Practical Dovecotes:

Part 4. - Removable Panels:

In my opinion there can be no denying that an ornamental dovecote is a very nice looking garden feature, regardless of whether it contains doves or not. The problems only arise when you put doves in it.

There is no getting away from the fact that doves make a mess and the more doves you have then the more mess they make. At one time we had in the region of 120 doves and believe me that number makes a lot of mess, hence the present limit of a maximum of 50 doves before I start to reduce their numbers. The funny thing is that to the best of our knowledge and memory we have never had any poo on the washing, although they do occasionally sit (that's the correct spelling by the way) on the washing line.

Of course a more reasonable number of doves would probably be around 10, which make a nice sized flight with the natural ability to mostly recover from the odd spot of predation.

Continuing the mess theme I found out very early on that doves make 3 main types of nest, first we have the traditional one made out of twigs. These nests tend to stay dry and the doves can raise several chicks in the compartment before it needs cleaning out, in fact the main reason to clean it out is because the nest starts to get so high that the doves no longer have room to sit on it. Around 25% of my doves build this type of nest.

The second type of nest is one made from what I would term garden etc. waste; I am thinking about conifer hedge clippings, long strands of grass and discarded feathers etc. This type of nest can get very damp and set like concrete when acted upon in turn by the sun and the rain. Around 50% of my doves build this type of nest.

Last but not least we have those with a lazy gene who make absolutely no effort to build a nest and just lay their eggs on the compartment floor, where they can roll out until they build a nest of poo. Around 25% of my doves don't build a nest.

Cleaning these old nests out of an ornamental dovecote is not an easy task by any means. My first dovecote (The Flintstones) was what I would class as ornamental. It looked nice in the garden and didn't provide me with any extra chores, other than it took me longer to cut the grass as I had to manoeuvre round the post. The problems only arose when I put some doves in it.

The first problem was when I tried to catch a dove for ringing etc. My hand was just to large to withdraw out of the pop-hole easily with a dove in it, enlarging the pop-hole was out of the question as it would then make the compartments more accessible to predators. So to carry out a chick check was quite difficult.

The second, and by far the worst problem occurred on the day I carried out the first spring clean. I suppose that this was 2 or 3 months after first installing the doves. I cannot remember now how long it took me to clean out the dovecote but it was a few hours and even then I wasn't happy with the final result. The term "papering a hallway through a letter box" came to mind.

It was probably the second or third time that I was cleaning them out when I threw a wobbly and walked away in disgust. After a couple of hours I made a decision and then checked the compartments every couple of weeks and destroyed any new eggs. Within a month all existing chicks had fledged so I took the dovecote down.

Once the dovecote was on my workbench I removed a lot of the outside panelling and it was only then that I could clean out the dovecote properly. Once clean I modified it and made 2 of the panels removable; each removable panel gave access to 3 x compartments so it was job done.

Summary:

I built my first dovecote to look like the ones I had seen in photographs etc. It looked nice but was totally impracticable. I then remade my dovecote so it was more practical and from then on doing chick checks and cleaning compartments was fairly easy, I simply removed the panels to gain access. If I could offer only one piece of advice to a new dove keeper it would be; "Make or buy a dovecote that has removable panels!" Of course there is an alternative and that is to carry out more frequent cleaning, and I am aware that some forum members do in fact do this. From my own experience I would consider that a dovecote without removable panels would require cleaning out at maximum intervals of around a month and that's not enough time to raise chicks; i.e. 10 days to produce the eggs, 18 days to hatch them and 28 days plus to raise the chicks; this would mean that you have to start your cleaning once the eggs have hatched.

Finally:

So what do you think? Are these the ramblings of a lazy senior citizen or are ornamental dovecotes a pain in the 'you know what?'

Practical Dovecotes:

Part 5. - Batten Balconies:

There are 3 main types of balconies, namely; small, medium and large. Large balconies can be further separated into two types, those that only allow access to one compartment and multi compartment balconies.

