my coop pics

[littleking]

finally got my coop done!

[markj]

Do you havesome kind of window in back? I was told ventilation is important in the mid west or they cook inside. I also used a heavy overhang front and rear in my design to keep water out in a heavy rain. I will post pics as soon as I get mine finished. Waiting on a few items from lion country to complete it. I like the large airie area too.

[jager meister]

could you send me some blueprints please...I have been trying to find some but all WAY too hard to figure out.

[Hilgendorf]

That is a nice looking setup that you made there. I havnt looked into making one of these much but looks like you put some quality work into it. Iunno if your interested or not but im a draftsman for where i work(Purina) and if you had some basic scetches of this i could turn em into some good looking prints with full info for the forum people? Totally up to you its ur design. But again awsome setup there.

[littleking]

yeah i do, i have a big vent on the back at the top as well.


the flight pen is 8' long, 6' wide and 36" tall (i used 36" wide hardware cloth)

i have 2" tall 4x4"s as the legs for the flight pen, i used fencing staples to tack the cloth down, then "sealed" the seams with treated firring strips as seen in the pics.

the house is 4'x8' and 8' tall. using treated lumber for the base of the house, standard 2x's for the rest of the house.

i have 20 12x12x12 nesting boxes made of untreated 4' 1x12's... all of which are seated on 4' 1x12 shelves.

the floor and walls are 7/16" OSB, the floor is treated with rubberised undercoat, and the exterior of the walls were painted with thompsons waterproof paint.

aside from the hardware cloth, it cost around $300 to build

i'll take some more pictures tonight (weather permitting) and get them posted.

here is a pic with the first nesting box that i built


here is the door from the pen to the coop

[Hilgendorf]

thats the beez neez there. cool pics

[littleking]

as promised!

[ohiogsp]

Nice coop. Where did you get your birds? I never seen a coop like that before but I almost built a aviary just like that one on one of mine.

[littleking]

i got my birds from a guy who was getting out of racing. one of them flew from alabama 600 miles or something (can't let him out!)

ohiogsp, how long does it usually take for the birds to start nesting?

[littleking]

need more info for blueprints?

[ohiogsp]

Usually pretty quick this time of year. How long you had them?

[ohiogsp]

I did not see any nest materials in your pics? Dry pine needles or straw work good but this is usually nessesary breeding. It looks like you have some cocks and some hens for sure in your pics so you should be good to go.

[littleking]

there is straw and woodchips in on the floor, i'll get some pine needles

how do you tell the sex of the bird?

[littleking]

i threw some pine needles, teeny sticks and more straw in last night, we'll see what happens

[Rick Hall]

Might want to consider a nest material bin to cut down on waste:

[coveycreek]

generally speaking your males will have a rounder head and a shorter/heavier body. The sear(skin around the nose) of a male generally is more pronounced as well. Individual bloodlines can vary between them and make these methods unreliable but from the looks of your birds that should be a pretty good method. The males will also strut and coo with their chests all puffed up. The males also tend to be the ones on top when they are mating

[littleking]

ive got straw, twigs, wood chips and pine needles in the coop... hopefully they start nesting soon!

[coveycreek]

Throw a handful or two of the shavings in each of the nests. Most "domestic" pigeons will just nest on that and skip the building part especially with boxes like you have. The amount of light we have each day is right... they will get things moving soon. After you put the shavings in just go in to feed and water them, otherwise leave them alone. Don't be peaking in too often and such. They will like the privacy.

[littleking]

kinda shy in doing it in front of others huh... geesh.. pesky little boogers

[Rick Hall]

Shy, heck, they're doing it in front of my kitchen window every other time I look out. More like exhibitionists.

[coveycreek]

As was said it is not about the actual act. It is about them settling in to a new home. They don't need to be disturbed constantly in the beginning.

[GRIFF MAN]

Littleking,


Nice coop. One thing you might want to consider that help us out alot is protecting your entry better. We have lots of hawks and what we did is increase the size of the landing perch and cover it with wire in a shape of a tunnel. Lets them come out and check things out with out getting nailed .

Cut our loss down alot.

Hope it helps out.


Griff Man

[littleking]

im not flying them yet, but i definitely plan on doing that

[littleking]

woohooo looks like they are building nests!

[littleking]

saw two eggs in one of the nests while feeding the birds last night!

how long do they take to hatch?

[vern3]

I have had mine have numerous eggs but not had one hatch, any suggestions on what may be lacking or something I am not providing?

[Rick Hall]

saw two eggs in one of the nests while feeding the birds last night!

how long do they take to hatch?

17-18 days after the second is laid. (The hen will lay one, skip a day, then lay the other.) As a rule, only one of a hen's first two eggs will hatch - maybe nature's way of breaking them into parenthood slowly...

vern, I wish I could help, but have no experience, whatever, with that.

[littleking]

these birds have been breeding for a while

[Rick Hall]

In that case it's likely both eggs will be fertile, but while they may hatch nearly concurrently, one may be a day or so later than its sibling. Depending, I assume, on how inclined the hen was to incubate the first egg while waiting to produce the second: some are, some aren't.

[PointingGunDogs]

Can't explain it but my best success is coming from the two nests containing the plastic nesting bowls. The pigeons are building nests in the other boxes too, but my best hatch/survival rates are in the plastic nesting bowls. You can get them at foys pigeon supplies.