The Texan Pioneer utility pigeon- a tutorial

[Brunty_Farms]

125 lbs of feed per year... per pair is a lot of feed for a pair of pigeons.... A hen will eat 105 lbs of feed per year so a pair of hens will eat 210 lbs per year. I know a pair of pigeons don't eat as much as a hen does.


But then again they are feeding four when they are in production. So I guess if a pair is in production they could easily go through 125 lbs of feed.... 4 pigeons to 1 hen is more believable.

 

[tragic59]

Thanks again for all the great info.

Please add me to your list of people interested in purchasing some breeders from you, when you're able to ship.

Can you give me an idea of what the coop differences are between pigeons & chickens? I'm in the process of planning my coop now and was thinking I woud build a separate room for the pigeons...

Is there much difference between chicken & pigeons with regard to taste & cooking preparation? Other than the obvious differences in size...

 

[yardbird tx]

Quote:
For Coop/loft design I would take a close look at the pics I have posted. This design has worked good for me.

As for pigeon meat. The way I like to describe it to people, Is that it is just like dove meat. A very dark meat. With deep flavor. When fully cooked the juice in the meat will have a red wine color. This will sometimes throw people off because they think it is not fully cooked. And then they end up over cooking it. And when you do that the meat will taste like liver. I use a fork to pull open the meat and when it has the texture of chicken its done.

If you choose to look there are hundreds of ways to cook squab on the net. My favorite is on the grill but you can get as fancy as the five stare restraints that serve it if you want.

Later, Joe

 

[seramas]

Have you ever thought of increasing your production by transferring newly laid eggs from a young inexperienced pair to two other setting experienced pairs giving them 3 to raise (2 of their own and a transferred one). This would be a 50% increase in production.

This will cause the younger pair to immediately lay a second clutch in short order.

I noticed that there is usually 1 male and 1 female per clutch. The first hatched is almost always female and the 2nd is male. Do you find that true?

 

[yardbird tx]

Quote:
I have not transferred eggs to other pairs. If I need more production that is something I might do. But now I and over run with young birds waiting to be shipped. I should be able to ship very soon. The temperature needs to be below 84 consistently.

There is not set pattern as to if you will get male or female. Early in the year I got mostly hens. Now I am getting more cock birds.
That is what I have seen.

Thanks, Joe

 

[yardbird tx]

Quote:
tragic59 we need to talk on the phone. It would be much better for me to give you all this info on the phone.

To everyone else I have responded to all the request for birds that where in my PM's. If I missed you let me know. Please remember there will be a wait up to four to five months for delivery on birds. If you call me you wll be no the list and locked in to get birds. Like I said in the start of this post. I did not make the thread to sell birds. But I work hard to help anyone that wants some. Keep in mind I am only working off of six mating pare.

Good news. I have a person in a neighboring town that has started to produce Texans. And he may be able to help me fill orders. His birds are from my stock.

Sorry about the pics im trying to fix the problem.

Joe, 512-627-0097

 

[yardbird tx]

Pics are fixed. Sorry, Thanks.

 

[yardbird tx]

Bump for some one looking for info.

 

[srsmith69]

Quote:
I get a average of twelve squab a year from a breeding pair. I feel comparing Runts to the Texas is not a good way to go. The Runt like the King has been breed more for show than squabing. As a result both have become more show birds than squabing. They are lighter than there original breeds. I have a few squabs that are about 30 days. Tomorrow I will scale them to give you a idea of weight.

I raised (well the birds actually did it) my first clutch of Texan Pioneer squabs. At 30 days, I put them both on the digital postal scale. live weight for the male squab was 1lb 11oz, the female squab weighed 1lb 10oz. The female squab did have a fuller crop than the male, so I think there would be a greater variance in dressed weights.

 

[srsmith69]

Just received 4 birds from Yardbirdtx. Good looking birds, shipped well and arrived safely. Pleasure doing business with him.