Feral Pigeons Edible?

[Grandmotherbear]

I think this is an urban legend, but mycoworker, the New York City gal, swears you will die a horrible death if you eat a city pigeon. Supposedly from a fungus. I told her psittacosis was from BREATHING pigeon droppings, but she swears.
We were discussing city survival in a N.O. type situation. I still think city pigeons are a possible food source...

[agmantoo]

Sometimes when the locals are dove hunting, feral pigeons come into the same cutoff corn fields and are killed along with the doves. Both are eaten but I was told the pigeons are tough. None of these folks have died from eating them.

[james dilley]

Another use for them is to sell to bird hunters ,live birds for training.

[Haggis]

Older pigeons are edible, but tougher than a rubber boot.

The Bible speaks of eating pigeon droppings in II Kings chapter 6 [I think]: And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.

Our city pigeon is really a Rock Dove.

[Vera]

Originally Posted by Haggis

... And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver...

Excuse the thread drift, but this is very interesting - for all those who believe that the world is going to you-know-where in a handbasket these days, it may be of some comfort to know that the human habit of cashing in on the desperate need of others goes back thousands of years I mean, next time you think that today's population is ruthless and without conscience, just remember the bit about people selling way overpriced pigeon poop to the starving in Samaria. The world didn't go under back then, and I have a hunch that it won't go under any time soon either.

[coalroadcabin]

I dunno Vera, I might have to starve to death before I ate pigeon poop!! Even if it was on special at Big Lots "Buy One, Get One Free"

[Spotted Crow]

On Dirty Jobs on Discovery channel, the guy was cleaning up pigeon (rock dove) poop. He was saying that it and pigeon nests need to be cleaned up because of histoplasmosis. A fungus in bird poop. Even chickens have it, so I have to wear a mask when I clean my girls' room. When I didn't I ended up in the ER having 5 nebulizer treatments.

[Grandmotherbear]

Yeah, when I saw Dirty Jobs about the Mexican Sewer Divers, I actually stpping whining about my job for a couple days!

[shadowwalker]

We used to find them in our Dove hunting area in northern Wyoming. We shot them just like the Doves. Good eating. shadowwalker

[raziel133]

You can eat them....I would soak the birds in wine and maybe salt them for a hour...rinse off and cook like any other bird. I raise all kinds of these birds and sub groups..aka Doves...We eat ours...No dealths..or sickness here...

[Meg Z]

A very small percentage of those city birds are actually someone's breeding stock. I've talked to a few city people over the years who raise squab from a city balconey, or in their backyard...and free-flight the adults to let them forage. As far as I know, none of those city homesteaders have died yet!

Meg

[edcopp]

So ,what would be a reasonable price for the poop?

I think cooking would be reccomended for the rock dove, actually it might sell for a pretty good price in some fancy restaurant, marinated and on a bed of rice ($22.50).

[Little Quacker in OR]

Anyone who has raised pigeons will tell you that it's the squabs that are so good. I guess you could eat an adult Rock Dove but you'd get a whole lot of bones and tough meat..wouldn't be worth it. Of course for someone who was starving..that's a different thing.

Feral Rock Doves are just flying rats, I wouldn't eat a pigeon that I didn't breed and raise myself. Just like anything, what it eats has a lot to do with the taste.

LQ

[Mountain Mick]

The only problem that I can see about eating NY city pigeons is a possible heavy metal contamination from breathing in high levels of carbon monoxide.

but I would eat them.

I would say that they would be well feed with all the people feeding them.

We still eat feral pigeons and we have done so since I was a kid. My mum used to cook them rolled in herbed bread crumbs and baked in butter in the oven slowly. The tougher ones make lovely stews and pies and when we were kids were used to steal the young ones out of the nests before they fledged. the way I like to eat them is spatched cocked and marinated and grilled on the bbq.

Another nice way is to mainate them, just the breasts only.
The marinate is

250ml Zesty Italian dressing
1/2cup Soy sauce
1/2 Red wine,
pinch dried Tarrogon
pinch dried Rosemary
6 clolves garlic
1tsp onion salt
1tsp Garlic salt
1 tblsp Worcestershire sauce
1tsp meat tenderiser or biocarbonate soda
2 rashers of streaky bacon per pigeon

Marinate overnight, and then wrap the beasts in really fatty streaky bacon. Bake in the oven or gill on the bbq basting with the reamining dressing. Serve with a garden salad.

[crystalniche]

There is a breed of pigeon that they raise just for eating. I think it is called a King or something. They wouldn't do that if it were to make anyone ill.

[Don Armstrong]

Take the breasts off the birds, and any other meat (e.g. off legs) you can easily get.

Cook the rest of the carcasses in a pressure cooker to make stock. A pressure cooker is a survival tool - cook food a lot quicker, and therefore need less fuel, with a pressure cooker. If you're desperate this will make even the bones soft enough to eat - good for children who aren't getting milk, for pregnant women, or for people vulnerable to osteoporosis.

Dice the breasts and other meat, then cook it in the stock in the pressure cooker. Thicken the stock. True frugality would have you blend the leftover softened bones and other meat you couldn't get off them to thicken the stock. Serve as stew, or in pigeon pie.

[Lora]

Although you can eat any pigeon, the best are the squabs that have just a few yellow feathers around the head. Much older and they get tough, much younger they don't have much meat.

You can pluck the whole thing (The feathers come off real easily) or just breast them out like dove hunters do. On another forum, I posted this recipe:

Bone the breast, and flatten slightly with either a meat mallet or the bottom of a pot.

Wrap the breast around either: a slice of hot pepper (jalapeno), mozzerella cheese, or KrabLegg.

Wrap a piece of bacon around that, and secure with a toothpick.

Either fry in hot oil, or cook on the grill till the bacon is crisp (Not very long).

Figure 8 to 10 of these per person as an appe"teaser".

You can cook the adult birds, but you would have to boil/stew them. The squab are great on the rotisserie.

The breed that has been bred for meat is the "RUNT".

There is no closed season in Texas on the following: Rock doves (pigeons), Eurasian collared doves (look like ring-necked doves but bigger; they are feral birds), feral hogs, jackrabbits, cottontail rabbits.

[doohap]

Originally Posted by Mountain Mick

... the way I like to eat them is spatched cocked and marinated and grilled on the bbq. ...

What the heck is "spatched cocked"? Sorry, but I can't figure it out ...

Peace,
doohap

[Thumper/inOkla.]

Don, that discription made my mouth water.......

the old time way of raiseing squab was to tie the babies into the nest so they couldn't fly away when they feathered out, old time pigeon coops looked like martin bird houses with a human access room in the middle and a door on the back of each nest box. the baby could not leave so the parents (free flying birds) kept feeding it until it was taken by the farmer.

basicly, once the nest house was built it produced high quality meat for free.

[RedneckPete]

The country pigeons (ususally living in somebody's barn) eat corn and beans out of the fields, and raid animal feed from the pastures.

The city pigeons usually eat garbage food and whatever people feed them. This is not that bad a diet. They eat french fries from outside Mcdonalds, bird seed from people's feeders and bread and oatmeal from the people who feed them in the parks.

I used to eat them, but it is a lot of work for a little meat. It takes just as long to kill and clean a pigeon as it does to process a chicken. With the chicken you get six pounds of meat, with the pigeon half a pound.

I still shoot them, but now I throw them whole to my pigs. The pig's gut cleans them for me and turns them into bacon.

Pete