Meat pigeons are a variety of breeds of homemade pigeons, which is bred and grown for eating. Back in ancient Greece and Egypt, people served meat meat dishes from meat. To date, more than fifty different breeds of meat pigeons are revealed by pigeons, and industrial farms are operating in the USA, France, Hungary, Germany, Italy, which specialize in breeding these birds. We will tell about the most popular breeds of meat pigeons and the features of their content in this article.
Pigeon meat is considered a dietary delicacy, it is rich in protein, it is easily absorbed, and in the taste qualities it is very similar to the meat of wild birds.
Golfish pigeons or giants
Giant are heavy, powerful, large, autonous birds that practically can not fly. The most popular representatives of the group: Texana, Kings, Roman pigeons, Hungarian giants.
King
Pigeons of breed King (from English - King) were removed in the state of California in the United States as a result of the complex breeding work of American pigeons. This is one of the most popular homemade dove rocks not only on America's farms, but also in many other countries. It is worth noting that the individuals of the King breed are grown not only in order to obtain dietary meat, but also as decorative birds.
Live mass of the average pigeon varies from 750 to 900 grams.
Kings are excellent parents and have a high productivity indicator, in one year a pair can reproduce up to 12-16 chicks.
Videos - Meat Pigeons of Breed King in Voller
Texan
The second in popularity of the breed of meat pigeons Teksan appeared in Texas in the United States.
Texans have a number of features, the first of which are an outhamex plumage. In other words, on the color of the feathers of newborn chicks, you can unmistakably determine the floor of the bird.
The second distinctive feature of the Texan breed is their high reproductive ability. When creating a comfortable habitat and good diet, Taxan's dove can sit up to 20-22 chicks per year.
The average living mass of the bird is about 700-950 grams.
Texans are unpretentious in care and have a reputation as non-conflict calm birds.
Hungarian giant
Despite its name, the birthplace of these birds is Turkey, from where they were delivered to Hungary and already there, in Europe, received recognition of pigeons.
Gigate enough large birds, their average mass from 850 to 1200 grams.
For the year, the female of the Hungarian Giant Pigeon raises the offspring of 8-10 chicks.
But despite this, most of the breeders grows their gigids as a decorative bird, and only the individuals are dissected on the external signs of individuals.
Carno.
The history of this breed began in the north of France, but today the pigeons of carno are widely known beyond. The main feature of Karno is that this breed was created and grown in conditions of limited space - aviary.
Pigeons of carno are not the largest and meaty, their average live weight is only 500-700 grams. But they are pretty quickly added in weight and bring up to 12-16 chicks for the year, thanks to these qualities, carno became popular for cultivation in large automated farms.
Chicken pigeons or churped
Chicken pigeons differ in fertility, large dimensions and great live weight. And externally, they resemble chickens: a wide housing, an elongated neck, a small tail, strong massive legs.
The most popular representatives of the Kuro-shaped subgroup are British Modena, Florentine and Maltese pigeons.
This breed of pigeons received its name in honor of the Italian city of Modena, where the story of her appearance began.
A distinctive feature of the breed is the diversity of the color palette of birds of birds. Powerbaper suggests that there are more than two hundred versions of combinations of various patterns and colors on the body of these pigeons.
To date, there are two main varieties of pigeons that occurred from Italian fashion: English and German.
English Modena or Shitty (from Ital. Schietti is simple) - this is a large massive bird, the average weight of which varies from 700 to 950 grams. Coluti color is usually monotony with small color splashes on wings and heads.
German Modena or Gatzi (from Ital. Gazzi - Two-shaped) differ from the English shitty smaller dimensions and an unusual color: feathers on the wings, head and tail are decorated with patterns, and the bird housing is white. Often, pigeon farms grow German moden not to prepare culinary sings, but as decorative birds.
Meat pigeons
Among the meat pigeons allocate a separate group of birds - decorative pigeons that have achieved sufficient mass to be applied to the table. As a rule, such pigeons are gaining about 600-700 grams. In other words, any pigeon, which is healthy, has sufficient weight weight and does not represent values \u200b\u200bfor further breeding, you can cook. But despite this, it is better to use meat churo-shaped or pigeons.
The most popular breed of meat pigeons: Strasser, Polish Lynx, Beneshovsky Pigeon and others.
