​A Brief History Of Pigeons

In ancient Mesopotamia, sailors would release pigeons, and ravens, from their ships. They would track the birds to orient themselves toward land. A thousand years later, you have the story of Noah in the Old Testament. Around this time you also start seeing pigeons featured in sculptures, jewellery and hair needles.
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The Phoenicians distributed white pigeons throughout the Mediterranean around 1000 B.C. The Greeks gave pigeons to children as toys, used the squabs as a food source, and used their manure to fertilize crops.
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Some pigeon lofts, situated next to Roman houses, could maintain 5,000 birds. The Romans created tube feeding and watering systems for their birds and started selectively breeding for desirable traits. They bred birds that flew strange patterns, could find their way home, were large enough to eat, and had ornamental plumage.

The practice of domesticating pigeon as livestock may have come from the North Africa, historically, squabs or pigeons have been consumed in many civilisations, including ancient Egypt, ancient Rome, and Medieval Europe. Doves are considered kosher, though are not as common in the Jewish diet as they were in ancient times.

​Texts about methods of raising pigeons for their meat date as far back as AD 60 in Spain. Such birds were hunted for their meat because it was a cheap and readily available source of protein.
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In the Tierra de Campos, a resource-poor region of north-western Spain, squab meat was an important supplement to grain crops from at least Roman times. Caelius Aurelianus, an Ancient Roman physician, regarded the meat as a cure for headaches, but by the 16th century, squab was believed to cause headaches.

​From the Middle Ages, a dovecote (French pigeonnier) was a common outbuilding on an estate that aimed to be self-sufficient. The dovecote was considered a "living pantry", a source of meat for unexpected guests, and was important as a supplementary source of income from the sale of surplus birds. Dovecotes were introduced to South America and Africa by Mediterranean colonists. In medieval England, squab meat was highly valued, although its availability depended on the season.

A dovecote in the caves of Orvieto, Italy where the locals have raised squab for food since the time of the Etruscans in the Iron Age.

Our Pigeons

We keep white pigeons because many people have a negative reaction to grey pigeons that they associate with the city and are considered dirty animals.

White pigeons are also associate with peace, hope and love so we feel it is the right choice for the farm!

Pigeon Facts

• Domestic pigeons can live between 10 and 15 years. 
• Pigeons are granivores, eating seeds and cereals. Many pigeon feeds include cereals, corn, wheat, dried peas, barley, and rye.  Pigeons will also benefit from fresh greens, berries, fruit, and an occasional insect.
• Pigeons may have been the first domesticated bird.People have been keeping pigeons as pets for a very long time. In fact, pigeons are portrayed in Mesopotamian art from as far back as 4500 BCE! 
• Pigeons are navigation experts. Believe it or not, pigeons can find their way home from an astounding 1,300 miles away! 
• Pigeons are very fast birds, which is one of the reasons they make great messengers. Their speed also makes them great racers. Pigeon racing is a surprisingly lucrative business and racing pigeons can be quite expensive- the most expensive pigeon ever sold cost nearly $1,900,000!
• Modern technology allows us to send a message to someone instantly, but communicating was not always so easy. Due to their navigational skills, speed, and the fact that they can carry up to 10% of their body weight, pigeons have long been used for communication purposes. In the 5th century A.D., countries like Egypt and Syria used carrier pigeons. During ancient Olympic games, pigeons were used to deliver the results of the events to fans. In the 1800’s, the Rothschild family used their network of pigeon lofts to communicate about finances. Pigeons were much faster than other available forms of communication, which gave the family an advantage that helped them greatly expand their fortune. At one time pigeons made up the largest system of communication in the world!
• Pigeons are able to hear certain frequencies that humans cannot. This allows them to sense things like volcano eruptions and incoming storms that meteorologists haven’t even discovered yet.
• Pigeons produce “milk.” Of course, they don’t produce actual milk- only mammals can do that. However, it is essentially the same as milk in that it is a white liquid containing all the necessary antioxidants, fats, nutrients, and proteins a baby bird needs. Another similarity it shares with mammal milk is that its production is regulated by the hormone prolactin. Both male and female adult pigeons produce this milk in their crop. The crop is a little section in a bird’s esophagus meant for storing food and, in this case, producing crop milk. Pigeons are part of a small group of birds that produce crop milk, only joined on the list by doves, flamingoes, and male emperor penguins.
• Contrary to popular belief, pigeons are very clean birds and the risk of getting any disease from a pigeon is extremely low.