I am considering buying pigeons for producing eggs . Reason is they can fly around foraging and avoid ground predators such as dogs and cats and hopefully return to their established loft each day .According to the pigeon man I just got off the phone with they will produce about two eggs a pair each month . That is not much compared to chickens but in my case free ranging chickens around here is a no go . The last time I tried free ranging chickens a lynx ate them . Pigeons require little food to supplement their foraging food intake so once established maintaining a loft of pigeons would be minimal . Just an occasional few eggs to go into my wife's pumpkin pies would be great .
According to my research there is one breed of pigeon that will get up to about 2 1/2 pounds . Now that is getting in size comparable to a chicken . Perhaps pigeons would fit into some of our other members living environment .
If your interest is eggs, have you checked out quail. Be careful with pigeons that you allow to free range. When they feed around rail yards, for spilled grains, they will also intake grit that can contain hazards like heavy metals and bio chemicals. They also contract diseases from other pigeons, that humans can catch catch and are considered a vector for disease. Just a FYI Dale
Pigeons are the nastiest thing on Earth. Shoot one, stick it in a boiling pot, watch the lice float to the top. Had a friend from the Punjab. His lot used to shoot freaking pigeons for breast meat. Lot's of stories about that fellow and his people. I've got one story stuck in my head. Starting to make me laugh. Me, I'm not touching one of the damned pigeon, flying rat things. Guinea hens: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=raising+guinea+hens&atb=v140-1&ia=web Friend, ex helo pilot in-country, back in states, raised Guinea hens. They're nasty also, but productive. I've not researched them and thus know nothing about these things -- except sliding on their shit in my friend's yard. I guess anyone can tell, I'm not interested in raising fowl. Not dealing with their nastiness, "Homey don't play that game." Shit, I'll just kill the tree rats, i.e. squirrels. Bought some more bird shot today. Military surplus rifle tomorrow? We'll see what they do about one defect in that puppy. Tired, take a shower and go to bed, maybe you're not dead. Can't you tell? This isn't hell. ..... not yet. Guinea hens: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=raising+guinea+hens&atb=v140-1&ia=web This will kill a guinea hen (just saying):
There ain't many things nastier than a free-range chicken. That is why they taste the best!!! We fed the hogs and the horses field corn and knew for a fact that the chickens would get anything that passed through undigested. there is little that they like better than a fresh pile of crap. When you live on a farm and deal with the critters on a day to day basis you are not bothered much by the natural way that critters live and what they eat.
PCP pellet rifle should work wonders on the pigeons and cost a lot less than a 410 round. The big difference is you have to be able to hit the critters. Shot placement is king, no matter the caliber.
So I guess next you are going to tell me that my using a .458 Winchester Magnum on rabbits is too much force! Buddy, I've run into some tough customers in the rabbit realm. Until it's happened to you, you'll never know what it is to stand before a behemoth bunny. All I had that day was my .458! Let me tell you, I was quaking in my boots. It was my Winchester model 70 Safari Bunny Rifle that saved me that momentous day. My heart races even now as I look back on those horrid moments! Witness these ferocious furry fiends finishing-off friendly folk! If only that one fellow had had my Safari Bunny Rifle, maybe he would have survived.
I now have five pigeons and am in the process of building a loft for them . Something I learned from the guy I bought the pigeons from - You can mix a solution of borax and water and dip the pigeons in it on occasion , to reduce lice and such that they might have . I have worked in a commercial turkey growing barn for a few months after my retirement and can say I never saw anything done to reduce any parasites they might have and they were bunched up on the ground shoulder to shoulder. I am sure the same thing would hold true for chickens . Certainly they are never individually treated for parasites . --- So I agree with Texdanm and believe a properly cared for pigeon would be much cleaner than a chicken or turkey . --- The guy I bought the pigeons from probably thought he had run into a nut case , when I told him my purpose for the pigeons was to eat pigeon eggs , if things got bad enough . --- As for as feeding them for now the pigeon breeder I got my stock from said he feed them chicken scratch . I bought a 50 pound bag of chicken scratch yesterday for about $8.00 . Now they don't eat much so that is an inexpensive bird to feed . Like my milk goats I figure they could forage enough for survival if there was not any outside feed source available . -- I take a multiprong approach to my prepping plan , milk goats , pigeons for eggs , gardening , wild game harvesting from our groups private land , fish from our stream and water from our spring .
