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"I wanted to add more flights at our house for some of the Ground doves I raise. But, living in historic downtown, we are limited in space. The back yard is about 35' wide by 130' long. I have a small garden in the very back where I grow some vegetables with the "Square Foot" gardening method. Below is a drawing of the original garden showing the 8', four compartment breeding cage unit I have hung on the fence and different sizes of raised beds. There is a large pine tree along the right of the diagram that shades the garden a bit too much. I decided that I could move the rear fence (shown on the left side of the diagram) back about 8' and provide enough room for four new flights, keeping the breeder cages and still do a good bit of vegetable gardening."

By moving the rear fence (shown along the left on the drawing above) back about 8', I was able to get the vegetable beds further from the pine tree and free up space for the added flights.

This drawing shows the fence line on the left moved back about 8'. The vegetable beds are to be moved to the left and front of the garden. The four unit breeding cage is shifted along the fence to the corner of the garden and the new flights to be built in the back right corner.

There will be a total of four flights. Each unit measures about 8' long x 7' tall x 3-1/2' wide and are half covered and half open wire.

Since this drawing, I have decided to add a Man-Trap along the entire front of the flights. This addition will take up the walk way in front of the flight and part of the three beds, shown above. (Drawing of Man-Trap is shown a little later)

The flights are to be covered over the back 4' and open wire over the front 4'. Because of the size of this unit, I will dig around the parameter and bury wire to help prevent rodents from getting in.

Each of the unit's back 4' will be solid on both side walls, the back, the slant roof and down 2' of the front. I will use plexiglass for the 2' down in the front to allow light into the back sections. The front lower 5' x 3-1/2' is open into the wire section. Each unit's front 4' is covered by wire on the 5' horizontal sides and fronts. The tops are covered with three metal half hoops, 2' tall at the centers and covered in wire. The Man-Trap will be attached to the fronts at the 5' level and angle upward to a 6' level.

The above drawing shows all the flight fronts. Even though I will be using a Man-Trap, I still keep the flight doors only 4' tall to reduce fly-by escapes. I also use smaller doors for feeding and watering.

The drawing above shows the top view of the flights. Wide, flat perches will be placed at different levels towards the back of the covered sections and the sides of the wire sections. Nests are placed in the four corners of the back sections. If nests are put in the wire front sections, be sure protection from the elements is provided. I will also provide a roof over my feeding platforms.

 

More to come as the project progresses!