Medium sized balconies:

I built my first 2 x dovecotes with what I would term medium sized balconies to a standard design. They were approximately 100mm x 200mm with an ornamental support leg. Fairly soon I noticed 2 x problems. First they got covered in poo and second they didn't appear big enough. I based the question of size on the fact that when 2 x chicks were on the balcony one of them occasionally fell, or more likely got pushed off.

Large balconies serving one compartment:

My response was to make a larger clip on balcony that was approximately 200mm x 250mm. My modus operandi was to clamp it on a balcony with young chicks in residence. Unfortunately they still fell or got pushed off.

Back in the workshop and the balcony was quickly modified by the addition of a raised lip round the edge. The idea being that young chicks could grip the edge with their toes and thus prevent premature falls. This seemed to work and I quickly built another. All went well for a while and I was seriously thinking of fitting permanent larger balconies to all pop-holes, but then three things happened; the larger balconies attracted doves other than the compartment owners with the result that squabbles ensued, also the chick situation exceeded the number of balconies available and eventually the larger balconies fell into disuse and the balconies ended up with even more poo on them.

Large balconies serving more than one compartment:

This is the type of balcony used on the derelict dovecote that is situated in a Peterborough Council Depot. It runs the full width of the dovecote sides and seems to serve two purposes. First it provides extra roosting facilities and second it acts as weather protection for the pop-holes immediately underneath it. Of course it still has the problem whereby strangers are able to gain easier access to another couples compartment.

Small balconies:

By small balconies I mean those that I have previously referred to as batten balconies. My first use of them was when I built Chez Columba Dove-loft and blatantly plagiarised the style of balcony used on 'Spotter's' dovecote (Spotter is the administrator of the Dovecote Spot / Forum). Once the dove-loft was up and running I spotted two major advantages over normal balconies. The major one for me was that they didn't get covered in poo and secondly their small size enabled compartment occupants to protect their compartment and evict potential infiltrators more easily.

I was so impressed with their advantages that I fitted them to RoadRunners dovecote and then the Perishers dovecote and more recently I have fitted them to the Wombles dovecote.

Summary:

In my opinion anything that saves me work is a 'Practical' solution to a problem. I no longer scrape poo off all the balconies during my twice monthly chick checks. Yes the balconies do tend to get a bit dirty but it's generally mud from their little feet. The disadvantages include the fact that you do not see pairs of doves relaxing on the balconies, you only see half a body sticking out the pop-hole, or often just two heads. Personally I think that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and I'm now sold on batten balconies as I think their more practical.

Practical Dovecotes:

Part 6. - Roost-able Roofs: 

I doubt whether the word 'roost-able' exists so I've put a hyphen in it to make it look better.

Note.

My use of the words 'roost' or 'roosting' applies to not only where the doves sleep at night but also where they rest during the daytime.

My doves have always been very well homed to the dovecotes and the separate perches that were beneath the original two dovecotes. Yes they do go on house roofs but only for very short periods, yes they do go in trees but not very often. I have never seen our doves roost anywhere overnight over than in or on the accommodation I have provided for them.

Personally that's how I like it and I think that if you give them enough roosting positions in their own area they'll quite happily spend most of their time there and not become a nuisance elsewhere.

When I first started keeping doves I fitted pole mounted perches under the 2 x dovecotes and as the minimum height of the lowest object on the pole should be 2m it meant my dovecotes had to be slightly higher than the 2m; in fact the bottoms of the dovecotes were closer to 3m above the ground when I first erected them. My 2 x roosting poles would easily hold 10 doves each.

Postscript:

I quickly realised that 3m is too high for the bottom of a dovecote and lowered them so the floor of the top compartments were 2.7m above the ground; this enabled access to all compartments with a reasonably priced 1.5m high step ladder.

