Mowlid's Flat-Pack Loft

A 4 x 6 ft pigeon loft that bolts together in an afternoon, comes apart the same way, and stacks flat against the garage. Built for an Edmonton rental backyard.

17 pieces

3 ft up on legs

50 lb heaviest piece

10 to 12 adult birds

2 pens, 2 types

2.2 m² no permit needed

What it looks like

Two AI-made pictures of the design with real-looking birds. Proportions are close, small details differ from the drawings. Where they disagree, the drawings win.

The loft outside: raised on wooden legs in a snowy backyard, wire flight pen in front, pigeons landing on the board — Outside: 3 ft up on legs, landing board and bob trap high on the front, flight pen under it, birds coming in.

Inside the loft: white washable walls, nest boxes along the back, V perches, wire divider, feeder and waterer, pigeons on the perches — Inside: washable white walls, nest boxes along the back, V perches, the wire divider, feeder and water off the floor.

3D view

Slide it apart to see every piece. Tap a piece for its size, weight and what's on it.

Together Apart

Tap a piece

Walls are 2x2 frames with plywood outside, 1.5 inch foam in the middle and a washable plastic skin inside. Everything joins with 1/4 inch carriage bolts and wing nuts, so the only tool for assembly is your hands and one wrench.

Floor plan

Looking down from above. Front wall faces south so the landing board gets sun. The wire divider splits it into two 3 x 4 ft pens, one per type, each with its own door into the flight pen.

Each pen gets

3 nest boxes, 12 wide x 12 tall x 20 deep, with a 6 inch lip and plastic nest bowls
6 V perches on the side wall, one per adult bird
Its own 8 x 8 pop hole to its half of the flight pen
A hanging feeder, a waterer off the floor, and a grit pot

Why two pens

You said a mix of types. Homers in one pen, rollers or fancies in the other, and nothing cross-breeds. Pull the divider out and it is one 4 x 6 room again. When module 2 bolts on later you get four pens.

Panels and weights

Every piece is something one person can carry. Weights are estimates from the materials list, rounded up.

#	Piece	Size (in)	Weight	What's on it

Build: 2x2 spruce frame, 5.2 mm plywood outside, 1.5 inch EPS foam in the frame, 4 mm coroplast (sign plastic) inside so you can wash it. Floor halves are 2x4 joists with 1/2 inch plywood. Roof halves are 2x4 rafters, 2x2 purlins, corrugated steel on top, foam and coroplast underneath.

Warm, snow, wind

Warm no heater

Pigeon keepers in cold places agree on one thing: dry and draft free beats warm. Birds handle -30 fine if they are not wet and not in a breeze.

1.5 inch foam in every wall, the roof and the door (about R-5.6)
Foam tape on the top plates where the roof lands. Walls bolt tight to each other
Two vent slots, both with sliding covers: a low one at the front, a high one at the back. Winter: front a quarter open, back half open. Never fully shut, the ammonia has to leave
Floor is 3 ft up on legs: dry underneath, nowhere for rats to nest against it, and you can mow under it
Water: a heated dog bowl on an outdoor extension cord. Nothing else needs power
Pair the birds up in March, not January

Snow built for 30 lb/sq ft

Edmonton's building code ground snow load is 1.5 kPa plus 0.2 kPa rain, which works out to about 29 lb per square foot on a roof like this.

That is roughly 700 lb of snow on the whole roof
Three 2x4 rafters per half, about 21 inches apart, spanning 4 ft: about 1.5 times the strength needed
3:12 slope toward the back, so drips and slides go away from the door and the pen
Steel roofing laps one rib at the middle seam, the right half over the left
After a big dump, push it off with a broom anyway. The front edge is about 10 ft up, a broom from a step ladder reaches

Wind anchored

I could not get the City's official wind figure, so the design just assumes strong prairie wind and ties the whole box down.

Four screw-in auger anchors (the 15 inch dog tie-out kind) at the corners, cabled to eye bolts in the leg feet
Every panel is bolted to its neighbours and the legs, so the anchors hold the roof too, not just the floor
Standing 3 ft up catches more wind and gives it more leverage, so the legs get diagonal braces on all four sides and the anchors are not optional
Back wall faces the windy side of your yard. Front faces south
Roof overhang is only 5 inches, less for the wind to grab
Nothing goes in the ground except the anchors, and they screw back out

Trap and flying

The one-way door (bob trap)

Same idea as your old coop. A 14 x 9 inch opening on the right front panel, 58 inches above the floor, which is about 8 ft above the ground now that the loft stands on 3 ft legs. That height is why you wanted it raised: the birds see the board from the sky, drop straight onto it and trap in fast, and nothing on the ground can bother them while they do. Seven aluminum bobs hang from a rod across the top, about 1.75 inches apart. A bird pushes in from outside, the bobs swing in and drop back behind it. From the inside they cannot swing out.

