Why aint my pigeon, doves, and pheasents not going in there Huts?

capturedmemoriescs wrote:

Now i dont know if you know this or not but When I built the avairy i didnt put a floor in! It is just on the ground!

Thanks and God Bless

All of our flights, I assume thats what you are speaking of, are grass, they are all attached to a loft.

The first aid kits can be obtained from many pigeon supply companies or you can put your own together by purchasing each item.

Ok now i am so confuse now!!!!!

Let my start here... I live in New York buy Rochester and as you guys know Rochester is up by Canada, and we get some bad snow storms.

People are telling me that I need to put a roof on or a tarp because I need to keep the rain and snow out of the Avairy (flight cage), but then other people are telling me that if I put a tarp on it that the snow will push my wire in! I AM SOOOOO CONFUSE! WHAT SHOULD I DO!

I cant put a roof on because a ran out of money and lumber! That is why I asked if the tarp would work because I already have a tarp I can use to cover the whole Avairy (flight cage)!

So i am guessing if I use a tarp, i need to nock the snow off everytime that it snows? Because We get some bad storms!

John, I live in Mass., and we get snow storms also. Usually when you do. Robin is right, in that a tarp would hold the heavy snow, and cave in the wire roof, but what I did was to build a wood frame, and covered it with hardware cloth for strength, then I covered that with 6 mil. plastice that comes on a roll. It lets the light in, but keeps out the snow and rain. It is angled, at a pitch, so that the snow can be brushed off, or usually when the sun hits it, it just slides off the roof. If somehow you could raise one side of the aviary frame, like maybe the side near your shed, you could do the same thing and slope it away from the shed. It doesn't take very much wood for a frame. Of course there are extra boards needed for support, but it could be done. That, or even just a partial roof like that at the end where you have the boxes.
It's a fairly simple fix, especially a partial roof. Here is a picture of mine, and it's nothing fancy. I can put it on, or slide it back and off the aviary when I want to.
You may have to go this winter without a roof, if you cannot get the materials for it, but maybe down the road, you could put one together. A small partial one at one end wouldn't cost very much. That might be possible.



And I'm sorry, but rats and other things can and will dig under to get in. You would have to have a door into the shed that you could close up securely at night, when most predators are around.

ok thanks you so much! I do have enought wood to do what you are talking about. But I have to go out and buy hardware cloth and plastice though!

capturedmemoriescs wrote:

ok thanks you so much! I do have enought wood to do what you are talking about. But I have to go out and buy hardware cloth and plastice though!

It will be worth every penny.

The roof Nite Owl has over her flight is great & if you have a small flight like that it is well worth it.

Our flights are far too large to cover & I think that if the pigeons have a loft that is draft free and enclosed where they can get into when they want the flight doesn't need to be covered or enclosed.
I, and this is only my opinion, think that if a pigeon is healthy they won't need to have their flight enclosed, in fact it is healthier if its not. As long as they have a good loft to go into.

Hope this isn't confusing you.

I respect your opinion Robin, but I do think at least half should be covered in climates where it is wet and cold part of the year. Pigeons, like people, are all different and having part covered would encourage the ones that would be least likely to venture out in the wet cold, to come out for fresh air.
:It's raining:

Well I have a loft, so I guess that I should keep the outdoor flight cage open? All my birds are healthy!

I think that I am just going to put a trap on top of the flight cage and everytime that it snows go out there and scrap the snow off!

I like having the cover, as I can pull it back when I want to, or put it back to cover the whole thing, or just part of it, depending on the weather. I just wouldn't want my birds standing out there in the snow. And I don't think they'd even go out there if there was snow, so they wouldn't be getting much air and sunshine if they stayed inside. It works great for us. I still think having it part covered, if possible is nice. It gives them choices.

capturedmemoriescs wrote:

Well I have a loft, so I guess that I should keep the outdoor flight cage open? All my birds are healthy!

I think that I am just going to put a trap on top of the flight cage and everytime that it snows go out there and scrap the snow off!

If you are going to have a place for your birds to go into (such as the shed like you were talking about) you could probably leave your outside flight cage open as Robin mentioned.

