We will not tell you for what purposes pigeons can be grown in the country, since each summer resident himself determines the purpose of these birds for himself. And we'll talk about how to build a dovecote in the country with your own hands.
Experienced summer cottage builders, who took in their hands a tool for the construction of a rabbit house, birdhouse and even more serious buildings such as a gazebo, a barn or a summer cottage shower, will not be difficult to delve into the process. But for newcomers to the dacha business, we will paint everything in a little more detail.
Let's say right away that it is necessary to build on not only personal opinions and ideas about the structure, but also from the requirements for the birds that will live there. Believe me, this is very important, because if you do not follow some norms, then the pigeons will not be able to exist normally in their new home.
Choosing a place to place the building
The farmer will be able to equip a comfortable dovecote only in one case: when the place of its intended location is far from the city, with its noisy streets and constant traffic. This requirement has the following justifications.
- Fearfulness of pigeons - yes, gentle birds are very shy. The stress experienced instantly affects their health in the form of massive loss of feathers and other diseases.
- Physical threats to health - the location of the dovecote next to tall trees, buildings, barriers, etc. is completely unacceptable. In the event of dangerous weather conditions, these structures can cause the death of your wards. For example, if a heavy tree breaks and falls on a dovecote. Also, high-rise buildings prevent pigeons from taking off and can lead to injuries right in flight.
- Environmental Safety - the health and quality of pigeon offspring depends not only on the calmness of the birds, but also on the clean air, water and food they consume. Everyone knows this elementary rule.
The location of the dovecote is determined based on several important conditions. One of them is the absence of a number of sources of infection, such as a cesspool or a neighbor's farm.
First of all, you should understand that comparing the rare species of birds that you are going to do with city pigeons is at least stupid, since the latter lack both health and a long life span. Of course, they have developed a certain immunity to the gasoline exhaust and noise present in the city, and can live crippled for a long time. But, ultimately, the high mortality rate among urban pigeons is no secret to anyone.
Thoroughbred pigeons differ from urban pigeons in fearfulness and low immunity to diseases.
Video - How to build a dovecote
Bird health
The breeds kept in the conditions of the apartment are the least susceptible to diseases. In fact, they are considered detached from the natural environment and can only become infected if they receive an infection from unauthorized persons. Most often, birds get sick due to eating poor-quality food purchased on the market. When purchasing any types of cereals, they must be thoroughly rinsed under running water and scalded with hot water.
Too hot, and vice versa, cold weather, birds endure without problems. However, from drafts, pigeons begin to get sick much more often. Sometimes domestic breeds become infected with feather parasites.Therefore, after buying birds, you should treat their withers with special products that can be bought at a veterinary pharmacy.
The disease is easily identified by the consistency of the droppings. If it is liquid, without the presence of light streaks, this indicates poisoning. The main treatment for such cases is activated carbon. However, it is recommended that the bird be seen by a veterinarian.
Pigeons have an attractive appearance. At the same time, many people like them. Pigeons can often be found in street courtyards and parks. And those who built a dovecote at home were very lucky. After all, now these people will be able to fully maintain domestic pigeons, watch their growth and development.
Additional requirements
Now let's discuss additional requirements for the placement of birds. There should not be:
- electric lines;
- cesspools;
- neighboring poultry houses, chicken coops, pigsties, etc.
Electric lines, as a rule, cannot be avoided, because now they are present everywhere in villages and villages, but do not worry, over time, pigeons will learn to bypass this air obstacle.
Breeding pigeons in urban settings requires special attention to the health of birds.
Now about the cesspools and dwellings of neighboring birds and animals. All of these structures are the source of infectious diseases. Pigeons are particularly susceptible to them, therefore it is strictly forbidden to place a dovecote near the above places.
Domestic pigeons
Pigeons are birds that cannot stand being alone. Breeders recommend purchasing pigeons in flocks and pairs. Do you want to know more about the peculiarities of keeping pigeons and which breed is better to choose? Read our article.
The basics of proper feeding
Breeding pigeons is considered a painstaking business that requires a lot of time and a waste of financial resources. At the very beginning, you will have to purchase a pigeon house, feeders, drinkers and other equipment.
