Best Day of My Life !!!

1146 Views 16 Replies 5 Participants Last post by afghan_pigeons, Feb 1, 2017

afghan_pigeons

Discussion Starter · Jan 29, 2017

Hello everyone,

been a while since I last posted , since then I have fully understood the care I need to provide for my pigeons, I will be getting afghan pigeons ( racing pigeon size ). My parents finally gave me the permission to get pigeons. Im looking to only have a few pigeons and to only keep them for backyard flying purposes. I have a few questions now....

1. I want to start off with 1 or 2 pairs and breed them so I can get about 8-10. Then I would like to separate them into hens and cock to preventing overcrowding.

2. What type of flooring keeps the loft the cleanest, and will lofts smell even after I clean once a week.

3. Do the pigeons make a big mess on the roofs and neighbor roofs??

4. would a 5 feet wide x 3 feet deep x 5 feet high loft, with a 4x2x4 aviary be good enough for about 8- 10 birds.

THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY REPLIES !!!!!!

1 - 17 of 17 Posts

Jay3

· #2 · Jan 29, 2017

afghan_pigeons said:
Hello everyone,

been a while since I last posted , since then I have fully understood the care I need to provide for my pigeons, I will be getting afghan pigeons ( racing pigeon size ). My parents finally gave me the permission to get pigeons. Im looking to only have a few pigeons and to only keep them for backyard flying purposes. I have a few questions now....

1. I want to start off with 1 or 2 pairs and breed them so I can get about 8-10. Then I would like to separate them into hens and cock to preventing overcrowding.

You can also buy fake eggs, solid plastic, that you switch out for the real eggs when they lay them, and then you wouldn't have to keep them separate if you don't want to.

2. What type of flooring keeps the loft the cleanest, and will lofts smell even after I clean once a week.

Everyone has a different opinion on flooring. I like a wood floor that is scraped daily, but that is what I like.

3. Do the pigeons make a big mess on the roofs and neighbor roofs??

You will need to teach them not to land on the neighbors roofs. You don't want to have trouble with complaining neighbors. The neighbors do have the right to not have your birds on their roofs.

4. would a 5 feet wide x 3 feet deep x 5 feet high loft, with a 4x2x4 aviary be good enough for about 8- 10 birds.

The birds should have at least 2 square feet of floor space, so 5X3 would be large enough for about 7 birds. 5X4 or 5 would be better for 10 birds. The bigger you can do it, the better, as most people usually wish they had built larger. If you crowd them they will be stressed. Stressed birds will fight more and will get sick more. They need room.

THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY REPLIES !!!!!!

.................................................................................................

chayi

· #3 · Jan 30, 2017

Hello Afghan pigeons, well me I like galvanized expanded metal floors they don't rust and I have my loft about 2 feet above the ground and under the loft a made a sand pit using 2x4 what I do is all the pigeon poop and extra feed falls under the loft I scrape the loft and then rake under the loft the sand and clean it every weekend it stays clean. If you going to fly your birds fly them hungry after about 10 or 15 minutes flying they going to want to go back in the loft for food that way they won't hang around your neighbors roof...

Jay3

· #4 · Jan 30, 2017

Canada gets very cold in the winter months, so expanded floor would be too cold and drafty. Also with the thrown seed and droppings going through, you would be more apt to attract rodents, which could get through the holes in the floor if they are larger than a 1/2 hole.

afghan_pigeons

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 30, 2017

Thanks so much for the reply guys ,

Chayi, thanks for the tips on flying , I'm going to go with a wire mesh flooring with poop trays below.

jay you are 100% right about the drafts , that's why I decided to make a poop tray below the loft so it would have a cover for draft. Also I can put sweet pdz on the trays to control dampness and dry the droppings.

afghan_pigeons

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jan 30, 2017

I live in Vancouver and for 4 months of the year it rains a lot , and I won't be able to fly often, is that okay ??

Jay3

· #7 · Jan 30, 2017

You do what you have to. Lots of places people can't fly for months at a time because of the hawk problem. As long as they have an aviary to go outside in, they'll be fine.

chayi

· #8 · Jan 31, 2017

In Puerto Rico we get the hurricane season from Aug to mid Nov lots of rain almost all day and lots of wind I don't fly my birds maybe on a good day but some times they are kept in for many days at a time and that's not a problem. They have room in the loft to flap there wings, some times they grab on to something and start flaping there wings.

afghan_pigeons

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jan 31, 2017

i founda 4x4 loft design. i think im going to start off with that first and just maybe build 2 more of them in the future if i get them paired up.

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cwebster

· #10 · Jan 31, 2017

Congrats on getting to have pigeons! We dont free fly ours because we live where there are a lot of red tailed, red shouldered, and coopers hawks. Ours are in a shed with cages but i let them out to fly around in thevshed, and in their cages, they can fly a bit and flap. Will look forward to photos. Welcome to Pigeon Talk!

Jay3

· #11 · Jan 31, 2017

afghan_pigeons said:
i founda 4x4 loft design. i think im going to start off with that first and just maybe build 2 more of them in the future if i get them paired up.

a 4X4 enclosure is large enough for like 8 birds. I think that is even crowded.

afghan_pigeons

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jan 31, 2017

2

These are the photos of the pigeons I'm buying.

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Dotty

· #13 · Jan 31, 2017

Those are lovely birds =).

chayi

· #14 · Jan 31, 2017

Very nice looking birds you going to buy, the ones in the small loft are yours too?

afghan_pigeons

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jan 31, 2017

The picture of the loft is not mine , it is of another pigeon form. The two pigeon photos j just posted are mine . There shirazi tumblers

cwebster

· #16 · Feb 1, 2017

Your pigeons are truly lovely.

afghan_pigeons

Discussion Starter · #17 · Feb 1, 2017

thank you very much, these pigeons originate from my home town of Afghanistan, so these birds have an special value to me

1 - 17 of 17 Posts

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