Pigeons ?

[OliverFarmall]

Anybody on the forum raise pigeons ? I was thinking that when I redo parts of our barn I could somehow add an area for pigeons. My father in-laws family ate sqab and it would seems pigeons foraging for themselves would be about the cheapest meat one could find.
I'm interested in any ideas as to how to properly build the nesting areas as well as breeds for meat that can fly (so they can fend for themselves).

[Former Member]

MMgood. Giant doves

They are very few and far in between here in TN. You would think thee would be a lot more, but we do have a lot of birds of prey.

[ScottyD'sdad]

Yup, every hawk, in the county, will have your place in their GPS! Ed

[dgrapes59]

Hey, just put some window ledges in your barn; that seems to attract pigeons in downtown Cincinnati! There are plenty on the building across from my office, not sure the folks would take too kindly to me plinking at them though.

My fathers in law raised some at one time, don’t think for food, but not real sure why as I think about it. He built a special aviary for them, but that was 20 or more years ago and he is gone and I don’t remember much about it.

Good luck with it, I hope you get some serious advice,

[Barnyard]

Yup, every hawk, in the county, will have your place in their GPS! Ed

Can you send some of those hawks my way. I'm tired of shootin' the pigeons outta my rafters.

[beaconlight]

Rats with feathers.

[Ken (48 Cub)]

My Grandfather had a small coop for a while. I remember we would put a few in a cage and drive way down Dixie Hwy. (seemed like another country to me) and turn them loose. They would circle a few times until they got their bearings and then head for home. They would beat us home by a long shot. I don't think he ever ate any of them...at least not that I knew about

[RaymondDurban]

What about Quail?

[Former Member]

What about Quail?

Raymond, Quail don't look anything like pigeons

[v w]

What about Quail?

Raymond, Quail don't look anything like pigeons

They do to a hawk. Vern

[RaymondDurban]

What about Quail?

Raymond, Quail don't look anything like pigeons

Hmmm, don't remember me saying that they did. Was just bring them up for the possibility of raising them instead of pigeons. Quite a few people in the south raise them for eggs, consumption and to sell to hunters.

[Former Member]

Just my warped sense of humor Raymond.

The one advantage to the pigeons over the quail that I can see, is the pigeons will always return to the roost, yet can go out and forage on their own, and may require less care.

Maybe?

[OliverFarmall]

The one advantage to the pigeons over the quail that I can see, is the pigeons will always return to the roost, yet can go out and forage on their own, and may require less care.

That's exactly right.

I think we are too cold for quail here, unless they were something that was going to be fussed over all the time which is not my intention.

[Redcub]

It's good to be the King:
The neighbor acoss the way used to raise birds of all kinds back when I was a kid. If it had wings, he raised it. The breed you might want to think about are called "Kings" or "King" not sure which is the proper name. The way the story goes, as he told it, was that the breed was developed during the middle ages when castle warfare and laying siege to your neighbor was all the rage. Think "Ivanhoe" (filed in 1952 ). If your were surrounded, your pigeons could fly out past the enemy and feed and then return to roost at night. You could catch them and have a meat source. This breed is extremly fat and plump. They only fly short distances as we never saw them farther than the next barn over ( 150 feet ). They never went over to the house ( 500 ft away ), but could have any time they wanted. They are pure white in color and very nice to look at.

Coop:
It was about 10 X 10 feet and maybe 12 feet high at athe peak. It had a ladder to climb up into. the bottom was open for his peacocks. He had a ledge on the south side of his roost so they could keep cool in the summer and out of the harsh wind and rains of the winter ( our storms always come from the South ). The ledge was on a side that did not have a human walk through door ( plop! on you ). This ledge was in a way that disallowed birds of prey from dive-bombing his pigeons. The hole was small enough that a owl could not get in also. The coop was covered in metal siding. It was dog/fox proof. It was cat proof. Rat proof. Opussom and racoon proof. He had stick or rod that he could use to slide the door shut after sundown so he could go in a catch one when he needed to. Sorry no pics. He passed away and the place sold to a Jerk, so I could never go back over there again now.

Good Luck.

[OliverFarmall]

Thanks for the info/story !