In addition, large costs are spent on feeding the birds. The diet of mature pigeons should contain useful minerals and trace elements every day. Do not forget about the inclusion of fats, proteins and carbohydrates in the diet. With a lack of any substance in the body, the pet is prone to frequent illnesses.
With a deficiency of substances beneficial to the body, domestic pigeons weaken in a short time. Females incubating eggs should be fed as best as possible. Their diet should include food fortified with a large amount of vitamins and minerals.
Decorative pigeons do not have the ability to fly, have low mobility, which means they need special nutrition. Such breeds require at least 45 g of bird feed per day. In contrast, summer breeds have great endurance. Compliance with the correct diet allows these birds to remain more active.
The main food for pigeons is wheat. In addition to it, it is allowed to give corn rich in beneficial micronutrients. Every day, crushed pebbles should be present in pet food.
Types of pigeon poultry houses
Before proceeding with the construction process, consider what types of dovecote exist.
Mounted dovecote
This variety can be called a rural economy option. This is what amateurs often build in order to keep a non-pedigree bird inside in small numbers, one or three pairs. The appearance of such a bird house resembles an ordinary wooden box, which is attached to the outer wall of the house, under the roof itself.
We present a comparative table of the advantages and disadvantages of mounted dovecotes:
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Mounted dovecote is not suitable for high-quality breeding of pigeons
Specifically, hanging pigeon houses are not suitable for breeding. Their undoubted advantages include the low cost of materials and the ease of manufacturing the structure, which is why they are very popular in the villages. However, such poultry houses cannot serve as a refuge for birds from frost or wind, just as they cannot save them from attacks of predatory animals or birds. Among other things, their location makes the process of caring for a bird so difficult that over time it discourages any desire to engage in this branch of poultry farming. The high mortality rate of chicks is largely due to the presence of a hanging dovecote, because it is simply impossible to constantly monitor their health and development.
Tower dovecote
Such a dovecote cannot be compared with a hinged dovecote, as it is more practical and suitable for breeding purebred birds. Usually it is erected in the form of a tall structure, which can reach 4 meters, in the form of a round turret.
What does a tower dovecote look like?
Inside the tower dovecote, the following arrangement of residential pigeon sections by floors is adopted:
- the first floor is given as a warehouse for equipment and feed for pigeons;
- the second and subsequent floors are occupied by nests.
Each nest is separated from the others by walls. The interior of the room must remain free so that access to the nests is always open.
We present a comparative table of the pros and cons of tower pigeon breeding.
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The tower structure of the poultry house is attractive for its unconditional practicality, it is perfect for achieving breeding goals of the poultry farmer. However, the cost of the materials that will be required for its construction will hit an insolvent farmer in the pocket, in addition, demanding significant labor from him.
Original tower dovecote from a barrel
The main question that you must honestly answer to yourself is - what are you ready to do to do what you love? If breeding pigeons is just a temporary hobby for you, you should not make an expensive dovecote. However, remember, even ordinary pigeons have difficulty in the cold in a hanging pigeon house.
Dovecote in the attic
The most optimal and convenient location of the pigeon house for successful breeding. The attic arrangement of the pigeon dwelling does not require serious investments and hard physical work, since the room under the roof will need to be supplemented only with a bird walking area.
It is best when the pigeon attic is located on a sturdy house building, on the ground floor of which you can keep tools, bird food and other devices. The building must be insulated.
Attic dovecote with spacious walking area
Do not allow drafts to walk inside the attic, some breeds of pigeons are very sensitive to them.
Let's discuss the advantages and disadvantages of attic dovecotes.
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As you can see, this method of placing the dovecote has an overwhelming amount of advantages. As for cleaning, it will have to be done in any case, this minus accompanies the breeding of birds in any room. Next, we will consider the construction of a dovecote in the form of an attic superstructure over an adjoining building and a tower dovecote.
Building
If the dovecote project involves excavation and masonry work, then you cannot do without the help of specialists and special equipment. Suspended and attic structures can be equipped independently, they will not require much work and skill.