I'm posting pics of mine because Charis has asked me to.
Boxes are easy to make. Mine are just simple. These were made by the guy who built my loft,


And I built these for extra boxes. Very simple.


You can even attach two shelves to the wall, one over the other, maybe 16 inches apart, and then put dividers in to give them separate sections. Each pair needs their own box. If you try to make them share a box, as in the aviary boxes, there will be fighting. You said you already had perches in the shed for them. That's good, as they need to have more perches than there are birds. Do you have a picture of the inside of the shed?

I love your set up, Jay.
There are some very lucky pijjies living in MA.

Thanks Cindy. Well it sure isn't fancy. But I had him put in the biggest windows he could for air and sunshine. And it's insulated and heated. Not a lot, just enough to keep everybody comfy during the cold winter months. The problem with so many big windows is that when I want to add more perches or boxes, it's a real challenge. Not a lot of free wall space. I put in tables and shelves for them to run around on, so they're seldom on the floor. Of course, there is Sammy, who is always running around looking for some sneaky little nook to hide a nest in. So cute. He has tried nesting in the oddest places.

Thank you for posting the pictures, Jay.

Yes thanks so much!

I am going to go out and buy some more tarps and plastic. I want to plastic the whole thing just incase they dont go in my shed for the winter, and I am going to put a tarp on top too. I am just going to do this one time and just for this winter because I dont have enough money to buy lumber right now. I just had to stock up on Bird seed, Chicken Feed, Goat Feed, Turkey Feed, Rabbit Feed, etc. Farming is a lot of fun and a lot of back breaking work LOL!

I am glad that I have my pigeons where they are because I have a sitting area right next to thier flight age, and I sit out there on nice days drinking my tea and just watching them! It is so relaxing watching my birds just be them selves!

BTW the fantail that is in my avatar is my Remo! Isnt he beautiful! I won a troffy with him!

Your avatar is beautiful. I can understand why he won a trophy. I intended to comment when I first saw him and then I forgot.
I love all pigeons but Indian Fantails really have a special place in my heart. because of one special one that I used as an education bird. She meant a lot to me and was killed by rats that got into her cage. I thought my heart would break.
I enjoy spending time with my birds too. It's fun to watch them as each one has a different personality and their interaction can be very comical.

I have chickens as well and I get a kick out of them. The have a house that I had built for them out of recycled house parts. I don't know if you have any kind of building salvage in your area but digging through discarded house parts here, save me a ton of money in building the chicken house. I got windows, with storms for $15.00 a piece and a wonderful antique door for $10.00. The largest cost was roofing material and for a small amount, even that was minimal.
My chickens have an L shaped, screened in aviary around their house. A 4 foot section is covered with those clear plastic panels some use to cover patios. We have a lot of rain here in Oregon and cold weather, although not as cold as you probably get. I noticed that the chickens will go outside during miserable weather but they do stay underneath the covered area.

My one word of caution about recycled house parts would be to don't buy any old part that has peeling paint as it may contain lead paint. Although you can buy lead paint test kits at the hardware store for just about $3.00. If birds or other animals or humans injest lead paint, it can make them very sick and can be fatal.

Yeah a lot of my buildens for my chickens, pheasents, turkeys and etc. are made outa old house parts! Its just when I made my outdoor aviary for my pigeons I just wanted to go above and beyond to make it spectaculer! If you look below there are some pictures of my chickens if you or anyone else are interested? Alot of my chickens are show chickens. And the ones that look like they have no feathers well I rescued them from a Amash family that had 1000 chickens in a 8x8 builden!





This is Checkers. I saved him from being killed because he is blind in one eye!

Remo is quite deserving of a trophy.

Well thank you so much!

That's quite a chicken flock you have there. Do you have a favorite breed? I like the Barred Rocks myself.

LOL I just hatched some baby Barred Rock Chicks LOL I love them my self, but I have to say my favorite are silkies!

But I do have Bantamn Chickens and I love them more then anything. They are so funny to watch!

They are beautiful chickens. Where are you keeping them now?

We have a seprate run for them and a seprate Chicken coop that I keep them in!

Well, they're very pretty.