Show me your pigeon lofts!!! I need ideas

[backyard pigeons]

And my last one in progress. It will also be a flyers loft. Don't worry, the cat won't be a part of it

 

[Qwerty3159]

I like it! Nice and simple and no-nonsense. I'm definitely considering this as a model. What kind of climate are you in, the only thing I'd be worried about is them in the cold. I've read that in a loft you need some kind of contraption for when you fly them that allows the pigeons to fly in but not come back out. But from what I've seen most people don't have this? So I guess it's really not that needed? Do you fly your birds?

I have a loft quite similar to that one. What I did this winter was cut a cheap shower curtain and staple it tightly around the doors to cover up the mesh. They can tolerate cold just fine as long as they are kept out of the wind.

I have a trap door that is made with bob wires that, when lowered, the birds can push through to get into the loft but not come back out. I have this trap door built into the wall of the loft between the aviary. When I'm not flying the birds I leave the trapdoor open and keep the second door that I let them out of shut. Keep in mind this is a very crude example but it should give you an idea.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Why is that?

First and foremost they are much easier to orientate to a new loft. They are old enough to fend for themselves and do not need hand feeding.

Feeding young squabs is a chore in itself and can result in losses even for experienced pigeon fanciers. As far as incubating pigeon eggs I would take that completely off the table. Too many factors against you to end up in tragedy. It is nothing like raising day old chicks.

Older breeding pairs may start to orient to a new loft after 3 rounds of eggs but even then I have some birds return to their original loft. In some case fanciers have birds that are kept prisoner for the rest of their lives because they will never bond to a new loft.

 

[jak2002003]

As Hokum Coco says... don't try to get squabs to hand feed. This is difficult and messy job for anyone with no experience of it, and totally unnecessary... you will also likely have some get sick and die with digestive / crop problems, which will be very upsetting. Hand rearing squabs like this is only done in emergencies, like if its parents are dead or not feeding it.

You can't really hatch out eggs and raise the squabs in an incubator like chickens and ducklings. This is because they need crop milk from their pigeon parents to thrive and have immunity to diseases. Most WILL die, and any that survive will likely be weak and stunted. There in no hand rearing formula that can replace the pigeon milk. Other birds, like parrots and parakeets don't need this pigeon milk and that is why they grown and do well when hand reared, and why people don't hand rear pigeons or doves from hatching stage.

Buy YOUNG squeakers. These are young birds that can feed themselves, but are still learning to fly and finishing growing the rest of their feathers. These will be easy to care for, and will imprint on your coop as their home easily. They will also be naturally trusting and tame with you and will bond with you as their owner too.

 

[Rooster_Tyranny]

First and foremost they are much easier to orientate to a new loft. They are old enough to fend for themselves and do not need hand feeding.

Feeding young squabs is a chore in itself and can result in losses even for experienced pigeon fanciers. As far as incubating pigeon eggs I would take that completely off the table. Too many factors against you to end up in tragedy. It is nothing like raising day old chicks.

Older breeding pairs may start to orient to a new loft after 3 rounds of eggs but even then I have some birds return to their original loft. In some case fanciers have birds that are kept prisoner for the rest of their lives because they will never bond to a new loft.

As Hokum Coco says... don't try to get squabs to hand feed. This is difficult and messy job for anyone with no experience of it, and totally unnecessary... you will also likely have some get sick and die with digestive / crop problems, which will be very upsetting. Hand rearing squabs like this is only done in emergencies, like if its parents are dead or not feeding it.

You can't really hatch out eggs and raise the squabs in an incubator like chickens and ducklings. This is because they need crop milk from their pigeon parents to thrive and have immunity to diseases. Most WILL die, and any that survive will likely be weak and stunted. There in no hand rearing formula that can replace the pigeon milk. Other birds, like parrots and parakeets don't need this pigeon milk and that is why they grown and do well when hand reared, and why people don't hand rear pigeons or doves from hatching stage.

Buy YOUNG squeakers. These are young birds that can feed themselves, but are still learning to fly and finishing growing the rest of their feathers. These will be easy to care for, and will imprint on your coop as their home easily. They will also be naturally trusting and tame with you and will bond with you as their owner too.

Thank you both for your insight, this is kind of thing that makes me join forums like this. To clarify, I never planned on raising babies. I was originally planning on mated pairs but I'll look for younger ones, though with this breed I'll honestly take whatever I can get, but I won't let them out until they have at least hatched and raised a clutch and I'll be very careful.

