Читать книгу Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys - Joseph H. Adams - Страница 16

For the ordinary pigeons that fly about the house and barn some open cotes are shown in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8, but for the more valuable pigeons a large wire enclosure should be made and the lodges placed within them, unless the birds are very tame and will not leave the premises.

In Fig. 7 A, a cote with three holes is shown that is easily made from thin boards. It should measure thirty inches long, nine inches wide, and twelve inches high at the back, while at the front the board with the holes cut in it should be nine inches wide, with the holes five inches high and four inches wide.

The wood is put together as shown in Fig. 9, and the roof boards overhang the ends and front for an inch or two. The upper ends of the two divisions need not extend beyond the height of the front board, and this open space will insure good ventilation. Sticks an inch square are made fast under the ends of the cote, and on the projecting ends a ledge three inches wide is fastened upon which the pigeons may alight.

The cote shown in Fig. 7 B is made from a shoe-case divided as shown in Fig. 10; on each floor the entrances are alternated from front to sides. Outside each entrance a ledge three inches wide is supported on brackets, and under the pitched roof the ninth compartment is arranged.

The large pigeon-cote (Fig. 8) is a more pretentious affair to make and will tax the young carpenter’s skill. This cote can be made a very attractive pigeon shelter if it is carefully put together and nicely painted.

It is thirty-two inches long, twenty-four high to the eaves or thirty-four to the peak, and twelve inches deep. It is divided as shown in Fig. 11, and the ledges are supported with brackets cut from half-inch wood with a compass saw. From the eaves to the peak the front of the cote may be shingled, and above the peak a perch is erected.

This cote may be attached to the side of a barn or supported on stout uprights embedded securely in the ground.