We got a hundred little roosters one year from a place down the road that sold laying hens to another place that sold eggs. The place that sells hens gets eggs that are about 85% hens then the weed out the little roosters when they are about 6 weeks old and develop a comb. They normally just kill them but they let us come and take them instead. Those hundred roosters were a MESS and we had to snip the end off their beaks to keep them from pecking each other to death. We planned to let them grow until they were about 20 weeks old but had to butcher them at about 14 weeks. They were just a constant problem! They were a little small but they were great eating. That was a long day!! I was the youngest person there and so got the job of chasing, catching them, and killing them.
TexDanm this reminds me of the time a chicken truck hauling a load of chickens lost their load of chickens when the crates fell off by my rural boyhood home . We had a bunch of escaped chickens in our woods . We were delighted as that was food for the table . At night we would shine lights up into the trees spotting them and shooting them down , to be carted home .
My post had nothing to do with how clean or dirty the pigeons are. It has everything to do with the primary diseases that pigeons are known for transmitting to humans. Pigeons are a primary vector for Histoplasmosis, Cryptococcosis, Candidiasis and Salmonellosis as well as a number of other lesser diseases such as St. Louis Encephalitis and E. Coli. If you keep your pens very clean (NO fecal buildup) and never let a pigeon peck you so that they break your skin, you will help eliminate much of the problems even though the pigeons will already be carriers for the diseases. Cryptococcosis usually presents itself in humans as chronic Meningitis. Dale
I assume you are talking about city pigeons which are mostly feral flying rats, they will eat anything and everything they can and are known to carry lots of diseases, I wouldnt touch one "with a bargepole" as we say over here. Wood(country) pigeons are a different case entirely and we are fattening up 5 wood pigeons every summer in our garden ready for SHTF.
No! I'm talking ALL pigeons! As a wildlife biologist working wildlife control for the government I worked a number of pigeon contracts and the birds in cities were no better than rural birds that were allowed to free roam. Pigeons cover large areas while foraging and intermingle with pigeons from all over a region. I'll put it like this. Say, you live 10 counties over from a city and say each county covers a 600 square mile area. Pigeons will cover an area bigger than that looking for food in under 30 days. As the pigeons in the city move out they contaminate the adjacent county's pigeons in that 30 days. At that rate the pigeons in your area, even if the were medically cleared when hatched, will become contaminated with the diseases the city birds have in less than a year. This is how squab raisers avoid most of the disease issues. They only raise there birds to 6 months old before butchering and keep there stock isolated from wild or roaming birds. The pigeons in any given area are just as contaminated as any other pigeon in your state/region/country/continent. These diseases are not contained by area. They are only controlled by the population density of the species. The governments report publicly very little on wildlife diseases because they have always been around and most of the people that work with them are already aware of the dangers. It is usually people that are unaware of the diseases and how they are contracted that get them and often die from them. They seldom make the news because there aren't that many deaths,....and, it's from animals. Do an internet search for "pigeon diseases in humans" and see what comes up. Especially for your area. Dale
Dalewick I took your advice and looked up pigeons and their disease carrying ability . Sure enough it states some bad stuff can be transmitted through their droppings and mosquitoes can carry something from biting an infected bird and then transmitting it to a human . I appreciate the warning . ___ I actually don't plan to eat the eggs unless chicken eggs are not available . If the collapse is so dire that not even a chicken egg is obtainable , I will take my chances and eat a well cooked pigeon egg .
A body gets hungry enough, you eat what's available. One other thing. If you can, keep them away from your chickens and their feed. Most of what they carry can transfer to chickens if the pigeons peck them while fighting for food. When I was young I didn't know about all the diseases wildlife have. Sometimes I think I enjoyed hunting and trapping more back then.
I have never heard of any problems of a disease nature with wood pigeons here in the UK, city pigeons are a different matter and eat anything and everything, even at one time my lunchtime pasty-long time ago. our local pigeons here we feed on Sunflower seeds, they have no need to go elsewhere!! unless its harvest time when some grain gets spilled on the roads between field and farm.