Strasser
The country of origin of the Strasser breed is Germany. Due to the various patterns on the housing and the color of the plumage distinguish: German, Czech and Austrian Strassers.
Birds are distinguished by large size and high-grade: 750-1200 grams.
Usually a pair of pigeons brings about 10-12 chicks for the year.
Birds of this breed can be both meat and decorative.
Basic methods of growing and content of meat pigeons
Intensive cultivation method
The intensive method of cultivation of pigeons implies regular feeding, aimed at a rapid and high-quality increase in the US weight up to 0.6-0.8 kg and above. To do this, you choose young representatives of highly productive rocks, such as kings or texanov, which are able to increase their mass to the desired mark in just 30-38 days. In addition, these birds are distinguished by high fertility and subject to the necessary rules for care and feeding, capable of reproducing offspring to 5-10 times per year, and this is 10-20 chicks.
For fattening on slaughter, three-week chicks are chosen, because the meat of young has the best taste.
Selected individuals are planted into a dark room, in which with the help of special equipment or a syringe without a needle, but with a soft rubber nozzle at the end, forcibly fed a cashaty mixture. The process of food intake is carried out at a certain time, regularly, about 4 times the back.
To fatten the bird, breeders boils a mixture of cereals and grain crops with the addition of legumes and a small amount of mineral elements. On a day, each individual eats about 50-60 grams of such a cereal, which heats up warm water, respectively, 15-20 grams of the mixture are given for each meal.
No more than two weeks go to fattening young pigeons, and during this time the birds are gaining weight up to 800 grams.
Extensive method or free cultivation method
This cultivation method does not require special effort and costs from the breeder, provided that you live in a favorable climatic zone and have a spacious green area. Birds grown by an extensive method, independently mined food in the warm season, and the breeder feeds pigeons no more than once a day. It would seem that the free cultivation method is quite practical, it will help save the budget of the breeder, because the number of pigeon-consumed food is minimal, and you do not need to spend a lot of money on the arrangement of pigeon, but it is not. The extensive approach is convenient only in theory, and in reality, it is quite difficult to organize a safe walking area for birds with a self-replenished reserve. The likelihood of contact with wild birds and animals, which can be carriers of dangerous diseases. Also, the pigeons require one hundred percent protection from predators, because even for a homemade cat, the fastened bird without flight skills will become easy prey. In addition, there is no guarantee that birds will have time to gain a mass for the allotted amount of time.
Combined Growing Method or Economical and Decorative
The combined method is a combination of extensive and intensive approaches. It is especially popular among breeders of home decorative pigeons.
Features of meat pigeons
Habitat
In order to maintain, breed and grow meat pigeons, it is necessary to equip a separate spacious room.
The air temperature in the pigeon should not fall below +5 and not rise above +20 degrees. To maintain a comfortable temperature regime in the room, it is recommended to carry out thermal insulation, especially if large metal structures are present in the structure, such as sheets that are covered with a roof. The metal has a high thermal conductivity, which is why the dull will be unbearably stuffy in the warm season and is too cold in winter. To avoid hypothermia, it is desirable to install an electric heater and additionally insulate the floor, decomposing the straw and large sawdust on it. Part of the pigeons will be carried to the arrangement of their nests. As the old straw is polluted on the floor, the pigeon must be replaced with a new batch of dry grass and chips.
General cleaning pigeon should be made at least one, and better twice a year. While there is a process of disinfection and cleaning the room from dirt and garbage, reset the birds in a quieter place or release a walk to the aviary.
In the process of breeding the pigeons, the duration of the daylight is played. Thirteen to fourteen hours - the optimal amount for the light time of day in the artificial habitat. To do this, during the construction of pigeon, breeders glazolize part of the wall opposite steam boxes and future pigeon nests, as well as set additional light sources. In addition, the sun's rays have a beneficial effect on the younger pigeons.
Homemade pigeons poorly tolerate dampness, and in addition, in high humidity, bacteria and dangerous viruses are rapidly developing, so the ventilation at the bodies of birds is simply necessary.
The presence of an enclosure for walking in the fresh air will have a positive effect on both young people and adult birds.
Despite the fact that the pigeons live with flocks, each pair needs to have their own personal space. That is why dovers do not advise not to place more than two pairs of pigeons on one square meter.
