Gun Dog Forum

Well, since I am getting a GSP pup, I guess I will be raising pigeons as well. What do y'all use for your pigeon coop floor? I don't want to have to scrape the floor daily unless absolutely necessary. Is there a low maintenance way to build a loft/coop?

Expanded metal.

I put linolium on my mine and take two minutes a day to scrape it with a hoe. You can also go to the deep litter floor and clean and spend a day cleaning it every few months. Just what ever you like to do.

Ezzy

Linoleum and pine shavings. I buy a bale of pine shavings for really cheap and throw some on the floor. Easy to clean up as it catches a lot of the droppings and I don't have to scrape as much. Plus the pine shavings is suppose to keep the bugs at bay(?)

My newest (third) walk-in loft has Polymax grating from Farmtek: http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/Pr ... ctId=20251.

After four years, it's still in great shape and I've no regrets.

1/2"x 1" wire bottom, with Cedar shavings underneath, to keep odor down.Still have to scrape the wire ocassionally to get any excess to fall through,but it's healthier for the birds not walking in their own crap,and allows airflow through the coup which is healthier for the birds also.

Not real healthy for them when it get 20 or 30 below zero to have an open floor. Would be nice in th warmer climates though. I have vents that I have to close in the winter. You know its cold in the house when the heated water dishes frost up and the floor are so cold you can't scrape them. But it all works pretty well when it finally warms up a little.

Ezzy

My coop is in my yard so I went with a painted plywood floor. I clean it out every week or two unless it's REALLY cold then I wait for it to warm up before I clean it out. It doesn't take long at all and I don't all the food/poop underneath for my dogs to romp through....

My loft has two 4X8 pens and one 4X4 pen and it takes about two minutes in the morning to scrape it out. I do have to do it in the afternoon quite often in the winter since most mornings everything is frozen. The manure all goes on the garden and asparagus bed.

Ezzy

I don't live where it get 20-30 below 0

My starter sized coop, which has 12 birds in it currently, was built around a 28" x 42" plastic dog crate pan that I bought from the local farm store (Farm n Fleet). I put a long, but only 4" tall hinged door on the bottom back wall, so I can just slide the pan out and scrape it with a drywall knife and hose it down if I want to go that far. I just carry the pan about 8' to the property fence and clean it on the neighbors side (he could care less and it's a farm field). Has worked pretty slick for the past year.

I use straw over the dirt floor in mine. As it becomes soiled, I just add another layer of straw. When it reaches a depth of ~12" I scoop it out , heavily lime the dirt to kill pathogins and lay new straw. My coup is 15' X 21' X 8' and it takes me about 4 hours from start to finish on a full cleaning.

I do same thing as H20wlkillr

I use straw over the dirt floor in mine. As it becomes soiled, I just add another layer of straw. When it reaches a depth of ~12" I scoop it out , heavily lime the dirt to kill pathogins and lay new straw.

makes for some good garden mulch for the missus.

we have plywood with sand covering it. we have the same in all our johnny houses as well as pigeon coop and flight pen floor. very easy to clean and maintain. we clean ours out two times a year hope this helps

denise could you post a pic of your coop?

The lighter colored slat wood on the back is where the pan slides out.

wow thats nice denise, are their perches up high in there? where does the food and water go?
Jerry

Could you show some pics of the inside of the coop, I am just finishing up my coop and it looks quite a bit like yours, I also am using the tray for a floor, I'm not sure how I want to do my perches so some pics would be appreciated.

Thanks

I don't have any current photos, and my perches aren't anything fancy. I have one 4' wood dowel rod perch going the width of the coop, and it's mounted a little lower than the height of the bottom of the bob door. I think it's 3/4". And then I took another 28" dowel rod and intersected at about the same height, going the depth of the coop. So I've basically got 6'+ of perch space. Since the pigeon fanciers use them, I'm guessing the V-shaped perches are the best. Just mount your perches wherever you're okay having pigeon poop raining down ....like not over the area where you might want a feeder or waterer.

I had a smaller belgian feeder that I bought from LCS, but now have a bigger creep feeder hung on the wall. I'll probably eventually get a larger belgian, but the creep feeder was free. For water, I use milk jugs and cut holes 1/2 way up in them like the belgian feeder. They're free, keep the water clean, and I toss them when they get icky with poo.

Photos (please excuse the pigeon poo ) are when we first built it--and of my smaller belgian feeder that I started with, my milk jug waterer, and my first perch......the finest tree branch I could find in the middle of winter. I am far from a pigeon or pigeon coop expert. This little coop is just something we whipped up in a weekend....that didn't take a lot of carpentry skills to do. If I get a chance, I'll snap a few current photos (after I clean the next time). You might check this place out to get some ideas for amenities inside the coop: http://www.foyspigeonsupplies.com/catalog/index.html

I built this coop a couple of years ago. It has a wooden floor and I keep a layer of straw on the floor. Makes cleanup much easier.

Size of the coop is 4'x8'x8'







Inside







Not seen in the pictures, the window opening have 1/4" hardware cloth over them and over the hardware cloth are glass windows that I can slide open when its warm. The birds have access to the aviary at all times.

That's a nice one and I really like your aviary. I'm going to build a bigger one like that this Spring, devoted to breeding--I want a pigeon infestation! It seems like everyone around me is always in need of them. Looks like you have the pet porter transport method too.

Thanks.

Yes, I use the pet porter to transport the birds to my training area. From there I can put them into a bird bag.

I generally keep 25 - 30 birds in this coop and they have plenty of room.

thanks Denise

When y'all need pigeons for use, how do you catch them and put them in your box for transport?