Construction should begin with planning, drawing up a project and an estimate, purchasing materials and tools.
Foundation
Although we are not building a monumental structure, it is still necessary to dig a ditch or foundation pit to a depth of half a meter. Modern building technologies allow you to build a foundation from prefabricated structures, but you can also pour it in the old fashioned way - pour it with concrete.
The stability of the building being erected will depend on how accurately the foundation matches the dimensions of the outer walls. It will not be superfluous to take care of waterproofing. According to the rules, the foundation must be given at least a year to shrink. It's a shame if mistakes are made already at the zero cycle.
Walls
Usually, wood is used in the construction of walls for poultry houses. But in regions where timber is expensive, brickwork can also be used, however, and it should be plastered and sheathed with clapboard or plywood. For insulation, foam sheets or other material are used. The construction of external walls from modern materials, whether it be brick, cinder block, or timber, will not cause difficulties. The main thing is to follow the drawing exactly and observe the dimensions. For beauty and protection from moisture and wind, the finished walls can be painted.
Roof
An important point in the construction of a dovecote is roofing work. For the layman, they can be a stumbling block. A roof in a poultry house can be built with a gable or a single-pitched method. This is not of fundamental importance, it all depends on the project.
Slate, tiles, iron or roofing material are installed on a frame made of beams. If funds permit, heat and waterproofing can be used. The slope of the roof should be such that it is convenient for pigeons to sit on it.
Do-it-yourself dovecote in the attic
Depending on what material was used to build the base house, the attic space can be built from:
- wood;
- bricks;
- gland.
In the case of each of the selected materials, there are nuances.
Drawing of a wooden dovecote
A wooden building requires filling the internal joints, joints with the roof, as well as covering the room from the inside with plywood sheets so that the internal microclimate is not disturbed by drafts and excessive humidity from the outside. Brick walls are putty in a similar way, however, they do not need plywood sheathing. The metal superstructure from the inside over the entire area is sheathed with wooden boards, then plywood sheets of small thickness.
Construction boards prices
Construction boards
Parameters of the future dovecote
There are basic parameters that must be observed when building a dovecote.
- For every pair of pigeons inside the bird's dwelling, there must be at least 50 cubic centimeters.
- The room is divided into compartments to keep different breeds of birds separate or to separate them by age.
- The capacity of each compartment is no more than 15 pairs of pigeons.
- In winter, birds are seated according to gender;
- The presence of a branch for young animals is mandatory.
- In the construction project, the place for placing the feeders and drinkers is taken into account.
DIY attic dovecote
The height of the future pigeon dwelling should be at least two meters. The outer walking area is usually built in the form of an equilateral square. The larger the pigeons you breed, the larger it is.
The location of the entrance depends on the size of the bird. Sports-oriented breeds need to be placed at about 1.5 meters from the floor, meat poultry - at a height of 30 centimeters.
Getting started building
Walls
First of all, you need to build the walls. If a tree is chosen as a building material, collect the frame of the future room from the bars and upholster it with boards from the inside and outside.
The walls in the dovecote are upholstered with boards
Floor
The floor of the dovecote is made of wooden planks laid one after another. In winter, it must be covered with straw or soft sawdust in order to increase the level of heat inside the house and protect the birds from various diseases.
In winter, the floor in the dovecote is covered with straw or sawdust.
Roof
Now we need to make a framing grille for the roof. Any material can be used as a coating, the main thing is to make hydro and thermal insulation in order to avoid wind and rain penetration inside.
The roof of the dovecote must be protected from water leaks using waterproofing
Window
The well-being of the pigeons and the heating of the room also depend on the correct placement of the windows. By placing the windows on the east and south sides of the building, you will give your feathered wards a lot of light and warmth.
The windows in the dovecote are located on the east or south side
Walking area
We are building a tap hole. This element of the building looks like a small platform on which pigeons can land and take off from it.
Letok in the dovecote
Now you need to build the walking area itself. It is usually made from fine mesh metal mesh. It will be good if the size of the walking area matches the side of the roof on which it is located. The floor area of the walking area can be covered with thin sheets of plywood directly over the mesh.
