Question about fantail pigeon pen design

[mrwoodboat]

So I am building a new pen for my pair of Fantails and have a question about perch shelves. I was thinking of using 2x4 about 5" long mounted to the back wall- is this deep enough or should they be longer.
Also, should the nesting bowls be on a shelf as well?

The housing will be 4' wide x 2' deep and 40" tall with a sunporch of the same size- is this enough space for the two birds?

Thanks for any and all input

 

[Twistedfeather]

I have found that roosts against the wall sometimes ruins tail feathers. My pigeons aren't even fantails but are American Rollers and I can only imagine that would be a bigger struggle for those wide tailed birds. But i don't think unless you want to show them that it's too big of a deal. Saying that an ideal size for an aviary is 6 feet high and 4 feet deep for 4 birds I think your fine on the housing part.


Good luck with your Fantails!

 

[jak2002003]

I would not use a shelf like that... because it will damage the fantails tails and quickly get dirty with poop which will get on their feathers.

You are better to use a few small flat perches sticking a few inches out of the wall.. and have one nest box for breeding.

Feed and water in proper pigeon feeders placed in the middle of the room where poops can not fall into them and contaminate the food.

You could also use the inverted V perches to stop poop falling to the floor and keep it even cleaner.

 

[mrwoodboat]

I am using only the one nesting bowl (they have been using a dogfood bowl to nest in)
Here is a picture of what I have got so far- yes, the feed and water will be in the middle towards the front.you can see the perches to the right hand side- I used 1x3 and made them 6" long- I based that on the width of the tail

 

[jak2002003]

Great... looks perfect to me! Your pigeons will be very pleased.

 

[mrwoodboat]

I think that I am going to add the sunroom to the back- that way I can make the front in two pcs with the lower part being able to fold down. Got the legs done today and putting the bird netting in that will be under the roof metal