New loft - "Pirates Perch" - It's about time!

[randymcone]

The waterer wasn't completed in the picture. I filled it to mark the siphon line. I had to cut it down to just at the bend. It works now with no problem. Last night the Horseman thief pouter hen seemed to enjoy the gurgle it makes when she drank from it.

I have room for 20 or so birds. At this point I'm going to keep it to just 4 breeding pairs and let nature fill in the space.

As for the budget, up until I installed the hardware cloth it cost me $15. After seeing several breeders lofts and finding that so many breeds AREN'T the rats with wings she was rasied to believe, my wife consented to the $42.00 for hardware cloth. LOL.

It's 7:30am and I'm headed out to the loft to sit and commune with my new friends.

[randymcone]

I have a few pictures from my cell camera.
http://www.piratesperch.webs.com/

[spirit wings]

oh that web page is so nice! the birds look really great, I love those pouters. so how did you come up with the name of the loft ?I really like it. Are you near the coast there in GA? how did you do the web page? Also keeping pigeons is a great hobby, sitting with them makes you feel so relaxed and takes you away from the regular grind.

[randymcone]

The local school and rec sports program is called the Raiders, my son plays for them and we've always loved pirates. Vacations in the Bahamas visting pirate museums and locations and searching for Gold on the treasure coast in Florida.
The web page is free at webs.com.

[Mike McDonald]

Randy,

I built a feeder like the one you pictured here and my pigeons are pulling all the feed out until its empty and just throwing it around. Do you have that same problem? It holds the feed well but the birds throw it all out. How can I prevent this? I thought of making the front lip a little higher. I am trying to prevent wasting feed and keep the birds from picking contaminated feed off the floor. I understand that's how many deseases are spread.

Mike

[spirit wings]

Originally Posted by Mike McDonald

Randy,

I built a feeder like the one you pictured here and my pigeons are pulling all the feed out until its empty and just throwing it around. Do you have that same problem? It holds the feed well but the birds throw it all out. How can I prevent this? I thought of making the front lip a little higher. I am trying to prevent wasting feed and keep the birds from picking contaminated feed off the floor. I understand that's how many deseases are spread.

Mike

which feeder are you talking about? I use the one made with plexiglass it holds all the feed with out any waste. they can not sling it out of there.
http://www.foyspigeonsupplies.com/catalog/108.html

[Mike McDonald]

At the begining of this thread, Randy shows a feeder he built onto the side of his loft. It keeps the birds off the floor when eating and allows you to store/dispence a quantity of feed.

I may take a hint from the feeder you use and place plexiglass with holes over the feeding trough.

Mike

[randymcone]

Mike,
Hmmmm, I get very little waste. The box feeds into a 2 inch deep well that holds the feed at the bottom of the incline. Most of the feed that is "thrown" around falls back into the well. The pieces that do fall out end up on the landing board and I sweep them into a waste bin each day. My birds don't empty the feeder though.

Randy

[randymcone]

I just knew this would happen....I've had birds for all of one week and I'm already adding to my loft.
It's 7x9 and I'm building a screen divider between the nest boxes and the majority of the perches for the young birds and adding another aviary for the breeders side.

My young birds are "bothering" the breeding pairs and I'm afraid they might cause problems.

I knew I'd eventually have to do this. I just didn't picture expanding my loft after only a week. LOL.