Aviary?

[Peckedhen]

My young bird loft is 6'x4'. How many young birds do you think it will it hold?

 

I am thinking of putting an aviary on the side - would pigeons be ok in an aviary if they slept inside the loft? If so, what size mesh would I need and would I need to put a concrete or wood floor in? I don't think there are any rats or foxes near here. :-/

[Guest Silverwings]

the aviary is a good thing even if the pigeons are just pets ! enables the young pigeons to see all around their enviroment ,and heps them to settle easier , use weldmesh aboyt 12 mm ,stops vermin getting in , have a weldmesh base raised up from a slabs high enough to slide trays under to catch the droppings and clean out .

[speedbird]

also very good to breath as must pure oxygen as pos

[jimmy white]

poor pecked hen your not getting a lot of answers,   ;) i think your aviary is a great idea, i have a 8 by 6 loft with an 8 by 6 aviary, with about 20 birds in it, i concreted the floor of the aviary sloping towards the outside drain, where i can hose  it, on good days, i also have a sputnick on the loft, its allways another bit of room, where i stay im not really allowed to keep pigeons , but manage to get away with this. i have perches at the back of the aviary , with a wooden back , perspex roof on it , the wind blows through it , but their bone dry on the back perches, and none the worse for it.  its just made with chicken wire.. on the loft itself i have a chicken wire inside door where i can leave the outside door open on dry days, so theres plenty of air circulating

i dont race now and am not allowed to let these birds out, [but as i said b4 sometimes they get out" by mistake   :)  good luck with your aviary

[Peckedhen]

Thanks every one.

 

Your advice has helped a lot. Just one question, Jimmy, you say that you used chicken wire, this would be a less expenive option for me but, I live ajoining fields - will it not carry in disease if field mice get in? :-/

[jimmy white]

hi pecked hen , i think its more the pigeon grains that attract mice  ,so if you keep the aviary free of grain it should help, my 8 by 6 loft is about a foot off the ground ,which i have it fenced round, so that no birds can get under it, i keep a dish of mice poison under this, and i cant say ive had a problem with mice. hope this helps.

[Peckedhen]

Certainly does Jimmy. Thanks.

 

Sue

[symbro]

i will be building a short avairy.  i will be building it about three feet off the ground  with a wire bottom.  pigeons dont really like being low anyways.  having it off teh ground also allows you to scrap the pigeon crap out without entering the aviary.  also mine will be about 4 feet long.  so i will have to put two doors on it so i can send the birds back into the loft if i ever need to.  birds love to be in the fresh air and sun.  also the pigeons will sleep where they FEEL safe.  most of the time this is back in the loft.  but with jimmy white's discription of his, i wouldnt be surpised if his felt safe in the avairy too.

 

i agree with what someone said about the food attacting mice.  but also remember that dark dry places to build a home also will attract.  

 

Symbro

[showman]

Hi Peckedhen,

 

Using the old formula, of 1 pigeon per cubic yard of loft space, a 6'x4' loft should house 6 pigeons. However, with the addition of an aviary, this may be increased by, in my opinion 50%, leaving you with 9 pigeons.

 

My advice for an aviary is that it should equal the size of the loft, and should have a roof. False floors are OK, but they should be at loft floor level. If you put your false floor in, say, half way up the side of the loft, you have stopped the pigeons ability to fly within the aviary. My floors are made from 1inch sqare section wire on 2"x2" rafters. This in turn is suspended 12" above a sand floor. Once a yaer the floor sections are lifted, the droppings raked off the sand, and hey presto, as good as new !!

 

Two of my show lofts have aviaries, which are actually bigger than the loft.

The netting used is 1/2 inch 'chicken wire' although given the chance I would change this to 1/2 inch square section. Mice can still easily get through 1/2 inch chicken wire, but not as easy through square section.

The roof of each aviary is made from 'mini-wave' sheeting with a 6 inch over-hang. This allows plenty of light, but stops wild bird droppings entering. It also means that my birds get wet when I want them to, by supplying a bath, and not when nature dictates.