Additional to the poles some doves roosted on the compartment balconies and a few roosted on the roofs of the 2 x dovecotes. Roosting on the Flintstones was a bit steep and I felt sorry for them having to hang on tight all night, although my wife assures me that they 'lock-on' so don't get sore feet and claws

When it came to roosting on the Bisto Kids dovecote roof I always assumed that the galvanised roof would be a bit hot for them but they roosted on the top of it quite happily.

When I built RoadRunners dovecote I deliberately made the roof a comfortable 120 degrees and I have seen over 30 doves roosting on it in the daytime.

Summary:

If you want to encourage your doves away from house roofs etc. then you need to provide adequate roosting facilities in the vicinity of the dovecote. Even if you have a very pointed roof you will still see the odd ones who appear to be hanging on to it like grim death. In my opinion the dovecote roof is the perfect roosting spot and very practical, so why not make it comfortable for them and have a roof designed for roosting on!

Practical Dovecotes:

Part 7. - Dimensions of Compartments / Pop-holes:

Compartments:

Larger doves need larger compartments than their smaller relatives. Personally I consider that the smallest size suitable for a straight tailed garden dove is a 9" (230mm) cube. For the larger fantails we need a minimum size of a 12" (305mm) cube.

Both of these dimensions are nominal and one side could be reduced slightly if compensated for in other areas; for example a traditional wall mounted dovecote normally has compartments that are deeper than they are wide so 9" wide x 15" deep (230mm) x380mm), would be adequate for a fantail. And you could drop down to 8" (200mm) wide for a straight tail.

Note.

Don't make the compartments much bigger than the sizes mentioned above. The doves like to feel secluded and don't like others trying to share an oversize compartment. (Well would you like your mother in law sharing your bedroom?). 

Pop-holes:

Pop-holes are not unique to dovecotes; they are also used in chicken and other animal housing. They get their name from the fact that the occupants use that small doorway to 'pop in' and 'pop out' of their habitation.

Pop-holes need to be large enough for the occupants to get in and small enough to help deter predators. The largest size acceptable is a 4" wide x 6" high (100mm x 150mm) rectangle, but note that the top third of the aperture is restricted and narrows in the corners.

This larger size is, in my opinion, only acceptable if the habitation does not have removable panels: the reason being that you will need that size aperture to extract a dove or an old nest etc. If you have removable panels then you can safely reduce the aperture down to 3.5" x 5" (90mm x 125mm).

Summary:

Feral doves (and pigeons) will roost, and breed, anywhere they feel safe. A dovecote or any other form of habitation is a bonus for them. If you think about it the main reason we have dovecotes is for us, not the doves! They don't care what their habitation looks like. If you have a dovecote then yes it's nice to have something that looks ornamental but don't forget the practical side as well.

Practical Dovecotes:

Part 8. - Minimum and Maximum Pole Height.

This is a subject that others and I have raised on the forum on numerous occasions in the past, and indeed I have touched on it in Part 6. of this series of articles; never the less it is worth repeating as a stand-alone subject in its own right.

The lowest edge of the dovecote needs to be high enough above the ground to deter predators, yet for convenience the upper compartments need to be low enough to enable access with a normal sized and reasonably priced step ladder.

My first 2 x dovecotes were placed too high and the resulting step ladder cost nearly £200. Because the additional height exaggerated even the slightest tilt it required the use of bearer boards under the feet, even when the ground was quite hard. To be honest it was a pain in the butt.

A few weeks into my dove keeping saw me becoming very disillusioned with both overall height of the dovecote and the general compartment access, so when I lowered the two dovecotes to modify them to have removable panels I also lopped the top 2 or 3 feet off the poles.

As I had cross perches on the poles I set them 2m above the ground with the bottom edge of the dovecote some 200mm or so higher. This resulted in the floor of the top compartments being some 9 feet above the ground. This allowed me access to the top compartments with a 1.5m step ladder (Costing less than £60), which was much lighter and therefore easier to handle than the monster. Mind you the monster does come in handy occasionally.

