wall (8 on each side of the deviding walls).

Also a 6' wide by 4' high by 20' long flight pen is yet to be added to the back of the loft. + + + + + 

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## Alamo (Nov 22, 2008)

*I like it.....I like it......I want it....I want it....Looks great......Alamo*


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## Pollo70 (Jan 3, 2012)

Booya! looks good, great job!


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## Silver Wings (Jan 27, 2014)

Very nice, really like the way you did the roof!


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## Rod Hultquist (Aug 23, 2009)

nice job. looks great.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

Thanks guys... I put a lot of work into this one. I have had young birds out of the nest in the breeding loft for more than three weeks now.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

hillfamilyloft said:


> Banded 3 today probably the other 4 tomorrow. Probably give you one out each of the first 7 pairs. All good stuff


You did get the bands I sent?


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## ejb3810 (May 21, 2012)

Ace that loft looks great and for $100 and the trouble to haul it I think you got your money's worth. It appears that you have some carpentry skills.


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## luckyloft (Oct 21, 2006)

VERY NICE, looks like you had a plan and worked it out well. Jeff


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## Crazy Pete (Nov 13, 2008)

It looks great, no self respecting rat would dare go in there now.
Dave


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

ace in the hole said:


> You did get the bands I sent?


Yep 6 out of 7 banded last one tomorrow, should be sent the 2nd I think. Sending one out of each of the first 7 pairs. Hope they race well. 

Loft looks great. How are you going to do the traps and landing boards?


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

So far I have banded 6 birds:
1st off AU 11 LL 1072 AU FM 09 7781 ( 1072 is off Kahuna and 5415)
2nd off AU 12 LL 796	AU LL 09 338 (796 is off Ned and Snake sibling winners)
3rd off AU 05 45894	AU LL 12 784 (Buzz and a daughter of Ed x Charlotte)
4th off 490 RC	489 BB (bred top 10s last year)
5th off AU 05 47187	AU 05 47200 (Ned and Snake Charmer bred winners)
6th AU 12 LL 785	AU LLC 09 1169 (785 off 7726x1168 (bred 2nd high points last year) and sister to 1168)

As you can see many are off your birds.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

luckyloft said:


> VERY NICE, looks like you had a plan and worked it out well. Jeff


Yes, I have had 5 years to figure out how to build the perfect Florida young bird racing loft. As this year progresses I'm sure I will figure out many thing I hadn't thought of...


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

hillfamilyloft said:


> How are you going to do the traps and landing boards?


If you look at the front of the loft you will see a square opening that is covered with bird netting instead of hardwaer cloth. That is where the drop trap will go. I'll have to show you all pictures of the training landing board. It will be 8' X 8' and painted up real pretty.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

ejb3810 said:


> Ace that loft looks great and for $100 and the trouble to haul it I think you got your money's worth. It appears that you have some carpentry skills.


Ya, many years.

It was a great deal. It also was a lot of work but when finished, even with the flight pen it will not cost me over $1500.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

Crazy Pete said:


> It looks great, no self respecting rat would dare go in there now.
> Dave


He would also be petty hard pressed to find a place to get in the loft now.


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## heeler (Nov 19, 2013)

Ace not to be a downer or a negative nelly but remember we are in Fl and some of the summer squalls we get can blow 70mph. I think your loft is really cool and hope it last forever but I did'nt notice any anchors so if you havent finished yet do yourself a favor and add some, of course if we did get a blow maybe some of your best would be blown north to my area, I would feed them for ya and even send ya some of the offspring.


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## wingsoverny (Jun 17, 2010)

Looks really good!


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

> =heeler;780116]I did'nt notice any anchors so if you havent finished yet do yourself a favor and add some,


It will be anchored. 

I would hate to have my best up in your loft for you to beat me with...


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## ERIC K (Mar 29, 2010)

Just a thought I had about your vents around the floor . It might be an idea to add a cover at an angle over the front bottom floor vent so its spaced at the bottom around 3 inches and tight at the top to match the siding so the air/ wind/rain doesn't blow straight in. A wet floor will hinder all that fresh air you have . I know it must be ungodly hot there and good air flow is a must but still. I have found that a smaller opening has a better draw of fresh air than a big opening , letting the chimney effect work and carry the stale air out the top vents slowly . Other wise nice , can't wait for more pictures.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

ERIC K said:


> Just a thought I had about your vents around the floor.


I will be making covers that will be hinged from the top so they can be opened and closed as needed. I'll post pics when they are done. There is still a lot of work to be done.

I have 19 more young ready to move into it so today I am building the rest of the roost boxes.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Looks like I will send the birds out the 7th. Don't think they will be ready by next week. They are still in the nest.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

hillfamilyloft said:


> Looks like I will send the birds out the 7th. Don't think they will be ready by next week. They are still in the nest.


