Maggie J!! (Pigeons)

Here they are Maggie J! The little "cuties" you wanted to see. 10 day old utility king pigeons.
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The squab in this pic has his eyes closed. Shame this one's blurry.


A big ole angry pappa bird guarding his eggs.



So far, I like the pigeons. They waste zero time making more of themselves, and manage their babies all by themselves, like rabbit do.

Oh, Zass! As my mother used to say: "They're so homely they're cute!"

(Got a good recipe for pigeon pie?) :dinner:

They are supposed to be fattier than quail. The pictures I've seen look a little bit like miniature roast ducks. So I guess we'll be plucking and roasting at first to see if I can get them crispy. We usually only raise or hunt rather lean meats like rabbit, quail, and venison.

Are these something you can let free range like chickens and they will return to the coop or do you have to have enclosed runs for them?

Those beaks! :x

DH thinks baby buns are ugly, wait till I show him these! :lol:
Thank you for sharing these "cuties", Zass!

alforddm":1rkq98yz said:

Are these something you can let free range like chickens and they will return to the coop or do you have to have enclosed runs for them?

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If they returned (like homing pigeons?) that'd be awesome... I've always heard that you want them to have limited activity for the tenderness of meat, though. Is there anything to that, or does it not make a noticeable difference, Zass?

opcorn:

Nymphadora I could be wrong -- or simply outdated -- but I think it is the squabs one usually eats, once they reach a certain size. They'd still be tender.

MaggieJ":2rbbeaxe said:

Nymphadora I could be wrong -- or simply outdated -- but I think it is the squabs one usually eats, once they reach a certain size. They'd still be tender.

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Yup, I think you're right. But I wasn't sure what size they get to before processing, so if they are out of the nest and "active" or not by that time. Thank you, though, because you're probably right and they don't get much of a chance to really roam before their one way trip to camp freezer, anyway.

I had a few minutes to spare, so I thought I'd check out pigeons for meat. This site looks interesting: http://pigeonsformeat.com/

Yes, the squabs are eaten before they can fly. Nymphadora, many people do "free fly" their birds during the day and coop them up at night. Here, the threat of hawks makes that impossible.


Maggie J, that was a very helpful page. One part I found interesting was where it says there that all utility pigeon breeds are endangered in the US, and has some strict culling suggestions. http://pigeonsformeat.com/index.php/uti ... eservation
That doesn't really surprise me, as they were impossible to find in my state. My birds were transported all the way from Texas. They weren't particularly expensive, and the breeder had no shortage of them.
(Anyone curious about the source can PM me.)

The links I'm providing here are not where my birds came from. (Mine were nowhere near that expensive.)

I guess, the difference between a show King and a utility King pigeon would be like comparing a winning Belgian hare to one of Grumpy's production NZ's. They don't even look even remotely alike.
Show kings are one of the "mini chicken" looking pigeon breeds.
http://www.pigeonfarms.com/show-king-pigeons-for-sale/ Although it would be tempting to try them out for meat production, I guess they are so tightly selected for conformation, that they often lack the fecundity and growth rates of squab production lines.
http://www.pigeonfarms.com/utility-whit ... -for-sale/

Stromburgs has them too, but the price is ridiculous!!
https://www.strombergschickens.com/prod ... ty-Pigeons

Their sheer size of my birds is hard to get on camera, I think, because their pigeon proportions aren't really changed. Just bigger than you'd expect a pigeon to be. Maybe, around the size of a bantam chicken, but more spread out.

I miss my pigeons. Gotta say though, baby pigeons are like the ugly duckling. Ugly as sin when a baby but beautiful when full grown and your adult pigeons are beautiful. Do you let them free forage?

Resurrecting this one thanks to MaggieJ! I posted contemplating an indoor bird after we move and she suggested maybe try pigeons - never thought of them since until this point we were out in the country and I was content with my chickens and rabbits which I won't be able to have. How noisy are they? i don't want to pester with questions so I will do my best to research on my own... I know there were a couple links listed above.

Pigeons are very quiet, the loudest sound they make is a soft cooing
The breed I recommend for pets are parlour tumbers/parlour rollers because they are naturally flightless, so they need a big space to fly around in.