Because of its sizes and features of the building, meat pigeons have lost the ability to fly, so these birds are often wrapped and equipped with nests on the floor. This nuance must be taken into account when planning pigeon and, placing steam boxes, cells, places for the pests, you need to take care of the bridges, with which the bird will be able to climb the height.
Another important adaptation for the comfortable life of the feathers will be shallow capacity with high sides and water temperature. Pigeons love to swim, especially in the warm season.
The aquatic procedure box should be located at a sufficient distance from the natural, nests and feeders, the optimal solution in choosing a place will be avoire. The breeder should regularly change the water in the font.
Video - bathing of homemade pigeons
Vaccination
So that meat pigeons were completely healthy and had a strong immunity, it is necessary to vaccinate all individuals twice a year. For detailed information on the timing and preparation of birds to the procedure, contact your city veterinary clinic.
Meat diet diet
One of the main roles in the development of homemade meat pigeons plays their diet. The composition of the balanced complex for fattening pigeons and its detailed description is presented in the table below.
| Meat diet diet, recommended share of consumption in percentage ratio | Structure |
|---|---|
| Grass cultures, 50-70% | Barley, wheat, millet, corn, rice, oat groats, buckwheat. |
| Bean crops, 20-40% | Green peas, beans, lentils, Vika. |
| Green Feed, 10% -25% | Spinach, white cabbage, clover, nettle, lettuce leaves, generous oats or barley. |
| Oilseeds, 1-5% | Sunflower seed, linen seed, rape, anise seed. |
| Mineral mixtures, 1-5% | Sharks of seashells, river sand, clay, small grained lime haired, cook salt, egg shell, charcoal, small gravel. |
| Vitamin supplements, 1-5% | Glucose, fishery, vitamins A, B, C, E and other groups. |
| Tubers and root, 1-5% | Potatoes, carrots |
By constiting the diet for pigeons, it is necessary to take into account the time of year, age and rock of the bird, as well as its life processes for this period of time (replacing the plumage, preparation for mating, masonry of eggs, sits of chicks).Table with the base of the diet for meat pigeons
The individuals of meat pigeons consume about 50-55 grams of grain mixture per day, large grains are best suited for their diet.
An exemplary diet of a young bird: corn (35%), peas (20%), barley (20%), oat grooves (15%), greens (5%) and mineral and vitamin additives (5%).
If there is a green meadow on your courtyard area for walking birds, the part of the necessary foods will find on their own.
The bird feeder should be fenced with sides, so that they could not have the opportunity to step by their paws, but at the same time the height should be comfortable for meals. And also, such a design does not allow various trash to fall into the diet of the feathery.
Home pigeons should always have free access to drinking water. Recommend to install drinkers for birds with a pallet to prevent excessive moisture and dampness in the pigeon. It is necessary to change the water daily, in summer or in hot weather it is necessary to replace water at least twice a day.
Breeding meat pigeons
The process of reproduction of meat pigeons occurs similarly to the process of reproduction of other domestic breeds of pigeons: marriage dancing, watering, mating, arrangement of the nest, laying of eggs, sitting off the offspring, hatching of chicks, feeding and caring for pigeons up to 30 days.
But minor differences are available for each individual breed. So, you can steal meat pigeons since eight-month-old age, when for other breeds, the best reproductive age is considered one or two years.
The dates of the parental care are different: the chicks of meat pigeons become fully independent to achieve age in one month, and the offspring of homemade pigeons is only on the forty - forty-fifth day.
And also a unique feature of the Birds of the Texan meat breed - on the color of their plumage, it is possible to determine the floor of the individual with accuracy. The males hatch or completely "naked" or with a light white fortune, and females have yellow long feathers.
Issue meat pigeons
The optimal age for the bird's mind is 29-37 days. By this time, young individuals already, as a rule, have a carcass weight in 600-750 grams.
In order to give the dishes from the donutin a special taste tint, for three days to the end of fattening, the birds begin to mix fragrant seeds of different cultures, a small amount of spices or berries. Also, per day before slaughter, it is recommended to drink birds with warm milk with salt, then the poultry meat will be whiter and juicy. But feed the pigeons on the last day before the caution does not follow, it was easier to gut a carcass.
You can get acquainted with the indicators of a slaughter outlet from different breeds of meat pigeons in the table below.
