For a starter in the pigeon world, one of the essential pieces of kit to be organised before anything else is suitable housing. Small lofts from the size of a rabbit hutch to much more splendid accommodation manufactured by professional loft builders and on show at major events and advertised in the pigeon press, costing from a few hundred to thousands of pounds. Converted poultry houses and garden sheds are an immediate source of housing that comes to mind but how much more satisfying to build your own, with a limited amount of carpentry skills.
About a year ago, John Norris, the Norban man sent me details of a website where full plans and instructions were detailed for a small starter loft used extensively in America, which fulfilled the above criteria. The only difference between the loft illustrated on the website and the one I built, between mid-December and mid-January is I used 12mm ply sheets at £15 per 8ft x 4ft sheet, instead of the recommended Oriented Strand Board (OSB). The website starter loft is 8ft x 4ft as opposed to my 6ft x 4ft, as it is for my 6 pairs of Birmingham Rollers.
Having contemplated a new build to this design in the spring last year, serious construction had to be postponed until after the race season. As with most things other issues prevented an earlier start but come what may I was determined to have the birds installed before breeding commenced in 2007.
When originally viewing the starter loft web site I was excited by the simple design and trapping arrangement, through a simple drop hole via a landing board and aviary. In my early pigeon keeping years my loft had always had a landing board with a wire cage above that proved very successful. Notwithstanding my ongoing Pigeon Fancier Lung problem, the loft also had to comply to my ideal of an aviary type loft and therefore had to be modified accordingly. This meant a 3 inch gap to the rear plus wire mesh at low level to the front and rear walls and a wooden grille floor using roofers slate lathes.
The project was constructed a section a time mainly at weekends, no more than a few hours and some of that involved collecting the timber from the local timer merchants. Unlike the original the whole loft was made sectional on 2" x 1.5" framework so that it can be added to or moved in future if necessary. The total cost of material worked out at somewhere in the region of £100 and could have been even cheaper had the original specification been adhered to.
The finished article I am proud to say is a small basic loft to be proud of, suitable for racing pigeons and most breeds of fancy pigeons. Anyone wishing to view the original specifications for the starter loft and the many successful lofts of that design, which are very impressive, can do so at redroselofts.
Other lofts of the basic starter loft design are shown to further illustrate what can be done from a simple plan.