The reason the urban birds eat anything is that they are usually starving. Literally starving. That is also the reason urban pigeons fecal matter is so corrosive. It is primarily urea due to the lack of food which creates normal fecal matter. I'm not saying if you touch a pigeon your going to be sick. I am trying to relay information as to the potential of a problem with this species that could kill you. I had an employee contract histoplasmosis from pigeon fecal matter and it almost killed him within 72 hours. Better to be safe than sorry. Dale
I do wonder at all the hunting videos' I watch where the hunter touches the dead critters bare handed. When I hunted groundhogs, they were all flea infested and I would not want to touch them bare handed. I do think a good stock pile of nitrite gloves would be a very good thing to have when out hunting. Bag it, tag it and delouse it but keep the vermin off your hands and clothes. As for pigeons, I think they are now off my hunting list.
PLEASE Keep hunting pigeons! They are way over populated and classified an invasive species in the USA. It pays to use caution with wildlife. Fleas and ticks carry some bad stuff and as there host gets cold they seek new host. Back when I was trapping full time, I put all coyotes and raccoons in a trash bag and sprayed in the bag with raid. It always amazed me how many fleas and ticks were on every one.
Pigeon breast is delicious, it just needs to be well cooked. Any freshwater fish or game can carry disease and parasites...as long as you're carful it's all good but slip up or fail to practice good hygiene and it can quickly all go bad.
I ate my first pigeon age today . The young first time mother pigeon layed an egg outside of it's nest . This I found this morning so I figure the egg would not hatch after the cold night being unincubated . I fried it up . The white of the egg turned a golden brown color similar to the color of the top of a biscuit and was frothy " contained small bubbles " The yellow of the egg looked like a small version of a chicken egg . The flavor was good and actually contained MORE flavor than a chicken egg . This meal I washed down with some cool goat milk from yesterday's milking . -- This likely though will be my last pigeon egg to consume until a dire food crises dictates , it is time to fall back on this as a survival food . --- I also have chickens for eggs but during a serious crises , with feed stores closed , chickens would need to free range and I have too many predators around here to expect chickens to survive free ranging long term . Thus I could let my pigeons fly out to forge and return to their shelter . Any bad feed from my mini farm I now pour out in a damp soil area to feed earth worms . These worms we can fish with or feed to my chickens during teotwawki . Unlike some in the prepper community I have no intention of eating worms for a meal but would use them to further my survival .
Ostrich eggs are big. But, beware! They be mean. https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/weird/caution-emu-is-armed-and-dangerous/1910093/ https://thedogvisitor.com/qa/are-emus-dangerous-to-humans https://untamedanimals.com/are-emus-dangerous-or-friendly/
The ostrich, emu and rhea all have the strength in there legs and necks to kill a grown man. Pays to be careful with them. Dale
I question the cleanliness of pigeons , I believe they have all sort of parasites. A small health risk can be associated with pigeon contact. Three human diseases, histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis and psittacosis are linked to pigeon droppings. A fungus that grows in bird droppings and soil causes histoplasmosis, a disease that affects the lungs.
ah yes...pigeons...the rats of the avian world... use to take shots at them on dairy farms when i would go with my father figure on his whey route...
all meat whatever animal is comes from needs to be well cooked, I have never been a lover of "rare" cooked meat, we cook all our meat until it is literally falling off the bone, thats how we like it.
I'd not pluck any pigeon. They are eaten-up with lice -- maybe not the blood-sucking type of lice that get on mammals, nevertheless ... yuck. I guess someone could dunk the bird in a boiling tub and let all the vermin rise to the top. In a survival situation, I guess they'd be game. A friend of mine from the Punjab used to shoot them and said that pigeons were a food source in his land. Some things he served up for "food" were, let us say, less than a delicacy. And HOT, man did he ever throw the hot spices in there. Helped cover the bad taste, that's true.
the reason curry was originally invented was to cover the taste of rotten meat. I like to taste my cooked meat not cover it in spices and sauces.
I am a bit late to the party here,but...As I write this,there are a half dozen Wood pigeons sitting in a tree inmy neighbour’s garden ,viewing MY garden like it is a McDonalds Drive Through! They are a damned nuisance,and plentiful in our area. If it came to it,I could harvest as many as I could handle with a simple air gun. As for lice,disease etc. It’s why mankind started cooking.
