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Fly_caster

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About Fly_caster

  • Birthday 03/22/1967

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    Donegal, Ireland.
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    steve.o.dea
  • Website URL
    http://www.evolofts.co.uk

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  1. Thanks for the nice comments and messages everyone - much appreciated. ATB for the rest of the season, Will post a few updates from time to time. Cheers, Steve
  2. More Light Interior (Rear) Interior Front The larger container contains the following : 1 x 10' x 8' x 8' Open section - 12 Nest Boxes (Raised gridded floor) 1 x 8' x 8' x 8' Open section - 8 Nest Boxes (Raised gridded floor) 1 Small 3' x 8' x 8' section for "Special" pairings. (Raised gridded floor) 8 x Individual breeding units, each containing 2 large breeding compartments. Aviary : Second Attempt ! Aviary access & Control. Having carefully aligned the 2 containers, we now had to construct the aviary which would sit between the two lofts. The pics below are fairly self-explanatory. The design allows the aviaries to be used as storage areas for birds or as attached aviaries to the sections. Hence the need for the various control and access points. Just like a prison ! First we made fully waterproof and sealed "traps" through which the birds could access the aviary from the lofts. These are simple boxes with a "staggered" route through them so as there is no direct ingress of rainwater. View from with in aviary of a "trap" External access door. View from inside the loft with "Control" door/gate to aviary trap. Quarter Finished Roof Half-Finished Roof Fully Finished Roof Aviary : Second Attempt ! Aviary Interior. Being undecided about the ultimate shape of the finished aviary, I decided to finish all the aviary parts connected to the internal sections of the lofts...... Aviary Front Aviary Rear Internal Sections under construction Showing Aviary "Walk Through" Sliding Doors and Perches installed. Chippings added. Front Corner Section [/url] Perches - A closer look. Some other random pics associated with the ventilation Ventilation Cap (Drilled) Ventilation cap from interior (Showing rain ingress at outer edge) (It came no further) Tilted skylight, viewed from above, facing "away" from the wind direction. The worlds most expensive specialist ventilation duct - € 3.45 each
  3. Hello All, After much thought, last summer I decided to build some additional lofts for our Stock Birds and a (yet to be launched) new business project. This is the photo-diary of the build. ATB, Steve We had a small piece of land which is adjacent to the existing racing lofts which required some work before we could site anything there, so a day with an excavator made short work of a job that was simply impossible to do without machinery ! Let there be light : The container has a roll-up door at the rear, but I couldn't be sure that this was always going to be open, in any event, it was gloomy inside, so I managed to procure the skylights out of a decommissioned fleet of buses (for nowt !). A few days spent investigating how to make the incisions waterproof, and considering how I wanted the airflow to work allowed us to proceed as follows : One was never going to be enough, but it was a start That's a bit better From the top. Ventilation : Having done quite a bit of reading on the subject, spoken to quite a few fanciers and considered how we could keep the lofts waterproof even in the most severe of weather, we settled on the following system. The premise upon which it operates is as follows : Our prevailing wind is a south westerly one. The rooflight windows are cracked open, facing away from the wind. As the wind passes over the top of these skylights, it creates a negative pressure, pulling air from within the container. By providing a new "source" of air for this push-pull method, lower down the walls of the new loft, we were able to ensure a steady and manageable flow of air through the loft. To date, and we operate a deep litter system, there is no smell of pigeons within the loft, even after a few days of heavy weather where even the rooflights are left closed. To provide the "new" air, I drilled holes on the windward side of the loft. To these holes I fitted 15 degree sewer "elbow" corner pieces, of the 4" variety. I then screwed and siliconed these into position. Please see photos below. Freshly drilled air-intake holes. From the outside, facing the wind. Screwed and sealed This pic shows the "Elbow" with a drilled cap on it. The cap was necessary after the first storm when we discovered wind-driven rain reaching 4 feet into the loft interior. The caps cured it ! Internal Layout : The plan was to put in an "open" breeding section and as many individual breeding boxes as would fit into the loft. I settled upon the following ; 1 x 10' x 8' Breeding section with 12 boxes - all on a raised floor. 8 x 2m x 4' x 2' Breeding box units, each containing 2 individual breeding boxes with deep droppings trays. All of the above were constructed from material from my old loft and some shelving that I rescued from a warehouse locally. The boxes during the build Showing the droppings floor and internal space (Dimensions below) The nearly finished section....at the time. The finished units are 48" wide, 24" deep and 2m high overall. The droppings tray is 9" from the shelf. We have 4 units on each side as you walk into the loft, giving us 16 individual boxes, with a 4 foot walkway down between them. End of the corridor section, during construction Slightly further finished...... From outside the container (with "borrowed" bits from my old loft Front of the "Open Section" before being hidden by the breeding boxes. The floor is constructed of 9" joists, 2nd hand, on edge, covered with 2" x 2" galvanised mesh. Aviary : The plan, at this stage, was to build an aviary on the "back side", in the shelter of the loft, giving access to the birds to a large and open aviary at all times. That was until I was offered something that I just couldn't refuse.......... Yes, another container - only this time a full 40' x 8' x 8' We then set about doing exactly what we did with the other container, in the same order - Light, ventilation and interior......some pics below............... Roof Vents To be continued......................
  4. A belated thank you to you all for the good wishes ! Cheers, Steve
  5. "Could" have been a male Percy. They are large enough to bring the prey down (by gliding with it) and they will then dismember (head and wings usually), eat the rich innards (Heart, Lungs & Liver) before carrying it off to its plucking perch, adjacent to its nest.I have seen this many times. It could also have been a SH. Maybe something got to what she had left over ? Cats have a habit of moving as they eat, so all options are still open for me. Sorry to hear of your bad news - get yourself a larsen trap. Cheers, Steve
  6. Fly_caster

    Retired

    Best of luck with that - must be an amazing feeling to not have to turn in to work every morning. Congrats ! Steve
  7. Beautiful Bird - well done on the rescue Ally - well on your way to Sainthood Best of luck for the 2015 season. Steve
  8. Good question ! See if this helps any...... http://www.pigeonsaspets.co.uk/2012/04/20/how-to-tell-if-a-pigeon-is-male-or-female/ All the best, Steve
  9. I'm betting that it's neither a Buzzard nor a Sparrowhawk - but a Goshawk ;-) Steve
  10. Sounds like a very fair question ! An auction that finishes at 21.00, for example, is technically over at 20.59.59, as any bid with "21" in it's timing would be past the deadline. I've had this issue here before myself, and it is very frustrating. If bids are accepted between 21.00.01 and 21.00.59, then the auction "end point" is actually 21.01, not 21.00 as stated. I hope that you get your issue sorted to your satisfaction. ATB, Steve
  11. Can I have No. # 20 as well as No. # 2 please ? Thanks, Steve
  12. I'd like No. #2 and No. #10 thanks. Send me a PM with your email and I'll arrange a PayPal payment. Many Thanks, Steve
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