Walking area in the dovecote
So that in the summertime the pigeons can fly out for walks, make another entrance outside the walking area.
Prices for a mesh netting for fencing a dovecote
Rabitz
Ventilation
One of the conditions for the healthy keeping of any bird is good ventilation of the premises. The least costly way of arranging the ventilation system is an additional mesh door to the room, which is attached after the wooden one from the inside of the room. When it gets hot in the house, swing open the wooden door to let in fresh air.
An additional fine-mesh metal mesh door is the easiest way to ventilate a room
It will not interfere with the arrangement of the hood on the ceiling of the dovecote, which, along with cooling, will take away excess moisture, as well as unpleasant odors.
To keep the air inside the house always fresh, arrange one or two small barred windows at floor level.
Heating
According to the recommendations of experienced farmers, it is not worth doing heating in a dovecote, but you need to take care of the pets and seal all the cracks, as well as insulate the floors. In autumn and winter, it is necessary to constantly change the insulating bedding inside the house to avoid it becoming damp.
Well-fed pigeons will calmly endure frost without additional heating of the poultry house
There is a trick.In cold weather, reaching -40 degrees or more, pour warm, not cold water into the drinkers for the pigeons, and also feed them nutritious food. These folk wisdom, in combination with high-quality finishing of the premises, solve the problem with heating.
Microclimate in the dovecote
Tools and materials
In almost every such work, we manage with one set of tools, but today we will remind it again so that even newcomers to our site know what exactly they will have to deal with.
So, it recommends using a simple and professional tool, including a hacksaw and a hammer, a hammer drill with a drill mode and a grinder, a set of keys and screwdrivers, a screwdriver and a jigsaw. With this set, you can do all the work.
Speaking of materials, we want to offer you the construction of a house for birds from brick, wood or metal. Accordingly, in any set you will need to add slate or roofing material for the roofing, metal or additional timber for the frame, poles, main internal structures, as well as a net for doors and an aviary. It is also possible to use glass for the construction of windows.
Internal construction works
After the external construction work is completed, you can proceed to the internal ones.
We design perches
At a distance of at least 30 centimeters from the ceiling, we place long bars, about 4-5 centimeters wide, and equip them with bumpers made of thin-walled slats. Such perches are usually placed in rows going down. Now it is necessary to divide the perches into equal sections - nests. They resemble boxes in shape. Each cell is separated from neighboring cells by walls.
Drawing of perches for pigeons
Original pigeon nests
The approximate parameters of each socket will be as follows:
- width - 40 centimeters;
- height - 35 centimeters;
- length - 75 centimeters.
To save money, you can build boxes of the specified parameters from plywood, and install them in a row one above the other. Move the perches to the opposite side of the house.
Perches and nests for pigeons
Pigeon nests
Pigeon nest prices
Nest for pigeons Ø23 cm
In addition to the construction of the nests themselves, it is necessary to provide the birds with bedding, however, do not lay it in the boxes yourself. The fact is that pigeons approach the floor of the nest creatively, choosing the softest straw and the most comfortable twig. Just leave the following materials for them on the floor of the dovecote:
- hay;
- straw;
- small branches.
DIY nests for pigeons
If you want to breed pigeons and have your birds lay eggs, you will need nests. What should be the correct nests? What can you make a nest with your own hands? Read about it in our article... Step-by-step instructions, photos, videos.
Drinking bowls and feeders
It is best to equip the pigeon house with drinkers and feeders that dispense the contents automatically, without human intervention. Their number is determined depending on the size of the bird population. However, add some old style feeders to fill them with mineral feed.
Do-it-yourself feeders and drinkers for pigeons
A properly assembled feeder is the convenience of the pigeons and the economy of the owner. Read the our articleto learn how to make a do-it-yourself pigeon feeder. Requirements for feeders and their parameters, how to choose materials for feeders and drinkers, step by step instructions. Autodrinker heated.
Grain is poured into the automatic bird feeder
For adult pigeons and young animals, separate drinkers and feeders are installed in different sections of the room.
