Pigeon Talk

[Old_Strain_Lover]

I thought I’d share some pics of my new 3ft x 10ft pigeon loft... it was made of repurposed and leftover materials.... the enclosed area is 4ft with 6ft of aviary

View attachment 2563603

I haven’t put the hardware cloth in the bottom yet, so you’ll have to imagine it there attached to the top of the 2x4s, about 18-20 inches off the ground

the “pop door” is just in case this gets used for some other purpose in the future
View attachment 2563604

This is the view inside... I had some old wooden shutters that I repurposed as a slatted nest wall
View attachment 2563605

this is the view from the door on the right end that allows access to the nesting shelves... just imagine all of the tools and stuff are nesting pigeons
View attachment 2563606

Nice setup. I just have a couple suggestions for you... on the last picture where you have the door to access the nests, I see you have narrow strips of wood at the edge of the nesting floors by the door. I would suggest removing these for ease of cleaning... and if you have them for support, just flip them to the underside and attach it there. It will make cleaning a lot easier. Also any door that opens up to the outside, I would suggest backing up with a screen door. It will help eliminate any unwanted escapes, and when the weather is nice, you can leave them open for some more ventilation.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Nice setup. I just have a couple suggestions for you... on the last picture where you have the door to access the nests, I see you have narrow strips of wood at the edge of the nesting floors by the door. I would suggest removing these for ease of cleaning... and if you have them for support, just flip them to the underside and attach it there. It will make cleaning a lot easier. Also any door that opens up to the outside, I would suggest backing up with a screen door. It will help eliminate any unwanted escapes, and when the weather is nice, you can leave them open for some more ventilation.

Thanks for the suggestions!

my thoughts on the wood strips was to provide a lip so the nest/baby birds won’t fall out when the door is opened if the nest is built in the corner... but I do see your point for cleaning, and was kinda wondering about that too...

so I’m gonna relocate them to the underside as suggested because a couple of the shelves do need the support, but do you have any thoughts on preventing nest/birds from falling out when the door is opened?

as for the door, I’m not sure how much flying they’ll be doing, but I’ve been thinking about reworking it to put in a trap and fold down landing platform into that door, just to have it in place in case...

Do you think it would be better to put that on the aviary side, and then add the screen door you suggested?

 

[WVduckchick]

I thought I’d share some pics of my new 3ft x 10ft pigeon loft... it was made of repurposed and leftover materials.... the enclosed area is 4ft with 6ft of aviary

View attachment 2563603

I haven’t put the hardware cloth in the bottom yet, so you’ll have to imagine it there attached to the top of the 2x4s, about 18-20 inches off the ground

the “pop door” is just in case this gets used for some other purpose in the future
View attachment 2563604

This is the view inside... I had some old wooden shutters that I repurposed as a slatted nest wall
View attachment 2563605

this is the view from the door on the right end that allows access to the nesting shelves... just imagine all of the tools and stuff are nesting pigeons
View attachment 2563606

Love the looks of it!

 

[WVduckchick]

We have babies!
2 pairs so far. And the new nest bins that I set up a few weeks ago are already in use. One nest already has a pair of eggs, and I’ve seen hens laying in 2 more, but no eggs yet.
I also finally ordered my 2021 NPA bands. I hope they come quickly! I thought I already had them, so I hope they arrive in time to band the new babies.

 

[backyard pigeons]

And then there were three. I had a hawk attack and think I lost one of my young birds. Crazy how the birds can be out and flying for a half hour or more, and the hawk only attacks when I pop my head into the shed and out of view.

Bummer. Sorry about that qwerty! Will you allow your pair to raise a round of young this year?

I thought I’d share some pics of my new 3ft x 10ft pigeon loft... it was made of repurposed and leftover materials.... the enclosed area is 4ft with 6ft of aviary

View attachment 2563603

I haven’t put the hardware cloth in the bottom yet, so you’ll have to imagine it there attached to the top of the 2x4s, about 18-20 inches off the ground

the “pop door” is just in case this gets used for some other purpose in the future
View attachment 2563604

This is the view inside... I had some old wooden shutters that I repurposed as a slatted nest wall
View attachment 2563605

this is the view from the door on the right end that allows access to the nesting shelves... just imagine all of the tools and stuff are nesting pigeons
View attachment 2563606

I love it! Great job @OhZark Biddies ! When will you get the pigeons? What breed\s?

