My pigeon coop is half finished - any advice?

kalel · Post by **kalel** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 1:26 pm

This coop is a slightly modified version of one of the plans floating around the internet. I am going to make a large wire cage for the right side that will have a door on it. That way I can close the guillotine door and reach in and get the pigeons.

The nest boxes are 22" by 12" deep. Do I need to divide those into two? I was hoping to not have to do that.

Thanks!

We are painting it red with black trim and black shingles.

Any ideas how I can simply vent the top of this thing?

http://web.mac.com/jedigsp/The_Packers_ ... _Coop.html

[/img]

Post by **Greg Jennings** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:17 pm

Here is an idea:

Make the box on the side removeable adn with a guillotine door as well. That way, you just shoo them in, close the two doors, remove the box and go train.

Best, Greg J.

lvrgsp · Post by **lvrgsp** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:11 pm

Good idea Greg, never thought of that. Kalel, That is a nice coop do you have the dimensions for that? Is it 4' x 8' ? Another question I have is what do you guys do with the pigeon waste? Do you just scoop it up and throw it away? I know there are some funky diseases you can catch from that.

Chip

cancrkkennels · Post by **cancrkkennels** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:26 pm

I just throw the waste in the compost pile I also throw lime on the ground or floor to keep down odor. Make sure to give them something to build a nest with they really like pine needles as for the nesting boxes I don't have much advice I have them and they nest on the floor or in a corner my loft is 8'x8' and 6' tall it holds alot of pigeons

Post by **Greg Jennings** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:42 pm

My coop had eaves. What I did to vent was cut a 4" x 16" rectangle on each side with the bottom about level with the bottom of the roofline. I hinged the cutout and put a latch to close it. Inside, I put the wire that I used for the floor. So, when it was cold or a driving wind, I could close one or more of the vents to keep the birds more comfortable.

My coop was up on legs about 3" off the ground. I used fairly open wire for the floor and built grooves for a sheet of 1/4" plywood to slide in to catch the droppings that fell through. You know, like a guilloitine door only larger.

When it built up some, I'd take it out behind the fence, scrape it off in the grass that I wanted to die anyway, throw a few buckets of creek water on it and go put it back in.

My roosts were plastic milk crate kinds of things. I just took them out and washed them as necessary.

I only had it two years. Once during thatt time, I chased all the birds out of it and cleaned it out with my power washer.

I always kept a dust mask out there to wear when I had to work inside it and I always showered immediately afteward...I don't know why, but getting in there always made me feel like I had cooties

.

ohiogsp · Post by **ohiogsp** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:50 pm

When cleaning droppings it is a great idea to use a mask. The dry stuff is the worst cause it gets airborn. The breeder boxes will be fine that size. I would divide them only if I had more pairs of birds than boxes. The large boxes are great but I don't think the birds will lay a second round in the other half of the nest box without a nest front on it. Like this.

lvrgsp · Post by **lvrgsp** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 6:09 pm

Jason, How big is your Coop? Do you have a wire bottom or a enclosed floor? what is the recommended area per bird? Or is there one?
Thanks, Chip

ohiogsp · Post by **ohiogsp** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 7:55 am

I have 5 coops. 2 are 8 x 16 and the other 3 are 4 x 8 red rose lofts with 3 foot aviaries. I have one old loft that is in the pic above. It has a concrete floor and is perminate but all the other are wood floors and are movable. I use deep litter of pine shavings. 2 inches deep on the floor. I just use a close barb pitch fork to pick up the droppings. For the amount of birds per loft. About 2 square feet per bird is pretty safe. I keep 12 pair in my small lofts and that figures out about right ( I include aviary space in this so 7 x 8 = 56 sq / 2 = 28 birds). It also depends on how your loft is setup. My one big loft is strictly a flight loft and it is covered with perches and I know I can keep 100-125 birds in there. If you did the math it would tell you 64 birds. Here is a pic of the inside of this flight loft.

Here is 3 of my lofts.

AHGSP · Post by **AHGSP** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 8:45 am

Cover the hardware cloth up with plywood and plan to scrape. I found out the hard way, that the hardware cloth will quickly fill up, as the pigeon droppings will not fall through very well like it will with Quail. Scraping hardware cloth is not fun and you will end up covering it up with plywood later, if not sooner.