Project description
I have kept racing pigeons for eleven years and the flock has outgrown the old garden shed it lives in now. I want a purpose-built loft in the far corner of my plot, on the dry side away from the fruit trees, with the open front facing south-east so the birds get morning light and the winter wind hits a blind wall instead of the landing board. Planned size is four metres wide and two and a half metres deep, two and a half metres to the eaves at the front sloping to two metres at the back, so I can walk in standing upright and clean without crouching. The building should stand on concrete piers about thirty centimetres above the ground: a loft set straight on soil is damp by the second winter, and damp is what kills young birds.
Inside, the space needs to be divided into three compartments - a breeding section, a section for the young birds, and a narrow corridor at the door so nothing flies past me when I walk in. In the breeding section I want twenty four nest cells, each roughly sixty by forty by forty centimetres, in two tiers, with removable fronts and a shallow lip so eggs cannot roll out. Perches must be the individual V-shaped type rather than long rails: on rails my birds squabble and the droppings land on whoever sits below. Everything that collects droppings has to come away in one movement for scraping - perch blocks, nest bowls, and a smooth painted floor with no open gap where it meets the wall.
The flight aviary runs along the whole front, four metres by one and a half and two metres high, framed in timber and clad in welded galvanised mesh with a mesh small enough to keep sparrows and rodents out; the bottom half metre is solid board so cats cannot reach through. Ventilation matters more to me than anything else: a low air intake under the landing board and an outlet under the ridge, so air moves upward and never blows across the perches. No fans. For winter the walls should be insulated and lined inside with a smooth washable surface - the loft has to stay dry rather than warm.
Please quote separately for materials and labour, and give me an honest timeline. I can do the groundwork and help with the mesh myself, and I would like the frame closed in before the autumn rain.
Inside, the space needs to be divided into three compartments - a breeding section, a section for the young birds, and a narrow corridor at the door so nothing flies past me when I walk in. In the breeding section I want twenty four nest cells, each roughly sixty by forty by forty centimetres, in two tiers, with removable fronts and a shallow lip so eggs cannot roll out. Perches must be the individual V-shaped type rather than long rails: on rails my birds squabble and the droppings land on whoever sits below. Everything that collects droppings has to come away in one movement for scraping - perch blocks, nest bowls, and a smooth painted floor with no open gap where it meets the wall.
The flight aviary runs along the whole front, four metres by one and a half and two metres high, framed in timber and clad in welded galvanised mesh with a mesh small enough to keep sparrows and rodents out; the bottom half metre is solid board so cats cannot reach through. Ventilation matters more to me than anything else: a low air intake under the landing board and an outlet under the ridge, so air moves upward and never blows across the perches. No fans. For winter the walls should be insulated and lined inside with a smooth washable surface - the loft has to stay dry rather than warm.
Please quote separately for materials and labour, and give me an honest timeline. I can do the groundwork and help with the mesh myself, and I would like the frame closed in before the autumn rain.
Web programming Cash, Bank transfer
