Raising pigeons for fun and profit
Sunday, April 1, 2012
FOR approximately 4000 years, from emperors to farmers, from old to young, people from all over the world have loved the pigeon. Pigeons are easy to please and adapt well with just a few simple holes in a roof and some basic necessities.
Pigeons belong to the dove family. They differ from other birds in two respects. First and foremost, they are the only birds that have a milk-like secretion in their crops at hatching time. Secondly, they are the only birds that hold their bills in the water when they drink.
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The domestic pigeon can live up to 20 years, is extremely durable and disease resistant, and can be found almost everywhere in the world.
Naturalist Charles Darwin devoted considerable attention to pigeons, raising almost every known kind. He claimed that all tame pigeons belong to a common ancestor. He said that all pigeons interbreed, and that all fancy pigeons when mixed up in breeding will revert quickly to the colors and type of the rock pigeon, or rock dove, the wild bird from which all tame pigeons have been domesticated.
Many of the same Greens who oppose fracking because it might contaminate some underground aquifers favor wind turbines and high-voltage power lines that slaughter eagles and other birds and support blanketing huge desert areas with solar panels,
lineatus rode out to give a listen to the Dawn Chorus in Open Thread for Night Owls (and Day Owls): " Some birds have more universal appeal. Hummingbirds colorful, zippy little birds who spend their days hanging around flowers.