Loft build

[mark1]

First stage done, base down. Well and truly committed now. Approx 14 x 8ft

[Andy]

First stage done, base down. Well and truly committed now. Approx 14 x 8ft


Frame 1.jpg

Welcome to the site Mark.

Looks great. A nice solid frame. The base is always the hardest bit I think. Getting everything level. After getting that right the rest is more straight forward. Looking forward to watching your progress.

[Andy]

Are you planning on having 2 sections with a corridor along the front?

[mark1]

Hi Andy,

Yes, once this is down we'll be flying along. The plan is to have two section. One will be around 8ft for the old birds, and one 6ft for the youngsters. No corridor as I'm wanting to give them as much floor space as possible and might throw the odd nest box on some of the other walls as a bit of a quirk. Plus, there will eventually be two separate aviaries either side each with its own trap.

This will be my only loft for the time being and I plan on flying only natural birds with the focus on channel races in both the Combine and National flying club. Fingres crossed.

Next stage.. insulation the frame

[Buster121]

Hi Andy,

Yes, once this is down we'll be flying along. The plan is to have two section. One will be around 8ft for the old birds, and one 6ft for the youngsters. No corridor as I'm wanting to give them as much floor space as possible and might throw the odd nest box on some of the other walls as a bit of a quirk. Plus, there will eventually be two separate aviaries either side each with its own trap.

This will be my only loft for the time being and I plan on flying only natural birds with the focus on channel races in both the Combine and National flying club. Fingres crossed.

Next stage.. insulation the frame

Welcome to the site, would that base need a few more spars in along the top and bottom, what will you use for insulation

[mark1]

Thanks Buster. Apparantly a span up to 4.5m only needs one row of noggins in the centre. Anything under 2.5m does not require any. The loft is 2.4m so think I'm safe. I'm using foil backed PIR insulation and on top of that will be 18mm ply, so should be plenty stiffness.

[Andy]

Where are you from Mark? As you may have seen from other posts I only fly in Nationals and from over the channel on natural.
Although I agree with your idea of giving them plenty of floor space just make sure the sections aren’t so big that you lose control of the birds. I like the idea of the aviaries.

[mark1]

I noticed you did Andy. I'm in the north east. I posted a couple of months back about starting back up if you can remember; before the site changed. I was wary about the state or, should I say future of the sport, but I'm more than happy that there's a strong enough future in it to comitt.

So do you exclusively race only nationals? No club/fed racing racing used for 'training' purposes?

[killer]

Welcome back mark ,you seem to know what your doing ,keep up the good work & the best of luck in the sport ,

[Andy]

I noticed you did Andy. I'm in the north east. I posted a couple of months back about starting back up if you can remember; before the site changed. I was wary about the state or, should I say future of the sport, but I'm more than happy that there's a strong enough future in it to comitt.

So do you exclusively race only nationals? No club/fed racing racing used for 'training' purposes?

I did wonder whether it was you that was on the site before we changed. I’m glad that you have joined again.
I agree that the sport still has a future although it may be a bit different to what it has been in the past. I don’t think there will be many clubs/feds that will race from over the channel on their own. They may do it by being convoyed but the national clubs. But the national clubs I think could actually gain in strength by those wanting to fly the channel.
Yes I do only race in the nationals. I don’t actually have any clubs near me that would give me any decent inland racing that would be of any benefit to me or the birds. I am with the Frome club but all our members also only fly in the nationals. It does take a different type of pigeon for national racing than for club/fed racing. My old birds will get 3 or 4 trainers at around 15 miles before their first race, which will be Guernsey with the BICC on the 30th April. This is 109 miles for me. I am only about 30 miles from the South Coast. I am a member of the BICC, BBC, CSCFC & NFC, so could race most weekends during the season.