AMERON LOFTS
Home of the Oriental Rollers and the Damascenes
Starting A Loft ?
Your First Loft or Adding Another ?
Thinking of starting a loft for pigeons ? Or have you been bitten by the bug, and your thinking of adding another loft ?
Which ever way your about to go, please do yourself a big favor and give this project a LOT of thought. Here’s a list of just some of the things you want to consider, before going out to buy all/ any of those supplies.
1) Where are you going to put it and which way is it going to face ?
It is best, if you can face the building to the south. Just a few reasons
are, the north winds in winter and too the sun is low so you’ll have better light for windows and flight areas, so birds will get more sun for bathing.
2) How big will it be and will this be the only one you’ll have ? If it is your first loft, then small is all right. At least until you get your feet wet and see how it goes in the pigeon keeping world. But if your thinking you really might like this hobby, or it is time for a secong loft, then THINK BIG! Or as big as you can afford/ the space that you have available. Ask any pigeon person what their first regret is about their loft. And it will be that they didn't build it BIG ENOUGH.
3) Now for those who are carpentry deprived, or don’t have all the fancy tools. I suggest looking at the following design for a few minutes. It is for a racing loft, but with a little change here and there, you can use it for ANY breed of pigeon you like.
Of course if your used to doing carpentry work and have almost any kind of tool one could want. Then of course, by all means, go ahead and design and build your own style of shed/ building to fit your needs. You don’t really need this section of my website anyway….
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A Small Starter Loft
(copied from Redrose Loft. Com)
"I have often wondered how inexpensively I could build a good functional flying loft. Something every one could afford. Or a loft a club could build quickly and loan to new members. Or even build and sell as fund raisers. This small loft can be built for less than $500 (an old price), can be moved by 4 men, and will fit in the back of a full sized pick up. It can be set up with perches for Young Birds, or up to 16 nest boxes for racing or breeding pairs. Any one person with basic carpentry skills can build it in a weekend. Or a club could hold a club "Loft Raising" like we did and build one in a day.
The Loft measures 4 by 8 feet with a 3 foot Aviary. It is constructed from 7/16s OSB board attached to the floor joists with out any inside framing. I seal the OSB joints from the outside with 1 by 4 utility fir. This also acts as trim. I install all four sides then cut out the door and windows. The front roofing is standard 2 foot wide metal ordered 48 inches long. The rear roofing is ordered 42 inches long. The front roof extends above the rear roof to act as a fence to prevent the birds from sitting on the roof.
Trap open (birds can come and go) Trap in the trap/race position (birds can only drop in)
My trapping is very simple. Just a hole with a hinged door. This can be locked open with a rope on a pully, closed and locked, or set open about 4 inches for trapping race birds, by hooking the rope on a nail.
This view shows the inside of the roof. Note no conventional "Rafters", but just 2x4s run length ways that the roofing is attached to. Also note the 4 inch gap at the roof peak. This is my vent for air to go out. This basic loft design can also be built in sections and joined together as was my new 16 foot Widowhood loft.
Basics
1. The loft should face in a southerly direction to take advantage of as much sun entering the loft as possible helping to keep the loft dry, and giving the birds as much as they need.
2. Air circulation should cross the floor the rise. An easy way to check the circulation is to blow smoke on the floor and watch the path as it rises.
3. A reasonably clean loft goes a long ways toward keeping the birds healthy. A formula for a good disinfectant can be found at this site.
4. The birds can never have to much fresh air and can handle the coldest weather. closing the windows will invite stale air and sickness.
5. The birds should never be overcrowded and where possible an outside flight pen provided for exercise, fresh air and sun.
As a rule of thumb the loft should have 1 1/2 square ft. of floor area for each bird
Note: A loft 4 x 8 = 32 sq ft. Which means 32 birds IF you have an outside flight cage.
Or
At 1 ½ sq ft per bird would = 21 birds………, with out outside access.
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For those interested in building this neat little starter loft like I did, you can link on to
<http://www.redroselofts.com/starter_loft.htm>
website and download all 26 pages of the design, including the list of material needs, plus drawings to explain what’s being talked about.
Also, here are a few of this design, that has been altered to suit the individual person and their needs for their loft.
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