Landing board outside: 24 x 14 inches, painted a light colour the birds can see from the sky
A sliding drop door above the bobs. Open it and the birds go out over the board. Close it and the loft is in-only
Inside, a 12 inch shelf so they land softly after the bobs
Bob sets are sold online for roughly $35, or make them from 3/16 inch steel rod

When you are allowed to fly them (Bylaw 21244)

Weekdays, Oct to Apr

Any time, as long as you are outside watching

Weekdays, May to Sep

Before 10 am or after 4 pm

Sat, Sun, holidays

Before 10 am only (10 am to 11 pm is blocked)

How many

Max 20 birds out at one time

Everything else

Birds stay in the loft or the flight pen

The flight pen counts as inside the loft, so the birds get sun and air all day without breaking any rule.

Put it together

First time about 3 hours. After that about 1.5 hours alone, 45 minutes with a friend. Tools: one 7/16 wrench, a level, a drill for the anchors.

Pick the spot. Back yard only. 2 ft off the back fence, 3 ft off the side fence and the house. Back wall toward the wind, front toward the sun.
Blocks and legs. Six patio blocks in two rows, 4 ft apart, the middle pair shared. Stand Legs A and Legs B on them, 2 bolts join the frames. Level with shims under the blocks.
Floor A and B. Drop them on the leg rails. 2 bolts join the halves, 4 bolts down into the rails. The door sill is 3 ft up, so build a two-step wooden stair for the door side (two 18 inch risers, 2x10 treads). A stack of blocks is not safe at this height.
Back wall A, then B. Stand each on the back edge of the floor, 2 bolts down through the bottom plate. 3 bolts between A and B.
Side walls. Left side: 3 bolts into Back A's corner post, 2 into the floor. Right side the same.
Front A and B. 3 bolts to each side wall, 3 between them, 2 each into the floor. The box is now rigid.
Roof. Stick foam tape along the top plates. Roof A (left) goes up first, 3 bolts down into the plates. Roof B next, its steel laps over A. 3 bolts down, 2 at the seam.
Inside. Door on its lift-off hinges. Divider slides into its floor and ceiling channels. Nest units hook onto the back walls. Perches, feeders, water.
Flight pens. Each half hooks onto the front wall at floor height and stands on its two front legs on blocks, 2 bolts. Line the pop holes up.
Anchors. Screw the 4 augers in at the corners, clip the cables to the eye bolts in the leg feet, pull them snug.
Check. Push every corner. Nothing should rock. Close the vents to winter setting if it is cold. Birds in.

Taking it apart

Reverse order, same bolts. Number every panel with a marker and number the matching bolt holes, keep the bolts in a jar with a label. The stack is 4 ft by 6.5 ft and about 2.5 ft tall. Stand it against the garage wall under a tarp.

Building the panels (the carpentry part)

Weekend 1: floor halves, all six wall frames, outer plywood. Weekend 2: cut the openings, foam, inner skins, roof halves, door. Weekend 3: flight pens, divider, nest boxes, paint, then a full test fit in the yard before any bird moves in. Pre-drill every bolt hole with the panels clamped together in their final position, that is what makes the yard assembly quick.

Shopping list

Two paths. "All new" is Home Depot and Rona prices. "Budget path" is what the same build costs if you get lumber, plywood, foam offcuts and used coroplast signs on Facebook Marketplace, which is normal in Edmonton. Both before GST.

Straight talk: all new is well over your $300 to $600. The budget path lands inside it only if you hunt Marketplace for a couple of weeks and build the shell first, then add the foam and inner skins before October. Prices marked est are my estimate, check in store.

Item	Qty	Each	Line

Ways to cut more: rip 2x4s into 2x2s on a table saw (halves the framing cost), 7/16 OSB instead of 5.2 mm plywood outside (about $70 less but each wall gains 15 lb), one flight pen half now and the second later.

Cut list

All in inches. Frames are 2x2 unless it says 2x4. Foam gets cut to fit each bay after the frame is together.

Floor half (make 2)

2x4 @ 48: 4 (joists, two are the outside rims)
2x4 @ 33: 2 (end rims)
1/2 ply 36 x 48: 1

Legs (make 2)

2x4 @ 32 1/2: 8, two per corner screwed into an L
2x4 @ 36: 2 and 2x4 @ 41: 2, top rails on edge
2x2 @ 42: 4 diagonal braces, one on every side
Eye bolt in each foot for the anchor cable
Door stair: 2x10 @ 36: 2 stringers cut for two 18 inch risers, 2x10 @ 24: 2 treads

Back wall panel (make 2)

2x2 @ 63: 3 studs
2x2 @ 36: 2 plates
2x2 @ 15 3/4: 2 blocking
5.2 mm ply 36 x 66 outside, coroplast 36 x 66 inside
Vent slot 2 x 30 at the top, wire plus a sliding cover

