Utility Pigeons

[MeatPigeons]

Utility pigeons, or meat pigeons, is a very frowned upon thing in the pigeon world. In fact, pigeon forums may even ban you for using breeds like Texas pioneers for their original purpose - providing luscious meat.
I recently acquired Swiss mondaines, a meaty 2lb bird, for the sake of meat.
At the moment they are not breeding, but I will dedicate this thread to how to raise pigeons, processing pigeons, breeding, etc.

Basics

Pigeons are a basic animal to take care of. Their are many breeds of pigeons, but some good meat pigeons include :
Texas pioneers
Swiss mondaines
Giant runts
Kings
Or any pigeon, really.
Basic caring for pigeons is really simple. They need 2 sources of water - a shallow dish of water for bathing, and one for drinking. Pigeons use their beak like a straw, they suck up water, so the source of water must be deep enough for them to dip their beak in. For feed, you can buy pigeon feed which is good for them, or you can use chicken layer pellets. We can't afford 40$ for 30lb sack, so we feed layer pellets. Pellets or crumbles work. When using meat pigeons, I free feed, and same can be used for non-flying homers. When using homers,it's best to offer feed for 1 hour, twice per day, each time giving a feed call (see homer section for more information on this).
Pigeons don't roost like chickens. They prefer to spread out, so a typical roost won't work. It's best to nail sections of 2x6 on the side of the coop, or offer large areas of roosting area (ie we have a box for birds to go in when it rains, or their cold, and they like to sit on that). Meat pigeons don't fly much, and can be kept in a coop all the time, but birds like homer prefer to fly. Homers prefer aviaries, meat pigeons won't care. However, IT DOES NOT MATTER.
For wintering, most birds do well in most climates. So you can leave them out all winter, but they would like to be used to it. So past winters, or history of parents surviving the winter fine. So if you import birds from Mexico and live in Alaska, I'd wait a few generations before leaving them out.
That said, I am in Alaska and plan on using dog boxes for winters and leaving them out. The homers and rollers will lock up on days under -30, the meaties will be left out since they are plenty big for surviving the winter.


Have a question and feel I left something out? Post it! ^^

[MeatPigeons]

Housing

There are 2 types of housing : Aviary and Coop. These can be integrated so there's an aviary connected to a coop. We have an aviary - type setting with dog boxes inside for perches as well as for warmth and raising squabs.
Designing an avairy is pretty straight forward. Depending on how many birds you'd like, then you just build a 'box' with netting on the top. This is good for birds like homers so they can get a good view of where they'll be flying. Coop designing can be a bit more complicated. If your raising homers then you will want to add a trap box, so that when they're done flying they can go back in and stay in. There's a couple different designs, my favorite, and simplest, one is just a box coming out from the coop, with 3, lightweight, prongs covering the hole, like this -

The bird will be hungry, you'll set the food call, and they'll push their head through to get in, and the way it's set they can push it open, but not back the other way. Same design that pigeon traps dog trainers use.
For pigeon coops, it depends on what you want as a pigeon owner. Any good pigeon coop will have cubbies on the walls - slits of wood to make 'cubbies' that they can rest in, raise squabs in, etc - a feeding station, waterers, and perches. If you plan on doing breeding, then it's best to have seperate areas for squeakers, and making the cubbies bigger with latches and doors on them for 'setting up' pairs of pigeons. Some good ideas for pigeon coops -
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/53...d-some-ideas-d
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/10...-a-pigeon-loft

[MeatPigeons]

Breeding

Breeding is rather straight forward with pigeons. Male + female = babies!
Ok, maybe it's a tad more complicated then that. First, lets start with the breeding process.
The male will typically court the female, looking like this -


Making the standard cooing sound. A few good videos include -
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1nPsOge...%3D1nPsOge51Bk
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VW6iAVy...%3DVW6iAVydxP4
Here's an example of wild pigeons courting
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ytp1VHh...%3Dytp1VHhxXk0
credit in links
In which case, if the female isn't paired up already, and she likes the male, she'll pair with him. They will then 'bill', shown below. Males try and try to get their hens to bill, so more often then not you'll see him trying to get to bill then actual billing


Here's a really good video showing it
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DrFnPkK...%3DDrFnPkKFtyM
credit in link
After which, she'll mate with him and they will begin to build a nest. About 8 days laters, though there's a lot of variances, the female pigeon will lay the first egg. Sometimes they'll sit then, sometimes not. The next day, she'll lay the 2nd egg and then begin sitting if she hasn't already. The eggs should hatch about 18 days later, the 2nd egg on 19 days if she sat the day she layed the first egg. Once the chicks hatched, called 'squabs', the parents will feed them 'crop milk'.

