Meat pigeons: breeding, maintenance, care

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Home chicken farm is a great help for the family budget. Among the many types of farms, pigeon breeding is very popular. It is generally accepted that such birds are raised as a hobby or for sporting purposes. However, pigeon meat is considered a valuable dietary product. It is easily absorbed in the body and is suitable even for babies. Poultry lovers should pay attention to pigeons of meat breeds. This article provides information for beginner pigeon breeders who decide to start breeding birds for sale.

Where to start?

First of all, you need to get more information about the birds, since pigeon breeding has its own nuances that should be taken into account. Some elite breeds, in their habits and living conditions, differ significantly from ordinary pigeons. Let's pay attention to the general characteristics of birds:

• The dove is an independent bird, loves to fly and is able to provide itself with food in the summer.
• The unpretentiousness of meat breeds frees the poultry breeder from unnecessary troubles when arranging a home for them.
• The digestive system of pigeons is designed in such a way that their glands, located inareas of the goiter, are able to secrete the so-called bird's milk, which the birds feed the chicks. Interestingly, not only females, but also males have this property.
• Individuals are distinguished by fidelity towards each other, therefore they create monogamous pairs. The bird does not leave its partner until the moment of his death.

Individuals that are sources of dietary meat need separate mating boxes and a competent approach to feeding. In this regard, a novice pigeon breeder faces a number of mandatory tasks:

• Prepare the room and stock up on materials for the construction of future boxes.
• Choose the right breed, because the quality of the meat product and the income received will depend on this.
• Get serious about caring for young animals, as well as feeding them.
• Send pigeons to slaughter in time.

Types of rocks

There are a considerable number of species of pigeons, but only a few individual breeds are suitable for raising them for meat. Among them are gigantic, chicken and meat. Each of them has its own characteristics. Giant birds cannot fly and have a lot of weight. Chicken species in their structure are very similar to ordinary chickens. They have a long neck, a wide short body and a small tail. Meat - typical birds of this family, only slightly larger. Meat pigeons are expected to have the following characteristics:

• rapid development and growth;
• good fertility;
• highstamina;
• tendency to accelerate fattening.

Perhaps the description of meat pigeons presented in our article will help you make your choice. However, before acquiring productive birds, you need to prepare a comfortable home for them to live in.

Finishing the premises

For the maintenance of pigeons of meat breeds, special nurseries, outbuildings or attic rooms are used. There are no special requirements for the design of the dovecote. The main thing is that in winter there should be no sub-zero temperature and the room should be equipped with ventilation and electric lighting. When building, please note that no more than 3 pairs of rare individuals can be settled per 1 m2.

Pigeons are clean birds, so you should take care of the litter. For these purposes, straw, sawdust or shavings are used. They must be changed depending on the degree of contamination. General cleaning of the premises is carried out twice a year.

It is obligatory to have an aviary with feeders and drinkers installed in it.

It is desirable that there is enough space in the room to accommodate boxes for mating pigeons. There should be more of them than the pairs themselves, so that each of them can independently find the nest they like and remember it. After the mating process is completed, the boxes can be used for nesting birds.

Feeding

Although the maintenance and care of pigeons of meat breeds do not cause much trouble, they still havetheir dietary preferences. In order for the birds to bring the maximum amount of valuable product, they need to provide constant feeding and adjust the correct balance. Pigeons mainly feed on oats, millet, peas, corn, barley and sunflower seeds. Potatoes should be mixed into the feed, as they contain the necessary substances that are useful for birds. To insure pigeons against obesity, food should be constantly enriched with vitamin E. For 1 kg of the bulk of the feed, it is enough to include only 10 mg of the supplement.

Slaughter

Poultry farmers who raise pigeons for meat are always interested in quickly sending birds to slaughter. Undoubtedly, the meat of young animals has a delicate structure and excellent taste. Meat breeds of pigeons, in this respect, the most profitable individuals. They can please the poultry farmer with a return after their first flights. With proper maintenance and care at the age of one month, the bird will be ready for slaughter.

