NEw LoFt help

[wesolowski]

Hey hows evreybody my names rob im a new flyer to the sport of pigon racing ive hade homing pigeons in a loft at my old house in lindenhurst for about 7 years now jsut to look at them and admier them but now ive moved out to commack and im putting in a new loft 8 deep 24 long now should i split it into three sections or four b/c ive never raced and im gettin started so i need imput and ideas how to creat the best loft and enviorment for our featherd friends thanx

[learning]

Hello there!

The only advice I could give is to plan and think ahead to what you will need in the future, not necessarily what you need now. There are several questions I would ask myself before starting a loft.

1) Will I fly my young birds seperately? (hens and cocks) If so I need at least two sections for young birds.

2) What system will I use to fly old birds? With a natural system you can get by with one section. If you choose to fly widowhood you will need at least 2 sections so you can remove the hens from their mates.

3) How many breeders do I plan on having? You will really need to be able to separate the pairs during the off season. They need time to rest. Some people will put the hens in with their youngbirds but if your breeding stock are prisoners you can't do this as your youngbirds will be let out on a nearly daily basis. Most people have a seperate section for the breeding hens during the off season. My breeding loft is big enough that I just put in a temporary, removable wall to separtate the hens from the cocks. All the nestboxes are on one wall and I have removable perches that I put up on the other wall in the off season for the hens.

These are just a few of the types of questions you will need to answer for yourself before starting a loft.

Hope this helps,

Dan

[k-will]

i would shoot for 5 rooms if you will fly young and old birds.that is...1 for ybs,1 for old cocks,1 for old hens,2 for breeder cocks and hens.you have to decide as far as breeders how many pairs you want to be able to house with room.some have 2 compartments for both old birds and ybs.that would be 6 total.make a game plan for what you want to do and build loft to fit the need.

me-i have 4 compartments because we dont fly ybs in my club anymore(replaced with a yearling series at the beginning of old birds),so i need 2 for breeders and 2 for the flyers.the only catch is in the future i must breed later so i dont move ybs to old bird flyer rooms until im done flying old birds....point is,build for your needs.

[DEEJAY7950]

Boy are you in for it cause i know from my own plans that they keep changing from month to month, first i just wanted a 8x8 loft, then after a lot of thinking i thought i needed another section so it then had to be 8x16, but after some more tweaking i thought i might as well put in a middle section for storage, so i would then have a "breeding loft" "then a middle section for myself", "then a young bird section" ! so now I'm up to 8x24, then i thought if I'm going to do that much work maybe i should go 8x32---- 12ft for breeders, 8ft middle for myself, and 12 for young birds that i could divide up if i needed to! I have no idea what I will end up with? although it will never go beyond 8x32 that is for certain, I'm leaning towards smaller more manageable! I think maybe I'm out of control and need a reality check!

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by DEEJAY7950

Boy are you in for it cause i know from my own plans that they keep changing from month to month, first i just wanted a 8x8 loft, then after a lot of thinking i thought i needed another section so it then had to be 8x16, but after some more tweaking i thought i might as well put in a middle section for storage, so i would then have a "breeding loft" "then a middle section for myself", "then a young bird section" ! so now I'm up to 8x24, then i thought if I'm going to do that much work maybe i should go 8x32---- 12ft for breeders, 8ft middle for myself, and 12 for young birds that i could divide up if i needed to! I have no idea what I will end up with? although it will never go beyond 8x32 that is for certain, I'm leaning towards smaller more manageable! I think maybe I'm out of control and need a reality check!

OH heck.........just move into the loft yourself, put in a bathroom and let the birds have the house. That way, you'll have enough room for your birds......for a while at least!
Seriously though.........no matter WHAT you build or HOW you build it, there will always be something else you coulda, shoulda, woulda, done different.
Minimum sections IMO, is 5, just like k-will said.

[Margarret]

Hi Rob,

Welcome to Pigeon Talk. My only advice is plan for what you think you will need and then double it! Just kidding, well sorta. I know how exciting it is to be planning your new loft. Keep us informed of your progress as you go along. I'm not a racer, but there are plenty here who are and they will give you excellent responses to any questions you might have.

Margaret

[DEEJAY7950]

Originally Posted by Lovebirds

OH heck.........just move into the loft yourself, put in a bathroom and let the birds have the house. That way, you'll have enough room for your birds......for a while at least!
Seriously though.........no matter WHAT you build or HOW you build it, there will always be something else you coulda, shoulda, woulda, done different.
Minimum sections IMO, is 5, just like k-will said.

Renee, what a great suggestion, right now I'm looking at all the walls i could put perches on lol, the bed room perfect for the breeding area lol, the birds don't like the idea of a kitchen though lol, pigeon bathroom nice place for them to clean up lol, if my wife sees this I know I'll be in the loft for sure, just hope she fills the feeder, brings a six pack and leaves me the remote, ah life's little pleasures!

[hillfamilyloft]

If it were me, I would build the loft say 8 x 24 leaving the inside the same. From here about every 6 feet I would put from the back to front about half way dividers. They could support the loft. I would then put sliding door that could close off each section. This would give you four sections. You could have two with nest boxes, for breeding or widowhood, and perches in the other two for hens in the winter and for young birds in the spring. You could slide the dividers open or closed when need be.

You could also put a full aviary on the front that also has removable dividers. This would give you an aviary for every section that can expand with the loft sections. Put in a few traps that you could close off or use simultanously, say when trainning young birds while still flying old birds.

I would put in a slatted floor using 1x2s on their side threaded on dowels under the perches. This floor can be removed if need be in the winter and replace with plywood. I saw a floor like this in a racing loft, it was great. Plenty of circulation and the birds liked it better than wire. I think he said it was also cheaper. Put 1x2 spacers between boards. These spacers could rest on joists. He put a few bantum chickens under the loft and they cleaned everything up even the poop.

Personally I would want 5 sections. I would also want flexibility when young bird season came around to have an 8 x 16 foot loft for a nice size team.

I would also make all the walls and roof collapsable where you could move the loft in a large Uhaul or flat bed trailer.

I was thinking you could use a flatbead for the floor and make all walls where they bolted together and could be taken apart. It would be nice if you moved to just disassemble the loft, put the birds in the truck and move if you had to. I have seen lofts like this on European pages where they haul them to you and assemble them.

Randy