YouTube

(heres a good example of squabs begging for feed)
Credit in link
The squabs are covered in a long, yellow down (some colors make a different color down) and are completely helpless. The parents sit on them all day until their older, but don't be afraid to handle them. Don't over handle them and stress the squabs, but grabbing them a bit and cuddling wont hurt. The parents may wing slap you, so be careful to cover the squab. I don't handle until their 3 - 4 days old, otherwise the parents may be threatened and leave, but unlikely, of course it's best to prevent best as possible. The squabs will fledge at around 30 days, but the father will usually keep caring for the now 'Squeaker', known for the squeakie sound it makes. By this time, the mother will usually start building a new nest. It's recommended not to breed the pigeons more then 3 times a year, since its very stressing on the parents.
When breeding your pigeons, you can either use no-tip, heavy bowls for them to build nests in, or you can use paper nests.


These will confine the squabs to prevent injury from falling. If the parents built a skimpy nest, add more material or paper towels to prevent splayed leg. Other then that, provide constant feed and water and your good to go.
If anything happens, a rejected squab or maybe they layed 3 eggs (happens every now and then), you can feed baby squabs Kaytee Exact, the stuff for parrots. For young ones, it should be soupy, the older it should be thicker. To tell the age, look here
http://www.speedpigeon.com/baby_racing_pigeon.htm
When the bird is a fledgling, you can defrost peas / corn by running hot water over them and gently open the birds mouth, set it in the back of the throat, and let it swallow. Repeat until the crop feels squishy, not hard, squishy, and don't feed until its emptied again.
For feeding a baby squab, there are many different ways, here's some links on how to feed them -
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=46yqGZT...%3D46yqGZTPd5M
Credit in link
http://www.pigeoncote.com/vet/feedbaby/feedbaby.html
http://www.angelfire.com/ga3/pigeong.../handfeed.html
http://www.pigeon-aid.org.uk/pa/html/syringe_method.php
http://www.pigeon-aid.org.uk/pa/html/bottle_feeding.php
That just about covers it for raising squabs and breeding pigeons.

[MeatPigeons]

Raising Utility Pigeons

When it comes to raising utility pigeons, the biggest questions have to be: when to butcher, butcher weight, how to clean it, etc.
Butchering tends to be your preference, but my rule of thumb is to butcher when the pin feathers under the wing are emerged. By now, they should be full sized, or close enough, and should be a nice weight. There are 2 ways to butcher a pigeon. Decapitation, or removing the skull from the neck. Decapitation is the standard, taking an axe to the neck. Removing the skull is a tad more difficult. Grab the legs of the bird firmly in the right hand and raise the bird off the ground. Suspended in this way the head wil be hanging down.
The chest are of the bird should be facing to the right.
Run your hand down the pigeons neck and with the back of your hand facing up towards you place your index and middle finger on either side of the pigeons neck where it meets the skull.
At this point the top of the pigeons head will be touching the palm of your hand and tilted back with its beak facing towards the inside of your wrist.
Now you are ready. The next step is the important one. This is the kill. You want to do it properly and with conviction. If you mess up now then the animal will suffer. You don't want it to suffer and neither do I. If you don't think that you can go through with it then just put the bird down and go and seek help from someone else. If you think you can do it:
Raise the bird up with your right hand and gripping tightly pull down with the left hand. You will feel a sort of pop and the head will no longer be connected to the spine. Pull down a bit more but not so much as you are pulling the head off the bird...that is messy.
(credit to ~ http://peterdickinson.hubpages.com/h...Kill-A-Chicken ~ for directions)
Then you have 2 choices. Either skin bird and be left with thighs and breast meat, or pluck it. Plucking can be done quickly after butcher with little difficulty, but if you're butchering a lot and have a lot of time between butcher to pluck, then dip the bird in boiling, roiling water. It will loosen skin, making plucking easier.
When you get to a plucked bird, make a cut below the breast to remove the guts. After that, cut it apart and cook the breast / thighs seperate, or roast the entire bird. Fully cooked, the meat will be a deep, red wine color.

[MeatPigeons]

Choosing a breed

Ah, the funnest part of pigeon raising - choosing the breed.
Well, the first thing you want to ask yourself is - do you want to sell? If so, I'd stick to 1-2 breeds. If your dont mind mutts, or are buying mated pairs, then you can go a bit crazy. 2nd, are you willing to supplement babies? If not, get rid of all owl pigeons or short-beaked pigeons. Then decide, what do you want them for? Do you want to race, or just have birds flutter around the house? Do you want showy breeds or a clean looking bird? These are very important things in choosing your breeds - are you willing to make an aviary for birds that are in danger of being flown, like fantails? Remember, researcher research research!