 

One of my lofts is 8'x6' and has 12 Vee type perches installed. It has a 'verandah' running its' length. This is where I house my old cocks team for showing, and there are never more than 9 pigeons in there...they come into wonderful condition in this un-crowded environment.  

 

Hope this is of some help.

 

Paul C.

[Peckedhen]

Thanks Showman and Symbro,

 

Only six birds in the loft? :o  A lot fewer  than I thought! Somewhere I read 1 - 1and 1/2 foot per bird!  I never intended keeping as many as 24 in there but, I was thinking about 12 would possibly be ok. :

 

I can see that I shall need a bigger aviary and will probably put in a solid back as Jimmy suggested as we are very exposed to the prevailing wind. I have been sooo concerned about draughts but today when I went to collect my new birds I found that they were living in an aviary and they are in super condition.(or so I'm told )

 

This is definitely the way to go for me  

 

Excuse this silly question - if they are so much better in an aviary why do fanciers go to the expense of a loft?

 

Sue

[jimmy white]

whilst i agree with showman ,as overcrowding is one of the worst things, but in my opinion you could stretch that to 12 birds no bother, maybe even more depending on the size of the aviary, the bhw vet david palmer [sadly no longer with us]recommended ,that birds should have, between half, and one cubic metre of air space per bird, this will "qoute"obviously depend on outside climatic factors as much as the no. of open windows and size of roof holes "unqoute", so, go on, live dangerously ,get your dozen birds , and build a reasonably sized aviary,and good luck to you too.

your other question is not so daft either, i think nowadays most lofts are for differant racing systems i,e, so that they cant see out  etc etc.. they have to pay more attention to ventilation,i would see no problem . racing natural, to a big aviary with deep nest boxes at the back, providing they were bone dry.to put it in a nut shell, stale air and dampness is the worst thing for pigeons   :)

[Peckedhen]

Thanks Jimmy.

[Guest]

I was thinking of buiding a small aviary for my widowhood section, that they could used during the winter, as I cant get them out very often for a bath due to being at work. There loft is 12ft x 6ft and there is only enough room for an aviary 4ft x 4ft. On reading the above I noticed someone had mentioned that the aviary should be the same size as the loft. As this is not possible, would I be wasting my time with a 4ft square aviary.

[jimmy white]

hi sbelbin, i think your idea of a small aviary is great, and as you say your working and cant get the birds out as much as you would like, this would be ideal for them to get fresh air and a bath etc, even getting the sun,[if thats possible ]the hen i sent you was kept in an open 8 by 6 aviary with a wooden back on and a perspex roof, box perches at the back, a two foot board at the side ,from top to bottom,where the perches are, the birds are bone dry on their perches, yet open to all the elements, and you would have seen the condition of the hen , good luck with your van sbelwhits. ;D ;D ;D

[Guest]

Cheers Jimmy, unnily enough, it was the condition of the hen and your previous comments, about yours having an aviary that got me thinking of an aviary. It stresses the hell out of me when Im at work and you get a day like today, were its sunny one minute and rainy the next, knowing the birds are shut in all day. I think I will make a start this weekend, and at least they will have the choice to be out in the sun and have a bath if they choose.

[Guest]

Sbelbin, occurred to me that my aviary is only about 4' wide, tacked on to one end of the loft.

[paul k]

check out my photos in photos section under our loft. avairys are a must for young birds, plenty of fresh air and sun. would not be with out one

[westy]

we are looking for an avery aswell to buld on the side cus we will need to in the spring

[Guest]

Check out the aviaries on our Starter Loft

 

http://www.redroselofts.com/starter_loft.htm

 

[Guest]

Eye, Ive ad a look through these photos of the starter lofts, it seems like a good design of loft, I wish I had seen them B4 building my present loft.

 

Any chance of a picture on the site Bruno!

 

I have had a look at your pictures Paul, and agree it must benefit the birds, so I will definately, get one made on each loft.

 

Cheers, Stephen

[Chatrace]

Here is our RedRose loft with the fly pen

 

[Guest]

Hyacinth, your aviary is what we (used to?) call a veranda here in Scotland.