RoadRunners Dovecote.

The photo above shows the Monster in use during erection of RoadRunners Dovecote; also shown is its smaller 1.5m sibling.

I have seen a number of pole mounted dovecotes where the base of the dovecote is less than 5 feet above ground level; not only that but some had a pole mounted table beneath them. The predators must be having a field day?

Now the theory of a pole mounted table is good! A predator runs up the pole and cannot negotiate the overhang of a pole mounted table. Well that's good in theory but we had a part feral cat, unfortunately no longer with us, who was quite capable of jumping 5' 6" into the air and hooking his arm over the edge of the table and then struggling up. The end result was that I raised the table a foot.

Note.

I no longer have a feeding table as I got fed up scraping the poo off of it.

To provide further protection from predators I also sheave wooden poles with a length of plastic drain pipe as per the Perishers dovecote in the photo below.

Summary:

There is an optimum (sensible), maximum and minimum height for a dovecote, deviating too far, either above or below the optimum, reduces it's practicality. I have now built 3 dovecotes that incorporate removable and disposable floors. Unfortunately I have never seen or heard of a commercially built dovecote that offers this feature.

Practical Dovecotes:

Part 9. - Separate Roof Assembly:

When I built my first 3 dovecotes I incorporated separate roofs; this was for no other reason than it seemed the most logical thing to do. My 4th dovecote had a combined roof and body assembly and the main reason for this was that the; size, weight and general design of the dovecote seemed to suit the single assembly principle. For my 5th dovecote build (The Wombles), I have reverted back to the separate roof method of construction.

In considering whether a separate roof makes a dovecote more or less practical than one with a fixed roof that is built along with the body as a single structure, we need to consider its advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of a separate roof:

1. Easier to build as the two separate assemblies are smaller than the whole they take up less working room in your workshop / working area.

2. Easier to handle / transport and with less chance of being damaged.

3. Easier to erect as each part is much lighter than the complete assembly.

4. Easier to repair. When I rebuilt 'Towie's' dovecote (full details under the heading of 'Cote Restoration:). I had to separate the roof so why not build it as a separate item in the first place?

5. Easier to modify.

6. If the body become badly rotted you could save cost by building a new body and reusing the existing roof. (In fact in years to come it could be a bit like 'Trigger's' broom).

7. If you decided your dovecote was too small and you fancied more compartments you could build another floor and insert it between the existing top floor and the roof. (Now that's a good idea! Why didn't I think of that before?).

8. Smaller lengths of board could be used and if you do a lot of woodwork you might be able to use up some of your off-cuts.

9. In my opinion it just makes the whole process of building much easier.

Disadvantages of a separate roof:

1. More material used in its construction. This is not as bad as it sounds and basically it consists of a piece of plywood, some additional redwood battening and a few extra screws.

2. Additional cost. I estimate that the cost of making my roofs removable added less than £10 per dovecote.

3. Longer build time, although I doubt if the extra build time amounts to more than one hour.

4. When assembled the dovecote is heavier than an identical looking one that is built as a single unit. I estimate the additional weight to be in the region of 3kg to 5kg depending on the size of the dovecote.

Summary:

To me the answer is pretty obvious; "a dovecote with a separate removable roof is more practical than one that is built with the roof as part of the body!" When you buy or make a dovecote don't just think of today, instead plan for the future.

Practical Dovecotes:

Part 10. - Removable Fastenings:

It doesn't matter how well made a dovecote is it is inevitable that eventually it will either need repairing or replacing. Of course bearing in mind the relatively cheap cost of a dovecote many people will probably just throw them away and buy a new one, possibly of a totally different design, shape or size. For example if it cost £500 and lasts 10 years then a pound a week is not bad value.

Others will no doubt wish to preserve their existing dovecote; for example it might hold special memories and they want to retain it and them.