[MeatPigeons]

Sexlinking, Genetics & Colors

Genetics and understanding colors, sexlinking, etc. can sound pretty confusing, but its really not. For sexlinking, it's pretty straight forward. A male pigeon has 2 alleles - Z. The female has 1 allele Z, and 1 allele Y. Y has no genes connected to it, at all whatsoever. So if you have a dominant gene hen bred over a recessive gene male (meaning 2 copies are needed for It to show), then all females will look like their father and all boys like their mother. It works this way because the male has to give a Z allele with a recessive color connected to it. If the hen contributes a Z as well, thus making it a boy, then the hens Z will have a dominant color connected to it, so the cocks would show like their mom. The hens, though, will get the recessive gene and if they get a Y - the allele with nothing connected to it, and making them girls - then the recessive gene will show.
http://www.mumtazticloft.com/PigeonGenetics1.asp
Credit for sexlinking info, and more info.

For telling the color of your bird, then it's best to start with the basics. There's the standard, blue bar pigeon

Grizzle, which is white & black feathers mixed together,

Pied

Checkered or 'Chequered'

Black, or 'spread'

And bronze

It's possible for you to have birds that are a mix of the beforehand, such as a bronze pied or checkered red. To learn more about colors, go here -
http://mumtazticloft.com/PigeonGenetics4.asp
http://www.angelfire.com/ga3/pigeongenetics/
For various genetics, check these links -
http://www.angelfire.com/ga3/pigeong...ggenetics.html
http://www.racing.homer.com/genetics.htm
http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f41/al...ngs-49424.html
Sex linking pigeons ^^^

[MeatPigeons]

Useful Links

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/
http://www.melbournebirdvet.com/comm...reatments.aspx
http://www.angelfire.com/ga3/pigeong...IGEONINFO.html
http://www.breakawayloft.com/webpages/wbltloft.htm
http://www.buildanaviary.com/
http://desmoore.tripod.com/id33.html
http://www.pigeonracingpigeon.com/wh...ting-breeders/


All credit goes to the people who provided the video(s) or information in links.

[Wolfy-hound]

What pigeons have you raised so far? What were the butchered weight after cleaning? How hard are they to clean? How long have you raised pigeons?

Do you know the meat:feed ratio compared to say, chickens? Are they more feed efficient? Can you let pigeons forage or do they basically need to stay penned and fed?

[Danaus29]

Used to have feral mutts. Never ate them but loved watching them fly. Thinking about getting back into pigeons as they are not prohibited livestock under county regs. Just have to build a better house/aviary.

Thanks for the info. I'll be watching this thread for more.

[ladycat]

Originally Posted by MeatPigeons

In fact, pigeon forums may even ban you for using breeds like Texas pioneers for their original purpose - providing luscious meat.

That's silly. That's like the pet rabbit people vs. the meat rabbit people. Rabbits make good pets, but they also make good eating.

[MeatPigeons]

Originally Posted by Wolfy-hound

What pigeons have you raised so far? What were the butchered weight after cleaning? How hard are they to clean? How long have you raised pigeons?

Do you know the meat:feed ratio compared to say, chickens? Are they more feed efficient? Can you let pigeons forage or do they basically need to stay penned and fed?

Ferals, homers, rollers and meats. Only for a year, but I did my fair share of resource I have no qualms with making a thread like this, lol. 25% of live weight will be loss, so a 2lb pigeon will clean out to 1.5 lbs. yes you can let them forage, but meat pigeons aren't good flyers and your asking for dead birds. Homers / ferals are fine foragers, but rollers will be snatched.
Don't know the feed to weight ratio. Sorry.

[MeatPigeons]

Originally Posted by ladycat

That's silly. That's like the pet rabbit people vs. the meat rabbit people. Rabbits make good pets, but they also make good eating.

Exactly, which is why I rarely go there anymore. Trust me, more people will be interested in meat pigeons then learn to love them then buy them just for pets. And they want to save pigeon raising, yet will delete any threads containing butchering.

[Wolfy-hound]

It's the same for rat groups, or pretty much any group that considers the animals to be pets. Many horse forums prohibit talking about racing or any competition at all, as if horses aren't allowed to do any work, just hack ride on rare occasions and be lawn ornaments.

