"The most important thing no one should forget is that this is a hobby and a hobby should be for fun!
The pleasure in the hobby and the friends are more important than the quality of your birds."
Heine Bijker - 4 time World Cup Roller Fly Champion
KIT BOXES
There are many different designs being used to house the kit birds. They range from small, dark enclosed boxes to large walk in type of pens. My pens are a compromise of the two extremes. I feel the most important item to consider is ventilation and having an open front where you can observe the birds without having t0 open the door.
TRIPLE KIT BOX
These three kitboxes are 4' wide, 4' deep and 5' high. I made a huge mistake by building it 4' deep because it makes it difficult to handle the birds. If it was 3' deep you can easily grab a bird that is on the back wall.
The traps are located above the doors. The landing board is actually the overhang over the doorway and helps to keep the rain out of the loft and is 2' deep and 16' wide. This design makes it very easy to train the young birds and to move birds from one box to another.
The first photo of the interior of the kit box shows the original design I used. The perches were placed on the 3 walls and the perches itself were large, 9" square. The birds were more likely to pair up with the large perches and had no problem sharing one perch. Placing the perches on the 3 walls allowed the birds to fly back and forth and did not help in keeping the birds calm and relaxed.
The next photo shows the redesigned interior of the kit box. I removed the perches from the side walls and I also moved the perches from the back wall about 1' forward so I can reach each bird without having to climb into the kit box. I also made the perches smaller, 6" wide and 7" tall. This helps to keep the birds from sharing a perch. The original flooring is a 1" x 1/2" welded wire. I have installed a plastic composite material with 2" x 2" openings about 2" above the original floor. The larger openings makes it harder for the birds to walk around and helps to keep them off the floor and in their perch.
DOUBLE KIT BOX
These two kitboxes are 6' wide, 3' deep and 4 1/2' high. They are used to house my old bird teams. Hens on one side, cocks in the other.
The original flooring is a 1" x 1" welded wire. I also installed the same plastic composite material that I used in the triple kit boxes on the floor of this loft.