Interesting Thoughts.

[Roland]

At the Terracon test sites, noise was measured in lofts 2,000, 600, 200, and 100 birds. Surprisingly, the 600 bird loft was louder than the 2,000 bird loft, but just barely. These sites recorded 59.2 dB and 61.1 dB respectively. The 200 bird loft made 54.7 dB of noise while the 100 bird loft, probably the most common size for American fanciers at the peak of population, recorded 52.9 dB. These readings were taken INSIDE THE LOFTS.

Therefore, INSIDE a 100 pigeon loft, it is about as noisy as people speaking in conversational tones. Actually a bit less, because normal speech is about 60-70 dB. Common sense dictates that at 20, 30 or 40 feet distance, the noise levels would be commensurately less. It would seem that the noise level of site, then, would not be at a level that could be considered a nuisance, since it is at a lower level than normal conversation.

This conclusion was supported by Terracon in a study of the 100 pigeon loft. A monitoring device was put on a fence line approximately 25 feet from the loft. Tests revealed a noise level of 57.4 dB during the day and 55.4 dB at night. The pigeons were then REMOVED from the loft and the noise level tested again. The daytime average was 49.1 dB while the nighttime average was 44.6 dB.