For rat groups, if you mention a reptile, you'll be bashed, flamed and then banned. Even though most of the rodent breeders do a lot of specialty breeding to develop very good lines that stay healthy longest, the rat 'fanciers' don't want to hear it.

[JasoninMN]

I see you checked out those links

The crowd is much more realistic here.

[MeatPigeons]

Why yes, yes I Did I recognized you too. Lol.
Surprised you recognized me.... Lol.

Wow, I never thought about rodents or horses...it's ridiculous that some people become so involved in their fancy that they become completely disconnected from the real world

[mskrieger]

MeatPigeons--I am curious about foraging. Are any of the breeds that are decent foragers decent eating (enough meat?) Part of the appeal of pigeons is that the breeders can just go out and feed themselves.

I've considered raising them, but I'm worried about hawks. We have a lot of them...what kind of loss rates are we looking at for birds that forage? (We have plenty of feral doves around here, but I assume the plumper they are, the less wiley and maneuverable they'll be in the air...)

[arnie]

I'v had homers of and on for quite some time ;hawks are rough on them if you let them have free range its best to let them out for a while and then lock em in the loft the hawks get them while they are hanging round on top of the loft or other buildings .hoot owls are a problem for me as well so I have to close them up at night . i'm glad to see people are interested in pigeons as they seem to be disapearing as a hobby the pigeon raceing club I knew while living in the city kept getting smaller as the older members past on .

[Two Tracks]

Wow, very nice of you for all this info about pigeons. We have wild pigeons in our barn and silo, not many thou, one is white. I don't get the people who have a problem with "someone else" who raises animals/birds for food purpose, as long as that animal was well cared for, give me a break. ~Chris

[MeatPigeons]

Originally Posted by mskrieger

MeatPigeons--I am curious about foraging. Are any of the breeds that are decent foragers decent eating (enough meat?) Part of the appeal of pigeons is that the breeders can just go out and feed themselves.

I've considered raising them, but I'm worried about hawks. We have a lot of them...what kind of loss rates are we looking at for birds that forage? (We have plenty of feral doves around here, but I assume the plumper they are, the less wiley and maneuverable they'll be in the air...)

You can raise homers and make them fatter (breeding for bigger) and let them loose after a generation or 2 (full grown birds won't be homed to your house). Yes, you will lose a lot to hawks. I'd have like a 100 bird flock before I'd free range with hawks around
You could plant various plants around an aviary and let the pigeons forage there. Or make a 'run' and move it daily. They can live off bird seed if you can get your hands on a lot of cheap seed. Or chicken food.

Originally Posted by arnie

I'v had homers of and on for quite some time ;hawks are rough on them if you let them have free range its best to let them out for a while and then lock em in the loft the hawks get them while they are hanging round on top of the loft or other buildings .hoot owls are a problem for me as well so I have to close them up at night . i'm glad to see people are interested in pigeons as they seem to be disapearing as a hobby the pigeon raceing club I knew while living in the city kept getting smaller as the older members past on .

Yep. And the old members frowning upon and never realizing meat pigeons could save the whole hobby - if chicken people were this 'foo foo', nearly no one would be raising them

Originally Posted by Two Tracks

Wow, very nice of you for all this info about pigeons. We have wild pigeons in our barn and silo, not many thou, one is white. I don't get the people who have a problem with "someone else" who raises animals/birds for food purpose, as long as that animal was well cared for, give me a break. ~Chris

Cool. If you want a few free pigeon pets you can nab a few squeakers - no mate, no breaking up a family, and they'd be homed at your house. I get a few ferals that way, a friend traps nuisance birds and I keep the squeakers, release the adults.

Oh, and once the mondaines raise a few squabs ill show pics of the slaughtering process... In the meantime, I thought I posted some pics of these guys!

[KIT.S]

I have also talked about getting meat pigeons. I figured if I kept the bigger birds who don't fly well, I wouldn't have to let them out to be caught by predators. I'm having difficulty finding stock to buy to start with here, though. Anyone near Salem/Albany, or even Portland?

My dad raised pigeons on their rooftop in Watts CA for meat when he was a kid in about the 30's. He just had wild-caught stock but supplimented their diet.

I do have a question: Could you give us an idea of the size of nest boxes you recommend for the larger meat birds? Maybe a suggestion of square footage for a pen for pairs? Do you keep pairs separated or do they do well in a group setting if they have enough space? And, how much is enough space?

Umm, also, if I use a building without windows, would artificial light be sufficient? I unfortunately don't have a barn, but do have a metal 10x12 building and some large (4x8x2.5 ft tall) rabbit cages on legs.

Thanks! Great post that makes people think of trying something new.
Kit