New loft

[Lady Tarheel]

I bet they do enjoy the rain. Being in an aviary with a solid roof ours don't get that treat but I have seen them get very close to the side of the aviary when it rains and they raise their wings up like they do when they take a bath.

[Jguy3348]

I am new and my biggest concern about getting invloved with pigeons is the expense of a large enough loft to compete. How do you go from a starter loft, to say 50 birds loft, without a major expense that still looks good. I am trying to figure out how to have a large inexpensive, decent looking loft.

With all the pre-fabricated buildings that can be found at Home Depot type stores. I cannot find one example of someone adapting one for a starter loft...there is a 7x7x6 suncast that cost $700 should hold 20 birds....I know that it is plastic, the wood ones are expensive for a starter loft. Buy another one and double your birds??? Vent it right, organize the inside, build an avairy your good to go?

I presume I am missing something or a genius:} Why isn't this a good option.

Anyone know of a good 40-50 bird loft option???

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...cemldffidfno.0


thanks

jguy3348

[learning]

Jguy3348,

I too am getting back into racing and I got a great piece of advice from a fellow club member that recently moved to my area after an amazing career in the very large and very competative Fall River Club in Massachusetts. After looking at my loft I asked him if he thought it would be adequate to compete. He chuckled and then said that "guys have won consistantly out of orange crates before!" It's not the size of the loft it is the health and happyness of the pigeons along with having good birds and good management.

I would focus on keeping the birds healthy and stress free. Part of that includes keeping them from being overcrowded. An overcrowded loft can lead to any number of problems. Whatever size loft you end up with, just keep the number of birds in it appropriate to its size.

One of the very best and most consistant middle distance racers in the world only keeps 60 pigeons. You can read about him on Warren Smith's website:

www.smithfamilyloft.com

His name is Ludo Claessens and he has amassed an incredible record flying agains the very best in the world. It's not the numbers that makes you a winner, it's what you do with what you have.

Hope this helps,

Dan

[ohiogsp]

Jguy, what they don't tell you about the plastic barn is that it has to go on a concrete slab. I has a floor but is plastic and has to set on something hard. I would not use plastic if I had a choice. Why not build 2 red rose lofts? I have 2, one is a breeder loft and one is a flight loft. This would give you a 48 bird capacity and 2 seperate lofts. I could build 2 of these for the cost of that plastic barn and that would include the perches and everthing. I also put the doors on my lofts on opposite ends cause I will probably connect them someday.