About Homing Pigeons Loft Construction Part 1 - Building The Loft's Frame

Here describes a very simple steps on building your own small loft for homing pigeons or for racing pigeons. This part 1 only shows how to build a simple loft frame like shown below.

About Pigeons Loft Construction Part 1

Step 1 - Cut 2 pieces of 3 ft. blocks and another 2 pieces of 2'8" blocks. Start by making a 3 ft x 3 ft frame for the flooring. The example below uses 2"x4" blocks. Adjust accordingly the middle blocks depending on the thickness of your blocks in order to make a perfect 3'x3' square frame. Use 4" nails or screws or whichever you like.

About Pigeons Loft Building - Step 1 Build The Flooring

Step 2 - After completing the floor frame, this is the best time to attach the green chicken rabbit wire mesh netting, also cut in 3'x3'. This wire mesh netting is commonly used in building chicken coops.

About Pigeons Loft Building - Step 2 Attach Green Chicken Rabbit Wire Mesh Netting

Step 3. Next is to make the 4 support as stands and corner posts. Start by cutting 2 pcs. of 5 ft. and another 2 pcs. of 4 1/2 ft. (4'6") blocks. From the top of each blocks, cut at an angle of about 10 degrees. See below for details.

About Pigeons Loft Building - Step 3 Stand Corner Posts

Step 4. Now, attach the stands to the flooring. Place the top of the flooring 2 ft. above the ground.

About Pigeons Loft Building - Step 4 Attach Stand To The Flooring

Step 5. Then, for the front and rear upper support. Cut another 2 pcs. of 3 ft. blocks.

About Pigeons Loft Building - Step 5 Front And Rear Upper Support

Step 6. Finally, for the left and right roof support. Cut 2 pcs. of 3 1/2 ft. (3'6") blocks. Attach it to the top on both sides.

About Pigeons Loft Building - Step 6 Left And Right Roof Support

More information about pigeons racing soon...

Here is another tutorials about pigeons loft construction for starters.

And here contains about pigeons introductory loft designs for new fanciers.

About Proper Feeding Of Pigeons

About Proper Feeding Of Pigeons

Here describes about pigeons feeding tips so that you may not overfed them which makes them heavy and don't want to fly around your loft.
 

Barley or Wheat

Majority of pigeon fanciers believe that a pigeon should be in a lean condition similar to an athlete.
The quantity to feed is determined by the type of grains and by the quantity of the exercise the bird makes.

When the pigeons are often flying and roaming, they need more food for the energy they need.
The most popular type of grains to give is either barley or wheat because it's hard to get fats with these grains.

Barley For Pigeons

Wheat For Pigeons

Overweight and Overfed

Most beginner pigeon racers are overfeeding their birds which makes them unsuccessful.

Overfeeding will make the birds fat and overweight. They will become lazy, and don't want to fly. They will just sit on the roof of the house, tree branches, electric posts, etc.

About Pigeons Feeding

If they are not hungry, they will not respond to your call. They will not be able to learn to trap fast which is essential for racing.

Feeding the right amount will make the birds fit, alert and responsive. They will show signs of urge to fly by taking off instantly when you open your loft. They will be doing loft flying for long hours.They will trap fast when you call them.
 

Amount to Feed

The usual amount to feed for racing pigeons is about 1 ounce (1 oz) of feed per bird per day.
This is about 2 tablespoons (2 tbsp) per bird per day or about 28 grams.

You can feed once or twice a day. For example, 1 tbsp in the morning and 1 tbsp in the late afternoon after their flying exercise.

NOTE: This is applicable only for training pigeons. Breeding pigeon should be fed as much as they want specially when they are feeding babies.

More information about feeding pigeons.

About Weaning Baby Pigeons

About Weaning Baby Pigeons

Here describes about baby pigeons on when is the good time to wean them or when it is ready to get separated from its parents.

How will you know if your youngsters were ready to be separated from their parents and put to the young birds section of the loft for training?

Usually most young birds were ready for about 24 days. But the proper way to check them is when their under wing feathers were fully grown and fully covered.

Here's an example when a young bird is not yet ready for weaning.

About Pigeons - Baby pigeon not ready for weaning, under wing feathers were not fully covered

Here's another example, the under wing feathers were not fully grown yet. It needs a few more days to be ready for weaning.

About Pigeons - baby pigeon not ready for weaning, needs few more days

Here's an example of a baby pigeon which is now ready for weaning. The under wing feathers were fully grown and fully covered.

About Pigeons - Baby pigeon ready for weaning, under wing feathers were fully grown and fully covered

More information about pigeons homing.

About Training Pigeons For Racing

Here describes about pigeons training method for racing preparation.

About Pigeons Training

Preparation
At 24 days of age, give them 1 teaspoon of galamycin per 1/2 gallons of water for 5 days. Then at 30 days of age, give them vitamin B complex, A and D twice a week until 40 days of age. You can start giving them grits and minerals at about 35 days of age.

Training
At 26 days of age, put them on the landing board. The loft should have a separate entrance and exit for your birds so that they will not learn to exit through the trap door. Let them out for about 30 minutes to 1 hour and when they come in, make sure there's food and clean tap water waiting for them.

At 27 to 29 days of age, teach them to quickly enter the loft by guiding them using a stick or by holding their tail. Do this 2 to 3 times so they will get accustomed to the stick and make them know that it is the sign to get inside the loft.

At 30 to 37 days of age, let them out at 12nn for only 30 minutes. Then let them in using the stick to guide them. Adjust their feeding time to 12:30pm.

At 38 to 45 days of age, let them out 12nn and observe if they will all come inside the loft after 30 to 35 minutes. Let them fly and excercise, record how long they fly until 45 days of age. Usually they will fly for only 5 to 10 minutes, let them fly on their own and don't scare them. When they go down on the landing board, guide them again with the stick to get inside the loft. Again, make sure that the food and water is ready when they come in.

At 46 days of age, give them a pan of water with 2 tablespoon of pigeon bath salt and let them bath.
At 47 to 54 days of age, you'll notice that their eyes and feathers were getting richer in color which is a sign that they are getting matured. Start letting them out at 4:30pm in the afternoon and let them fly. As usual, guide them to get inside as soon as they go down in the landing board. Take note of the bird who comes in last.

At 55 to 65 days of age, let them out 10:00am in the morning. This means you need to adjust the feeding times after 10:00am morning excercise and in the afternoon at 6pm. Make the feeding times consistent.

Learn more about pigeons racing.