To facilitate the evisceration process, feeding must be stopped 24 hours before slaughter. It will also improve the taste of the meat. Experienced pigeon breeders recommend feeding pigeons with herbs a few days in advance to give the product a piquant flavor.

The total term for keeping birds, in particular, depends on their variety. Elite individuals grow differently and have an individual size and weight. So, let's start our review of meat breeds with giant pigeons.

Roman giant

The giant bird reaches from 1.3 to 1.5 kg in weight. individualssedentary, do not seek to fly. The body is powerful, large, oblong (total length up to 50 cm). Impressive variety of colors. Giants are white, black, gray-blue, red, fawn and with a brownish coating. According to their size and habits, birds need a low aviary and large nests. Due to their inherent sluggishness, they have a predisposition to obesity. Birds are distinguished by strong immunity to infections. By their nature, they are too trusting, for this reason they should be protected from predators.

King

Representatives of chicken breeds bred in America. The advantage of king pigeons is their productivity and impressive mass. Unlike other meat pigeons, they grow more slowly. The time of keeping these individuals is at least 45 days. By this period, the birds weigh almost 800 g. Kings love freedom, so they must be periodically released from the cage, and the room for their maintenance should be built more spaciously. The speed of their weight gain will depend on the walking of the birds.

A female is able to reproduce up to 17 chicks a year. Since pigeons love to roam free and live in large buildings, they are more suitable for large farms. However, if the birds create optimal conditions, it will be possible to receive a considerable income from the sale of valuable dietary meat.

Carnot

The breeding of meat pigeons of this species began during the progress of mechanized pigeon breeding. breedingbreed Carnot assumed the maintenance of birds in an aviary. For this reason, pigeons are not adapted to forage on their own. Karno is easier to keep in automated facilities. They do not need to be spacious, as pigeons respond well to crowding. Individuals are small, but productive and very rapidly gaining a certain mass (no more than 600 g). Plumage is different: black, yellow, white. There are no feathers on the legs.

The minus of the breed is that pigeons have an unprepossessing appearance and a disproportionate structure. They have an overly convex chest and a thickened neck. Against the background of a rounded body, the head looks too small. At the same time, it should be noted that these characteristics do not affect the value of the dietary product. Their meat is juicy and quite tender.

Modena

A distinctive feature of this breed is the rich plumage. The general background of the entire body of the bird casts in a variety of colors, and the wings may have a different color. Each individual feather on the wing is edged with a contrasting outline. There are two varieties: German and English modena. The first is medium-sized, it is not grown for culinary purposes. English is famous for its large size and bred for meat. The maximum weight of an adult pigeon reaches up to 900 g. The article provides photos of pigeons of meat breeds. On them you can see the exterior differences of birds.

Texans

Pretty foldable birds of powerful build, with a broad back and a vertical neck. Tightly pressed wings fold in the middle of the tail. The head is small, the chest is convex, the tail is slightly raised up. Reproductive ability is well developed. A female individual under good conditions is able to hatch more than 20 chicks. Texans have a calm disposition and are picky about food. They grow quickly, the average weight of an adult bird is 750 g. Since the birds are not particularly demanding on the conditions of existence, they are suitable for busy people who cannot devote too much time to keeping birds.

Strassers

The bird has a solid appearance. She has a rounded, proudly protruding chest, a large head and forehead. Broad, short back, fully covered by wings. The color varies from white and gray to black and white. Legs set wide apart, without plumage, red. Pigeons are considered the most fleshy breed. The mass of a male can reach up to 900 g, and females - and females up to 700-800 g. Strassers are non-flying birds, violent and often arrange fights. Their fertility and productivity indicators are manifested, to a greater extent, with purebred breeding.

Conclusion

As you can see, breeding, caring for and keeping meat pigeons is not such a complicated process. The choice of birds is not limited to the above list. In fact, there are many more. Poultry farmers distinguish several more of the best varieties. These include: the Kuborg lark, the Hungarian giants, the Polish lynx and some of the chicken-like individuals. If you like this kind of activity, choose the right breed and get a useful product.