There is no doubt that a dovecote made with easily removable fastenings such as screws and threaded fixings will be a lot easier to repair than one that has been fastened together with nails pins or brads. Although we shouldn't loose sight of the fact that some screws may shear during removal and then they will be harder to remove than a nail.

Postscript:

Many years ago #2. Son turned up with a Chinese style chair in the back of his car. It appeared that he had promised his best mate that his dad would repair it. It was quite a nice looking chair and had a broken tenon on one of the rear corners plus a split rear and side rail. It was part of a set of 6. Every fastening on it was a hidden nail or brad, which had been filled and lacquered over; I almost destroyed it taking it apart. Luckily modern glues are very good and after the best part of a weeks work I eventually got it back together and refinished, but I did tell my son not to bring any more for repair.

Many parts of that chair were very ornamental and they would have been very difficult to reproduce.

Most parts on a dovecote can be easily reproduced, which is just as well as the process of dismantling one that has been assembled with nails and brads does destroy many parts. I do have a special tool for removing nails, called a 'Slide Hammer Nail Puller', Even so reusing those panels would require the use of filler when refinishing the dovecote. As I have mentioned before I would normally prefer to see a screw head than a load of wood filler.

Summary:

No doubt many people don't consider it important but whenever I buy anything I generally think, how has it been made? Will it be easy to take apart and repair at a later date.

Practical Dovecotes:

Part 11. - Roof Cappings:

Adverse weather versus the materials and finish of a dovecote will play a major part in determining the dovecotes longevity. Three areas will be most likely to suffer, namely; the areas in the pop-hole doorways, the floors and the roof.

Apart from having a massive roof overhang there is probably not a lot we can do to protect the entrance. The most vulnerable part of the doorway is the doorstep which comprises the ends of the T&G boarding. I have previously considered protecting them with a small piece of plastic channel but couldn't find any the right size. In any event the Flintstones dovecote was in use for over 4 years with no sign of deterioration in that area.

Floorboards can be protected by off-cuts of vinyl etc. I used to use such off-cuts but now I have gone over to removable / disposable floors.

All things considered the major problem will be the covering at the pinnacle or roof ridge; any shortcomings here will allow water entry from the top of the roof down and that will become a major deciding factor in respect of roof longevity.

Apex Roofs:

If you look at my dovecote builds that have an Apex roof (please see 'Let's Build a Dovecote / The Perishers Dovecote'), you will note that I use a folded piece of galvanised sheet metal to protect the ridge from the elements. It is not immediately obvious but none of the four fastenings penetrate the plywood inner roof lining over a void. All fastenings go through an area of roof overhang, so in the unlikely event of water going down the stainless steel fastening it will drip straight down to the ground.

Some dovecotes that I have seen have a shaped wooden strip on the ridge and provided the wood has been well protected this method should last for many years. I have had a similar system on my beehives for over 8 years without any problems"

Spotter's dovecote has a ridge tile over slate and that is probably as good as you can get; and as a bonus it also looks very attractive.

Multi-Faceted Roof:

When it comes to hexagonal or octagonal roofs and others with multi-faceted roof panels, similar to the Wombles dovecote roof; it would be just about impossible to provide full weather protection with any ridge material other than a thin piece of lead sheet that has been firmly formed into place to follow the roof profile.

Note.

Thin lead sheet is very easy to cut and form. I use a pair of tin-snips for cutting and a rubber mallet to form (knock), it into place.

I have seen some dovecote roofs that have the top weather protection formed by a small circular piece of plywood; 'about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike' comes to mind.

Modern sealants may help a bit but they are still no substitute for lead flashing.

Summary:

A simple apex roof such as those fitted to wall mounted dovecotes is easy to protect from the elements. Multi faceted roofs are considerably more difficult to protect. In my opinion the only method that works is the application of a thin piece of lead sheeting that covers all the joins at the centre of the roof. Unfortunately it can be difficult to obtain small square pieces of lead sheet. I ended up buying a 3m length at a cost of around £70.