 

[Rooster_Tyranny]

I have a loft quite similar to that one. What I did this winter was cut a cheap shower curtain and staple it tightly around the doors to cover up the mesh. They can tolerate cold just fine as long as they are kept out of the wind.

I have a trap door that is made with bob wires that, when lowered, the birds can push through to get into the loft but not come back out. I have this trap door built into the wall of the loft between the aviary. When I'm not flying the birds I leave the trapdoor open and keep the second door that I let them out of shut. Keep in mind this is a very crude example but it should give you an idea.

Shower curtain was a great idea, and I really like the trap door. While I fall into this trap sometimes too, I hate it when people spend all this money getting state of the art whatever when you can just hack something together like this and it's just as good. How big's your aviary?

 

[Rooster_Tyranny]

Alright, here's my breeders loft. As you can see, it has window storage ion the back wall, so when it's nice, I can just put them up there. There is hardware cloth behind the windows. Also you can see the little poop door, so when I clean, I just push out the shavings. And my nesting boxes. View attachment 1694958 View attachment 1694960

Man you have the kind of coop I wish I could have, what is essentially a shed repurposed. Did you build it from scratch or repurpose it? Also do you ever have any problems with the birds flying into the windows thinking they can get in through there?

 

[Rooster_Tyranny]

This thread is great.... I love seeing others peoples pigeon coops, and getting new ideas.

My large coop (back when I had a lot of pigeons) was open on the front and half of each side with wire mesh. This gave great ventilation and the feather dust and dander would not be a problem. The roof was all covered with a big overhang to give shade and stop rain blowing in, and so was the back (to which the nest boxes were attacked.

I used thick tree branches at the front of the coop as long perches, rather than separate perches.

My loft was designed for keeping clean and ease of cleaning. The reason for the branches was than the birds dropping all fell straight onto the floor. I do not like the inverted V perches as the sticking out bits need the dropping regularly scraped off and it looks messy to me.

The floor of the coop was a thick layer of dry earth and course sand. Key was to keep everything dry. All the poops fell onto the sand, and dried up quickly. Once a week I got a plastic netted basket thing (used to keep vegetables in) attacked to a broom handle and used this to sieve through the top of the sand to remove the dry poops. Really quick and easy. The birds feet were always clean and the sand cleaned them as they walked about on it. They also liked to relax on the soft sand and sunbath and enjoyed pecking about in it looking for grit.

Never any smell, and the good ventilation kept the dust down. Feathers would all collect into neat piles in the four corners and were easy to pick up and throw out. I used the dry poop to fertilise the garden plants.

My current coop is much smaller. It is like a large cage and you can't walk inside it... like a kit box style. This has a pop hole door with the bars on, and the floor is wire mesh so all the poops fall through and collect on a wooden board underneath. I scrape all the poops off this once a week. Again key is to keep everything dry. No nesting boxes in this cage. If I decided to breed the birds I will attach the boxes to the outside of the cage and have a door in the back of each nesting box for cleaning and inspection.

I miss my old coop, but I don't have the space at my new place and only have 5 birds now as pets.

Maybe a bit controversial, but when the birds were breeding I did not clean out the nest boxes. In the wild their nests don't get cleaned. The droppings just compacted into a deep hard mass, no smell or anything. Once they finished a round of chicks I would simply unhook the nest box and bang it on the wall... the big brick of dry poop would just fall out and it was all clean underneath and ready to use again. My birds stayed clean (they are mostly all pure white ones) with no staining from their droppings on them or stuck to their feet.

One important tip I can give is NEVER leave any food, or spilt grains about in the coop. This will attract vermin. Feed the birds 2 X a day only and take out the feeder and any left over seeds straight away. Also spilt seed or a feeder left inside the coop can easily get contaminated with bird poop, and if they eat that they can get diseases and parasites.

Thank you for your insight!! and I totally agree on your nesting insight. And I definitely think I'll use full branches for perches, it looks nicer anyway. And I'm sorry you had to give up your birds.

 

[backyard pigeons]

Man you have the kind of coop I wish I could have, what is essentially a shed repurposed. Did you build it from scratch or repurpose it? Also do you ever have any problems with the birds flying into the windows thinking they can get in through there?

It is done 100% out of pallet wood. It is 6 by 8. And I have hardware cloth on the inside, and then the windows, so they can clearly see the hardware. I did this so I could remove the windows in the summer.

 

[backyard pigeons]

Oh. Yes, it's done from scratch.