We have babies!
2 pairs so far. And the new nest bins that I set up a few weeks ago are already in use. One nest already has a pair of eggs, and I’ve seen hens laying in 2 more, but no eggs yet.
I also finally ordered my 2021 NPA bands. I hope they come quickly! I thought I already had them, so I hope they arrive in time to band the new babies.
View attachment 2564232View attachment 2564230

exciting! How many do you hope to raise this year? How is Bugsy, the pigeon that will live in fame on this thread?

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

I'm at a loss :') Slowly this year I've been figuring out what birds to downsize in my flock, I've decided to get rid of my homers, and two of my rollers for a start and see if that impacts my feed bill, and might rehome my muffed chinese owl if I can find a nice pet home for her. I was going to include my blue bar girl Pirate in the 'sell' group... but she's SO close to perfect for her mate!!

Ever since Peany (the cockbird on the right) hatched it was my goal to get an almond, he's a spread almond but almost every hen I've had has been ALSO spread so I bought Pirate, in hopes of eliminating the spread and getting just almond. She's a lovely little petite blue bar with a super amazing little white face on her, I know she's nothing too crazy or special but I kinda like her, and she instantly paired with Peany. (my other blue bar opal girl I tried to pair with him was NOT fond of him, which I understand cause he's a jerk but that was disheartening)

The only problem is Pirate keeps laying soft shelled eggs... They generally have access to grit (ran out this last week, getting more tomorrow) and when I bought her she came with the issue, I'm sure I could find a new bird to replace her... but she's already paired up and Peany can be a hard guy to love I guess. He's not really a Casanova. I've never had another bird lay a soft shelled egg, nor has anyone I know had soft shelled eggs. I always assumed the grit was fine, does she need something extra? Is it genetic...? I have access to oyster shells for the chickens, could that help? I've always thought it was a bit big for them though ^^" Thank you

 

[cavemanrich]

Try giving the ouster shells free-choice, and try some layer feed also. Then see if eggs improve.
If you feel the oyster shells are too large, then smash them smaller with a hammer.

 

[sourland]

Try giving the ouster shells free-choice, and try some layer feed also. Then see if eggs improve.
If you feel the oyster shells are too large, then smash them smaller with a hammer.

I believe there is a finer calcium additive for cage birds - this might help her.

 

[WVduckchick]

exciting! How many do you hope to raise this year? How is Bugsy, the pigeon that will live in fame on this thread?

I ordered 30 bands, but I plan to sell a few more this year than I have in the past. I'm at 32 (I think) now, including the 4 that just hatched, not including the current eggs lol

I think I mentioned earlier that one of my pairs of eggs only had one of the two eggs fertile. They were Bugsy's! Her baby hasn't hatched, as of yesterday, but I'm hopeful it should hatch today or very very soon! I'll be sure to get pics for you. Thanks for remembering her.
Strangely, her parents Bonnie & Clyde have been seen in their nest, but still no new eggs from them.

 

[Old_Strain_Lover]

Thanks for the suggestions!

my thoughts on the wood strips was to provide a lip so the nest/baby birds won’t fall out when the door is opened if the nest is built in the corner... but I do see your point for cleaning, and was kinda wondering about that too...

so I’m gonna relocate them to the underside as suggested because a couple of the shelves do need the support, but do you have any thoughts on preventing nest/birds from falling out when the door is opened?

as for the door, I’m not sure how much flying they’ll be doing, but I’ve been thinking about reworking it to put in a trap and fold down landing platform into that door, just to have it in place in case...

Do you think it would be better to put that on the aviary side, and then add the screen door you suggested?

By the looks of it, it seems that door is like the back wall so to speak, so when it's closed I really don't see where or how they could fall. Are you going to be using bowls for nests? if not you could always place 2 bricks in a corner and block off a square section for them to build a nest in. I don't think falling out is going to be a problem unless I'm seeing it wrong in the pictures.
I think you could do the landing board/trap as you suggested. I'm not sure what breed you are intending on getting. My main concern would be having a door that's located outside of the aviary and having no screen door behind it. Without it, it would be easy for the birds to pop out past you if you open it... then you could have problems getting them back (especially if they are not trained). I'll try to get a picture of how I have mine set up. Even though I have my door inside of the aviary I still have a screen behind the solid door, and also built a trap right into the screen door. Nowadays I just leave the aviary door open when I'm flying them and let them trap into the loft that way also. It's just a suggestion of mine because I often see people saying my bird got out, how do I get it back??? This would just be a way to prevent accidents like that as you can see where they are at all times. Heck, you could even make small individual frames with some screen stapled to it for each nest box slot that fits inside the opening, hinge it on one side and use a hook and eye or barrel bolt on the other side to hold it in place. Lots of ways to make it work.