Going to build a new loft, have a few ???

2018 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by grau geist, Jun 11, 2009

grau geist

Discussion Starter · Apr 25, 2009

I am starting to draw up a plan to build a new loft soon. I know I will not be able to make everybody happy but it will work for me.
Okay so first off I was going to build something like the redrose starter loft, but make a few of my own adjustments.
I was planning on making it 8' long and 5' wide.
On the 8' back wall is gong to be all perches.
On the 5' wall in front of you as you walk in there will be some nest boxes.
The other 5' wall will have the door entering the loft.
And the front of the loft I was going to make some drop traps that I can close up to keep the birds in the loft, and when they are open it would be to let them out into the aviary.
No I am not going to have different sections for old birds, Yb's, hens, cocks. Not enough room for all of that, so they will just have to share what they have.
I live in Utah, so we can get real cold in the winter and real hot in the summer.
What should I do for ventilation, top and bottom? I will also like to make a door for sweeping out poop.
I was planning on making the aviary the length of the loft, with a trap above it for birds that don't come back into the aviary when I let them loft fly or on tosses.
Windows, do I need one? Not sure where I would put it if I did have one.
Flooring, what do some of you recommend. I was going to put down some sticky tiles over the plywood floor to make it easier for cleaning.
I plan on having about 15 to 20 birds in there (homers)

Thanks for any input.

Mat

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learning

· #2 · Apr 25, 2009

grau geist said:
I am starting to draw up a plan to build a new loft soon. I know I will not be able to make everybody happy but it will work for me.
Okay so first off I was going to build something like the redrose starter loft, but make a few of my own adjustments.
I was planning on making it 8' long and 5' wide.
On the 8' back wall is gong to be all perches.
On the 5' wall in front of you as you walk in there will be some nest boxes.
The other 5' wall will have the door entering the loft.
And the front of the loft I was going to make some drop traps that I can close up to keep the birds in the loft, and when they are open it would be to let them out into the aviary.
No I am not going to have different sections for old birds, Yb's, hens, cocks. Not enough room for all of that, so they will just have to share what they have.
I live in Utah, so we can get real cold in the winter and real hot in the summer.
What should I do for ventilation, top and bottom? I will also like to make a door for sweeping out poop.
I was planning on making the aviary the length of the loft, with a trap above it for birds that don't come back into the aviary when I let them loft fly or on tosses.
Windows, do I need one? Not sure where I would put it if I did have one.
Flooring, what do some of you recommend. I was going to put down some sticky tiles over the plywood floor to make it easier for cleaning.
I plan on having about 15 to 20 birds in there (homers)

Thanks for any input.

Mat

My first suggestion is not to worry too much about the cold. There are flyers in northern Canada that have very open lofts and do just fine. The birds will handle the cold as long as they are healthy.

Ventilation is something I spent many many hours thinking about. I ended up using grated vents in the floor along the front of my loft. they are one foot by four feet and I have eight of them (my loft is much bigger than what you have planned, you wouldn't need that many). That is for incoming air. To vent the stale warm air I have the space between the rafters in the roof screened off all the way around. I have noticed no stale smell in the loft regardless of temperature. Here in Georgia it can get into the triple digits in the summer and down well below freezing in the winter. I am very happy with this aspect of my design.

As for the floors, I used Luuan over plywood. It is fairly cheap ($9 per sheet), is water resistent and very easy to scrape. I would never use anything else.

Hope this helps some.

Dan

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spirit wings

· #3 · Apr 25, 2009 (Edited)

something Iam happy with on my loft is the opaque panels on the roof, they keep the loft nice and bright in there without too much sun coming in, you can kinda see which ones they are from the pic below. now as far as having one section...loft flying the birds may be tricky if you have breeding going on, you would'nt want any one on eggs or babies to get out as they could get hawked and not make it back. I guess you could always basket up the ones you want to fly and let them losse in the yard, and then set the trap doors so no one can get out but they can get in. so just leaving the door open so they can come and go would not work with breeders in there..I think having a settling cage as the aviary can work good as that will serve as your landing board too when it comes time for them to be let out. I did not do that, but just put removable settling cages on the landing board and a pop hole for them to get in the loft and the landing board serves as the aviary roof.

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mb5322

· #4 · May 10, 2009

My wife and I built this loft : http://www.redroselofts.com/starter_loft.htm

we did it in a weekend, and I absolutely love it, and I'm pretty sure my birds do as well. The size is basically identical to what you want. Oh and we put it together for under $350.00.

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grau geist

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 11, 2009

Okay, so it took me a bit longer to get this project started than I thought, but I got it built last weekend, just need to add some paint, roofing, and a trap of some sort.

Here are a few pics
side view

Front with Avery closed

Avery open to loft

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grau geist

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jun 11, 2009

A few pics of the inside with 09 birds.

plenty of perches

Mat

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james fillbrook

· #7 · Jun 11, 2009

very nice loft mate those y/bs look very smart are you planning on racing them or not? and your loft is better than mine lol you should be pround

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grau geist

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jun 11, 2009

james fillbrook said:
very nice loft mate those y/bs look very smart are you planning on racing them or not? and your loft is better than mine lol you should be pround

Thanks, my birds are just for fun

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