That works out good. I will have a few grizzles and a black that will not be going into the racing loft until later that week.

I will have 75 from my breeders, 7 from you and 6 droppers. 88 young birds in the loft is enough...


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## jwbriggs (Jul 30, 2009)

Great Job, Nice setup!


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## jwbriggs (Jul 30, 2009)

Rough looking start, but nice follow through. Ones mans trash, another's treasure!


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

Just finished the flight pen. It is 4' x 4' x 20'. The pic shows the first birds to check out their new area. 

The painting of the rest of the loft will have to wait now until after this season.

View attachment 29968


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## jwbriggs (Jul 30, 2009)

Looks Great! Doesn't even resemble the first pics you posted.


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## doveman2 (Jul 22, 2012)

I did the same thing with the water jug. they still seem to @#$% in it


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

what direction is the flight pen facing? Just wondering which way you face lofts in FL.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

The loft is facing to the east because of the way the property is and the way I train.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

Do you have a system yet to box the birds? Looks like with all that space boxing for races and training would take a while.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

hillfamilyloft said:


> Do you have a system yet to box the birds? Looks like with all that space boxing for races and training would take a while.


I will basket the birds in the dark early morning for training. This way all I have to do is pick them up from roosting. They will only be trained in the morning. 

For the races, the three sections of the loft will have dividers. It will split it into two 6' x 8' sections and one 8' x 8' section. The flight pen door will be closed.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

ace in the hole said:


> If you look at the front of the loft you will see a square opening that is covered with bird netting instead of hardwaer cloth. That is where the drop trap will go. I'll have to show you all pictures of the training landing board. It will be 8' X 8' and painted up real pretty.


Well here is my landing board. It is not 8' x 8' though, it is 10' long over all. It starts out at 4' wide and tapers down to 26 inches at the loft and into a 4 hole drop trap. You can see the raised area by the loft. That is the race landing board they will have after they're settled and know what they're doing.

With 98 birds started on my loft trapping system they are going to need it. If they can't find the landing board now, I don't want them in my loft anyways.

View attachment 30079


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

Haha love the arrow I hope they know which way its pointing


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

The box under the landing board is sealed and holds the clock so it can be checked without entering the loft.

View attachment 30082


View attachment 30083


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

You should put a runway number on it.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

hillfamilyloft said:


> You should put a runway number on it.



I've been training and teaching these young to the best of my ability. I'm just getting them to read. I don't want to confuse them now by throwing in numbers.


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## wyllm (Nov 24, 2012)

Ace! Where are the night time landing lights? You could hook a set of runner lights that guide them on in after dark.


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## hillfamilyloft (Jun 22, 2005)

More pictures of the loft.


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## Silver Wings (Jan 27, 2014)

Coming from a Naval family for generations...

DO YOU have ANY idea what kind of ideas you are giving me for the 'racing pigeons" newest loft ???

OMG RUnning lights!! Runway Numbers!!!!

Ouh Ouh Ouh -- Jumping up and down..... LMAO...

I may just have to give some considerations....


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## Silver Wings (Jan 27, 2014)

Just showed spouse....

His reaction?? "ohhhhhhh my God" LOL.

Yea.... Um... Granted I only want a baker's dozen of racers....

Ya'll just add to my 'bad thoughts' LOL


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## Alamo (Nov 22, 2008)

Get a few bowling pins,and when your not racing,you can bowl a little to have some fun...hahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!Alamo


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

They have been in trap training for over a month now and didn't know it. After painting the opening to the loft orange I let the birds out into the flight pen right after sun up. At feeding time I called them in to feed with my cow bell and the ones that didn't go in right away (trap) I directed them in with my trapping stick.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

Sorry, didn't attach the pic.

View attachment 30085


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## bbcdon (Oct 16, 2007)

Great job!!! There is nothing like it when you turn a complete delapidated project into a finished product which makes you beam with pride and satisfaction.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

hillfamilyloft said:


> More pictures of the loft.


I have reached my picture limit. NEW pics will have to wait for a while.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

bbcdon said:


> Great job!!! There is nothing like it when you turn a complete delapidated project into a finished product which makes you beam with pride and satisfaction.


Thanks Don, The loft has come a long way but it is going to have to wait until after the young bird racing season to get the finishing touches put on it.


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## newbiebulldoger (Apr 7, 2014)

very nice!


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## raftree3 (Oct 16, 2010)

Ace: What's the box under the board....a place for your clock or something?


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

ace in the hole said:


> The box under the landing board is sealed and holds the clock so it can be checked without entering the loft.
> 
> View attachment 30082
> 
> ...


That is what it is.


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