Practical Dovecotes:

Part 12. - Removable / Replaceable Floors:

My use of removable replaceable floors came about when I made a list of things that annoyed me about standard designed dovecotes.

I had already modified my first two dovecotes to have removable panels and this made the chore of cleaning the compartments out almost enjoyable, well almost but not quite!

The introduction of RoadRunners dovecote with its removable / replaceable floors was a real breakthrough.

I recall, from memory, that cleaning out a single compartment of my dovecotes with the early fixed panels took between 15 and 30 minutes depending how hard the nest had solidified, in some cases to almost concrete like consistency.

With removable panels this time was reduced to a third, but perhaps the most important factor was that I was able to achieve a much better clean.

With removable floors the whole aspect of compartment cleaning was enhanced. I can now clean out all 10 x compartments of RoadRunners Dovecote in approximately the same time it took to clean out one compartment in my dovecotes when they had fixed panels.

Modus operandi:

I do a chick check twice a month. If no additional tasks are required it takes less than 5 minutes. If I need to ring any chicks the time goes up slightly. Normally I do a check, ring a couple of chicks and clean out 2 or 3 compartments. I have never timed it but I estimate that such (normal), checks etc. take between 15 and 20 minutes.

To clean the floors I simply remove the front panels, clamp a pair of mole grips on the outer edge of the floorboard and wiggle it up and down to break the poo seal between floor and compartment walls, then carry it over to the garden refuse wheelie bin, (or compost bin depending on the make up of the nest), still attached to the mole grips, and scrape it clean. It really is that simple.

Summary:

I now have 3 must-have practical features for all my dovecotes. They are:

1. Removable access panels.

2. Roofs that can be roosted on; and

3. Removable / replaceable floors.

I estimate that my floorboards will last a good 2 years. As I can make 27 replaceable floors from a 4' x 8' sheet of OSB (Orientated Strand Board), the cost per floorboard is approximately 50 pence. Bearing in mind that the floorboards are the features that deteriorate most in a dovecote replaceable floors make it truly practicable.

Practical Dovecotes:

Part 13. Sufficient Roof Overhang:

There is a limit on how much roof overhang you can have on a pole mounted dovecote before it starts to look silly. Generally speaking pole mounted dovecotes have just enough overhang to keep the rain water that lands on the roof away from the sides of the dovecote; which is quite fortunate as I have yet to see a pole mounted dovecote with rain gutters.

Note.

A dovecote is similar to a house in this respect but the advantage with a house is that you can close the door when it rains. Whilst some of our doves appear quite clever I have resisted the urge to fit pop-hole / compartment doors.

So it's fairly obvious that unless we have a silly looking pole mounted dovecote the roof overhang is never going to keep the rain clear of the pop-hole entrances. But what about wall mounted dovecotes?

While we could probably get away with a larger roof overhang it still wouldn't be enough to keep the pop-holes dry without looking silly. But in certain circumstances we could achieve a suitable solution.

Personally I think that a wall mounted dovecote is the most practical of all the various dovecote types, but unless you have an outbuilding with a wall facing in the right direction / orientation, which you can put it on, instead of the house wall, then such a cote will have a couple of major problems.

1. You cannot see it from inside the house; and

2. Depending on the direction it faces it may not get the sun.

Postscript:

We consider ourselves fortunate that our bungalow appears to be perfectly oriented for both our doves and us. Our two main bedrooms face in a south easterly direction and look out onto the road. In the summer the sun shining on the curtains wakes us up; in the winter we reverse our car and campervan onto the drive and by 0900hrs most mornings the meagre sun has defrosted the windscreen. To be honest we still had to scrape the ice off when we both worked but now we are retired we don't normally go anywhere in the car or campervan until the sun has done its job.

