Pigeon Talk

[CCUK]

I don't know if it's just the picture or what... but those look like some beefy dowels. You must have some strong birds over there in the UK

We have some real strong 'uns! It's 10mm doling. There was a stack of it in the wood shed on the farm. I had some real problems drilling the wood as it kept splitting so I gave up. I'll have to go to the wood yard and see if they have some smaller. Or I can just use mesh.

 

[Old_Strain_Lover]

10mm... that's roughly 3/8"... quite beefy. What kind of drill bits are you using? regular twist drills? or brad point bits? it shouldn't be splitting if they are good and sharp. I assume you are drilling by hand and not using a drill press? Are you drilling all the way through or just partially? Too bad you are on the other side of the pond... I'd give you a hand if you were closer

 

[CCUK]

10mm... that's roughly 3/8"... quite beefy. What kind of drill bits are you using? regular twist drills? or brad point bits? it shouldn't be splitting if they are good and sharp. I assume you are drilling by hand and not using a drill press? Are you drilling all the way through or just partially? Too bad you are on the other side of the pond... I'd give you a hand if you were closer

Thanks for the offer! I could sure use it! I'm just using a cordless hand drill with hss metalwork drill bits. They are all getting a bit used but they drill steel OK. I pre drilled the hole about 5-6 mm then drilled 100mm hole. I get about halfway through and the wood starts to split. When I drill the next one it splits completely. I could use ply board I suppose but aesthetically it's not as good.

 

[biophiliac]

10mm... that's roughly 3/8"... quite beefy. What kind of drill bits are you using? regular twist drills? or brad point bits? it shouldn't be splitting if they are good and sharp. I assume you are drilling by hand and not using a drill press? Are you drilling all the way through or just partially? Too bad you are on the other side of the pond... I'd give you a hand if you were closer

Thanks for the offer! I could sure use it! I'm just using a cordless hand drill with hss metalwork drill bits. They are all getting a bit used but they drill steel OK. I pre drilled the hole about 5-6 mm then drilled 100mm hole. I get about halfway through and the wood starts to split. When I drill the next one it splits completely. I could use ply board I suppose but aesthetically it's not as good.

J

I love the look of dowels for nestbox fronts. Following this interesting discussion. I too need to learn to drill thin bits of wood without destroying them!
Do you make them removable for ease of scraping out the poop?.

 

[CCUK]

J

I love the look of dowels for nestbox fronts. Following this interesting discussion. I too need to learn to drill thin bits of wood without destroying them!
Do you make them removable for ease of scraping out the poop?.

Drilling the big bits are easy! It definitely the smaller parts that are causing an issue! You could make the fronts removable but it would take a bit of headscratching to figure it out. There is a video on YouTube somewhere that someone made the fronts that just pivoted up and slid into the top of the nest box. Quite a good idea really. I'll see if I can find it.

 

[CCUK]

It wasn't this one but the same idea. Mine are probably too small to do this.

 

[Pyxis]

I too really like the looks of dowels for the nest box fronts, but I'm not entirely sure how to go about building a nest front with them. Would anyone be willing to give me a quick run-down of how to make the fronts with them?

 

[Pyxis]

So I have an old chicken nesting box laying around, this one, and was considering putting it in the loft for now for the pigeons to use. I dunno, do you guys think they would use them, with a nesting bowl added, of course?

 

[backyard pigeons]

So I have an old chicken nesting box laying around, this one, and was considering putting it in the loft for now for the pigeons to use. I dunno, do you guys think they would use them, with a nesting bowl added, of course?

defently. They will love it! I never give my birds bowls,but it's up to you. Mine have lots of pine needles for nest making.

 

[backyard pigeons]

Alright, I need y'alls help. I have done tons of research but nothing matches up.

I have lost 5 rollers (all in the same coop) in 2weeks... I cannot find out what it is. One day they look great, the next, dead. A few of them slowly get weaker, till they can't fly, but not all of them. They lose lots of weight. I have been giving them 4-1 tabs, along with vet-r-x in their water. (The vetrx is for upper respiratory infection...) I now have 8 rollers. the water is clean, food is fresh, and the coop is clean, but it is a dirt bottom one... they are flying daily, but I did lose one a week before flying them the same way, so it isn't something there eating. Mixture of ages... Any help would be appreciated. It thankfully hasn't spread between coop to coop.

@casportpony ?