Pigeons for food.

[First To Hatch]

I meant that the first round have already hatched and are 2 week old squeakers.

 

[bywaterdog]

Quote:
I noticed that you are from Louisiana, at Parlange Plantation in Pointe Coupee there is a Pigeonnier (pigeon house) on the grounds from the 1760's. I doubt that the local feed store had pigeon food at that time. The Colonial French brought over Rock Doves(pigeons) for food purposes.

O.K. for equal time, the English called them dovecotes.

 

[95yj]

#1 i never said you could release quail, just that they were more efficient (which is true btw)
#2 the quality of the meat may blow my mind, but if i were attempting to feed my family i think i'd go for quantity over quality (to a certain point)
#3 perhaps in the 1760's pigeons would forage for their own food (wild ones clearly do) but thats been bred out of them, its a mute issue because meat pigeons aren't well known for their flying or homing abilities, plus they were probly still getting table scraps
#4 yeah they will crank out another clutch while the babies are still in the nest, but its still not nearly as efficient as other birds which lay an egg a day, plus if you push them too hard they'll burn out after a few years
#5 I'v butchered full grown quail at 6 weeks, at least they were the same size as their parents.
#6 I told him to go for it if he wanted to, it'll be a fun experiment, i just don't think pigeons are a great bird if your going for cheap and easy, I'm entitled to my opinion

 

[First To Hatch]

Quote:
I never said that you said the can be released and return back if you read it that way I'm sorry you must have misunderstood. As far as quality of meat (taste) thats always an opinion. Yes, I think that back in the day they probably could forage better everyone probably had a ton of mixed breeds that could home well and forage decently. Yes with hatching eggs in the incubator you can get more birds and it can be more efficient even though you still have to brood, incubate, and process all those birds, but I think its only more efficient if you like the taste of the meat more then squab. In my past experiences those birds didn't get to a nice size till 8 weeks (10 oz.+ live weight at 8 weeks). Yes I think your right pigeon can be a little more difficult in certain areas like housing will cost more for them, if you feed pigeon feed and not something else they will cost more. If your looking for a bird that takes 5-10 minutes a day to take care of I suggest that person go with quail, if you extremely enjoy birds and like to spend time with them I'd say go for pigeons.

 

[95yj]

sorry for the general misunderstanding. I'v never actually tasted squab, but i'm assuming its kind of like the bird version of veal... I think that quail is still a fairly high end delicacy, unless your a red neck teenager with 40 chicks in the basement... You did raise a good point, pigeons are fun, the first birds i got were ringneck doves when i was 8, and since then i've kept everything, while pheasants can be drop dead gorgeous and make visitors ask if they're painted (um, no, wait, WHAT?) they get boring, they never come out of they're house and you can't hold them, quail are kind of like feathery popcorn, and chickens can be annoying. But pigeons and doves are always nice, and i enjoy spending time with them, whereas sometimes the other birds start to feel like a chore after a while. But if your raising them for meat i wouldn't suggest you get too close to them, or else you might end up with a pet pigeon named lucky...

 

[First To Hatch]

Quote:
Idk what squab tastes like I say it taste like squab honestly its been like 4 years since I last had it, but with quail I remember eating them, stopping and realizing I wasn't happy/impressed with the taste, but I never thought that with squab, I just went ahead and ate. As far as naming a pigeon lucky and then wanting to eat it thats a terrible idea lol in my past experiences if you want to eat something just feed it and go do something else, but depending on what type of person you are, I personally am able to be close the the parents and eat the children.


Sorry for hijacking the thread,
Shokri

 

[95yj]

no no no, i was saying don't name a pigeon lucky and then not eat it. It happened to one of our meat chickens this year, now its living with my moms barred rocks, and its the only one to lay so far...

 

[AllAroundAnimalLover]

Wrong ! would you eat a Parakeet --- Not ! Its Just Not Correct !