By late morning the sun is shining towards the back of our house, namely our lounge, conservatory and kitchen windows, and continues to shine on them for the rest of the day, but where we really gain is that the view from the rear of the bungalow faces directly down our back garden and naturally overlooks our dovecote. All the pop-holes in our dovecote face south so the dovecote gets sun all day, (when it's shining of course), and we can see all the pop-holes from either in the house or most of the important areas of the garden.

In my opinion, which is biased as usual, I have the almost perfect dovecote, but there is one thing wrong with it. It isn't mounted on a wall. If it was mounted on a wall I could build a 'porch' over it which would really keep all the compartments dry without looking silly. And as a bonus I could even carry out chick-checks etc. on rainy days without getting wet.

"Now that would be a truly practical dovecote!"

Practical Dovecotes:

Part 14. Pop-holes all Facing in the Same Direction:

The traditional pole mounted dovecotes tend to share one thing in common, 'the pop-holes face in all direction of the compass.' To me this offers two major advantages:

1. The dovecote looks nice from any direction; and

2. Regardless of your position in your garden you can see at least some of your doves whenever you are in a position where you can see the dovecote.

For some dove keepers this will perfectly satisfy their requirements. "Of course this will not satisfy a grumpy senior citizen born with a lazy gene!"

There's only one alternative to pop-holes facing in different directions and that's to have them all facing in the same direction. This means that I am talking about wall mounted dovecotes, or a wall mounted dovecote that has been adapted to mount on a pole.

In my opinion the wall mounted style of dovecote offers some advantages over the traditional style of a pole mounted dovecote. These include:

1. Easier to build.

2. You can access all the pop-holes from one positioning of the step ladder; and

3. All pop-holes face in the same direction.

I'll deal with each of these in turn.

Easier to build:

Only those of us who have built both wall and pole mounted dovecotes will know the truth of this statement.

You can access all pop-holes from one positioning of the step ladder:

In my view this is a major advantage. I had 2 pole mounted dovecotes for nearly 4 years. Chick checks were carried out twice a month and for each check I had to move the step ladder and its bearer boards 7 times; that's 14 times a month, 168 times a year and 672 times in 4 years. (Sad isn't it).

In the year that I have had RoadRunners dovecote (with pop-holes facing in the same direction), I have moved the step ladder twice a month, or 24 times in a year. By the time 4 years are up I will have moved it 96 times. To me that's a lot more practical.

All pop-holes face in the same direction:

To my mind this offers three major advantages, namely:

1. We can see all of our doves from our favourite chairs in both the house and garden.

2. In the case of our garden, (and its orientation), all of the pop-holes can face in the direction of the sun; and

3. Better protection from some common predators. My first instinct would be to say that "Mrs Sparrow hawk" is our worst predator, but on reflection this is just not true. Our worst predators (on eggs and young chicks), are magpies, who are sneaky, devious, ruthless and cowardly. I am convinced that the doves can better offer a combined defensive front when pop-holes all face in the same direction. Since RoadRunners dovecote has been in use I have never seen a magpie on a balcony, yet this was a common occurrence with our pole mounted dovecotes.

Summary:

It was noticeable with our traditional dovecotes that north facing pop-holes were less popular with the doves, having cleaned a few they were also less popular with me! Having tried both methods I now prefer, and think it's more practical, that all my pop-holes face in the same direction.

Practical Dovecotes:

Part 15. Location / 3 Metre Rule:

Introduction:

There are several factors you should take into account when deciding where to locate your dovecote. They include the following.

Visibility of the dovecote:

In my opinion, the most important factor to take into account when choosing a location for your dovecote is that it must be viewable from your favourite chairs be they in the garden or house. Most people will erect the dovecote in their back garden and depending on the interior design of their property; their kitchen will also most likely overlook the dovecote.

Freedom from predators:

It's worth repeating that your dovecote should be guarded to be as free from predators as possible. The greatest step you can take in this respect is to ensure that it is not within 3 metres, (10-feet) of any tree, hedge, wall or building etc. which would assist a predator in gaining access.