Internal arrangement of the dovecote
Tower dovecote: step by step instructions
We proceed to the construction of a tower dovecote.
Step 1. We install wooden support posts in the shape of a square, each side of which is 1.5 meters. The height of each log is 2.5 meters, 0.5 of which are dug into the ground.
Step 2. Having measured about 1.5 meters from the ground, we connect the pillars to each other with fasteners made of wooden beams in order to increase the level of rigidity and stability of the structure. The parameters of the bar are 100x100 millimeters.
Tower dovecote in Germany
Step 3. We also connect the upper ends of the wooden posts installed by us with a frame made of timber, each side of which is 2 meters. We carefully fix all the joints of the parts and fasten to each other with bolts and nails.
Step 4. We lay a wooden plank on the resulting frame. This is the future floor of the dovecote, which we then cover with a soft bedding. It is better to grind the boards before laying them on the floor, so you minimize the chance of splinters in the delicate pigeon's feet.
Tower dovecote option
Step 5. At the corners of the resulting platform, we install frame pillars, the height of which is 1.5 - 1.75 meters. On top of the resulting "skeleton" we put another frame made of 100x100 timber.
Step 6. We line the upper frame with a plank, like a floor. This is our ceiling. Now you need to install the roof of the building. She may be:
- single-slope;
- gable;
- hipped.
The roof is protected from precipitation by sheets of roofing iron, which is firmly laid on top. Then, the attic space is putty and insulated in any convenient way.
Dovecote gable roof
Step 7. The side posts are sheathed with a fine-mesh metal mesh. On the one hand, a snap-on transom is installed in it, with parameters of about 50x50 centimeters.
Step 8. Inside the site, a second room is installed - a deaf box made of boards, between the floor and the ceiling. On one side of the box, a door is mounted so that the owner can visit his wards. On one side of the box, nests and perches are installed in a row, according to the instructions from the attic arrangement.
Fundamental tower dovecotes
Step 9. At a height of 1.2 meters, entrances for pigeons are made, in the form of a small window-arch, with a base width of 20-12 centimeters. The holes are small, but frequent, so there will be enough for all your livestock.
Step 10. In order to extend the daylight hours for your birds, it is recommended to supply electricity to the turret and install a lamp or several lamps under the ceiling.
Little tower dovecote
Step 11. A ladder is attached to the floor of the building from the ground, which can also be assembled independently from:
- 2 thick boards;
- sawn short planks set at a slight angle.
It leads to a hatch, which must be installed in the floor of the platform in order to periodically visit your feathered pets.
Step 12. A closure pipe is installed on the roof as an additional ventilation element. Shutters should also be prepared for the entrances, similar to human village houses, in order to close them in case of severe frosts.
Tower dovecote on an old tree
GROUND FLOOR
First, the foundation was dug under four pillars 0.5 m deep. Asbestos pipes with a diameter of 0.15 cm and a height of 0.5 m were installed, crushed stone was poured into it, and then poured with concrete. Wooden beams of a slightly smaller diameter, 2 m high, were inserted into these pipes.
At the bottom, the beams were pretreated with paint so that the tree does not rot. Then the bars were sewn together at the top. Planks were laid on them. Thus, we got the floor. Next, we installed 4 vertical beams 0.5 m high.The width of our first tier was 0.15 m, and the length was -2 m.
We sewed these beams together in the upper part, and also installed 2 additional beams for the door. It turned out to be 0.12 m high and 0.6 m wide. After that, the first "floor" was sheathed from all sides with clapboard. Sheathed with clapboard and the room inside, putting insulation between the layers so that the birds were not cold in winter.
Let's summarize
As you can see, every farmer who has a little knowledge of construction tools will be able to equip a feeder, absolutely without resorting to the help of professional builders.
According to the scheme for constructing an attic for pigeons described in the article, you can rebuild a dovecote from scratch, without using the finished first floor as a basis.
An exemplary dovecote, under which the whole structure is given
When choosing materials for construction, remember that the health of your wards and their offspring depends on their quality. Puttying and insulation are mandatory elements of construction work, because pigeons react most sensitively to drafts and high humidity.