Front wall panel (make 2)

2x2 @ 75: 3 studs
2x2 @ 36: 2 plates
2x2 @ 15 3/4: 2 blocking
5.2 mm ply 36 x 78 outside, coroplast inside
Both: pop hole 8 x 8 at the floor with a slide, vent slot 2 x 30 at 6 in up
Left: window 18 x 24 (clear acrylic or a roofing offcut), sill at 40 in
Right: trap opening 14 x 9 at 58 in, landing board 24 x 14, drop door above

Side wall (make 2, mirror)

2x2 studs @ 75 (front), 69 (middle), 63 (back)
2x2 @ 48 bottom plate, 2x2 @ 49 1/2 top plate with 14 degree ends
2x2 @ 21: 2 blocking
5.2 mm ply 48 x 78, trim the slope after
Right side only: door opening 24 x 60, add 2x2 @ 60: 2 and 2x2 @ 24: 1 around it

Door

2x2 @ 57: 2, 2x2 @ 21: 3
5.2 mm ply 24 x 60 outside, coroplast inside, foam between
2 lift-off hinges, 1 barrel bolt inside, 1 hasp outside

Roof half (make 2)

2x4 @ 60: 3 rafters
2x4 @ 39: 2 rims
2x2 @ 39: 3 purlins across the top
Steel 26 x 60: 2 per half (cut 8 ft panels), the right half's steel sticks out 2 in to lap
Foam between rafters, coroplast 42 x 60 underneath

Flight pen half (make 2)

1x2 @ 36: 4, 1x2 @ 27: 4, 1x2 @ 45: 4 posts
2x2 @ 36: 2 front legs, on blocks
1/2 inch hardware cloth on all six sides, floor included, stapled every 2 in
Top panel hinged so you can reach in
2 hooks to the front wall, 2 bolts

Divider and nest units

Divider: 1x2 @ 72: 2, 1x2 @ 44: 3, wire, with a small pass door. Slides into U channels screwed to the floor and ceiling
Nest unit (make 2): 1/2 ply 36 x 20: 2 (top, bottom), 12 x 20: 4 (ends and dividers), 36 x 6: 1 lip. Hooks onto the back wall

Edmonton rules

From the City's Animal Care and Control Bylaw 21244 (in force May 19, 2026) and Zoning Bylaw 20001. Confirm with 311 before you build, the City can add conditions to the licence.

Pigeons (section 35)

You need a pigeon licence. $16 for 2026, $17 in 2027. Keeping pigeons without one is a $100 fine
Maximum 75 pigeons on the property
The loft has to be acceptable to the City for location, size, construction, ventilation and cleanliness. Keep it clean and they have no reason to say no
Birds outside the loft only for supervised exercise, or coming home from a race or training toss
Never more than 20 out at once
No flying Sat, Sun or holidays 10 am to 11 pm, and no flying any day May to September 10 am to 4 pm
Each of those is a $100 fine
Nothing in the bylaw about breeding or selling your own birds. The City can put conditions on a licence, so ask when you apply

The building (Zoning Bylaw 20001)

An accessory building of 10 m² or less needs no development permit. This loft is 2.2 m²
Back yard only, never the front yard
Keep it 0.6 m (2 ft) from the rear lot line. The City's shed guide says 0.9 m (3 ft) from side lot lines and from the house, and one City page says 0.6 m, so use 3 ft and you are covered either way
Roof midpoint must be under 4.3 m. On 3 ft legs ours is about 2.95 m at the midpoint and 3.1 m at the front, so keep the normal 0.6 m rear setback (the closer-to-the-line option only applies to roofs under 2.4 m)
No permanent electrical, plumbing or gas. An extension cord for a heated bowl is fine
Nothing is dug in or attached to the house, so it is a movable structure. That is your landlord's main worry, and the answer is it leaves with you

How this design answers the City's five words

Location

Back yard, 2 ft off the rear line, 3 ft off the sides and the house

Size

24 sq ft floor, about 2 sq ft per bird at 12 birds, plus a 30 sq ft flight pen

Construction

Insulated, bolted into one unit, anchored at four corners, standing 3 ft up on braced legs

Ventilation

Low intake at the front, high exhaust at the back, both adjustable

Cleanliness

Washable plastic inside, painted floor you scrape daily, droppings fall through the pen floor

Sources: Bylaw 21244, consolidated PDF (section 35, Schedule A fees, fine schedule); Zoning Bylaw 20001 section 7.120; City shed and garage page; snow load from NBC 2020 Appendix C as reported by loadcalculator.ca. Prices from homedepot.ca and rona.ca listings on Nov 4, 2026, which can be stale. Weights are calculated from material weights, not weighed.

Made for Mowlid, Nov 2026.