Position in relation to the sun:

There is no doubt that doves enjoy the sun, as evidence, you only have to witness them sunbathing. If you have a post mounted dovecote with pop-holes facing in all directions then this fact becomes less important as some pop-holes will get a plentiful amount and others will get little or none.

With all pop-holes facing in the same direction, wall mounted dovecotes are different. The problem here is that if the direction of the sun doesn't match up with the view from your favourite chairs then you will have a choice to make. Whichever options you choose you are compromising yourself to some extent.

'RoadRunners Dovecote' is essentially a wall mounted dovecote in a 'Swiss Chalet Style' design which has received some modifications to make it suitable for post mounting. In respect of the direction of our view of the dovecote and the direction of the sun, this has given us the best of both worlds.

Direction of the rain:

We are told that in the United Kingdom, the majority of the rain is from a West or South West direction. Mind you, we get a totally different impression in our own garden as there doesn't seem to be any consistency and the rain comes from all directions in turn.

Again with the style of a normal pole mounted dovecote with pop-holes all round you will not have a choice. The compartments will all take it in turns to get wet.

Which direction should a dovecote face?

Personally, due to the variability of the rain direction, I consider that the direction of the sun is more important than the direction of the rain. Pop-holes that receive plenty of sun dry out quicker if they get wet. Those that do not get any sun still get wet but remain damp for very long periods. The result is that the nests get very dirty, so do the parents and chicks. Another downside is that when they do dry out the nests set like concrete.

My own dovecote faces almost due south.

Summary:

When positioning a dovecote consider not only the view but also the direction of the wind, rain and sun. Also consider its safety from predators.

Practical Dovecotes:

Part 16. Ease of Maintenance:

A practical dovecote is also one that is easy to maintain? When I use the words maintain or maintenance I mean two related but different things.

The first is what I would term as the general housekeeping maintenance required in running a dovecote, or other form of habitation. So I am thinking in terms of cleaning out the compartments and doing chick checks etc. where you need to occasionally remove a dove from the compartments to check for health and carry out the fitment of identification rings.

The second use of the word maintenance refers to annual or periodic repairs to the dovecote including cleaning, repairing and repainting of the exterior.

Ease of maintenance is dependant on some of the practical items I have discussed and includes:

1. Quality of materials used in the initial construction.

2. Quality of paint finish / protective treatment last applied.

3. If the roof is truly waterproof; e.g. the use of lead flashing if the design calls for it.

4. If removable panels are fitted.

5. If the dovecote is mounted at the correct height.

6. If removable replaceable floors are fitted.

7. If pop-holes all face in the same direction.

8. Types of balcony.

Summary:

Many of the features that make up a practical dovecote will also help to reduce labour hours and the cost of maintenance regardless of whether that maintenance is general housekeeping or periodic maintenance.

Practical Dovecotes:

Part 17. Summary:

In this series of articles I have tried to describe those aspects of dove habitation that make them more practical than normal. Of course you don't get something for nothing (or as we used to say at work "there's no such thing as a free lunch!").

If we want to go for something truly practical we sometimes tend to lose out slightly on aesthetic appeal. Some dove keepers will prefer aesthetics to practicability; after all it's a personal thing.

This series of articles is really directed at beginners who have dipped their toe in the water but as yet have not committed themselves and purchased a dovecote.

Another common saying is "If only I could turn the clock back!" This probably arose because we started doing something without being aware of all, or most of the information we required at the outset. Combined with this most of us who get a new idea, hobby or interest, can't wait to get started and most of us do make mistakes initially. The others probably do as well but won't admit it.

Most of my book and dove related articles are based on what I have learnt, and from mistakes I have made along the way. I try to pass on information that may be helpful to others, but as some readers will observe I often use the words "in my opinion" and that's exactly what it is.

If anyone disagrees with any of my statements on what makes a practical dovecote then please feel free to respond. Or alternatively please advise me if you think I have missed anything.