1. Requirements for pigeon lofts. Homing pigeons are very active during the day and rest quietly in their houses at night. The pigeon loft must provide "safe and comfortable" living conditions for the homing pigeons to strengthen their love for the nest.
(1) The pigeonhouse environment must be quiet. Pigeons like silence and are afraid of noise and disturbance. If they are frequently harassed by the outside world, especially at night, it will cause panic and confusion among the pigeons. After being disturbed, the pigeons will be reluctant to return to their nests and would rather roost under the eaves at night.
(2) The pigeonhouse should be ventilated and sunny, warm in winter and cool in summer. The optimal temperature for homing pigeons is 13℃~18℃ and the relative humidity is 60%. The pigeon house should try to minimize the impact of natural temperature changes in the outside world on the pigeons. It should be cool in summer to prevent heatstroke and insulated in winter to prevent cold. The pigeon house should be cleaned and disinfected frequently to maintain a clean environment.
2. Provide adequate and reasonable nutrition. Food is the main material basis for the survival of homing pigeons. To maintain the strong physique and good racing performance of homing pigeons, it is necessary to feed the homing pigeons with nutritious feeds such as energy and protein according to their various nutritional needs at different growth stages. For example, in order to ensure the growth and development of the body and bones of young pigeons and prevent over-fatness and premature maturity, mung beans or fish meal should be added to the diet to increase the protein content; pigeons during the training period consume a lot of energy, so the amount of high-energy feeds such as corn and wheat should be increased. Supplement: Pigeons that are in the brooding period should be given a diet that is rich in protein, energy, minerals and vitamins. In particular, the protein intake must be about 18 grams per pigeon per day. In addition, the pigeons’ drinking water should be kept clean and the supply of health sand should be ensured.
3. Regular, fixed-point and quantitative feeding to enhance the performance of homing pigeons returning home quickly. The breeders feed the pigeons regularly and quantitatively every day (can be divided into three times in the morning, noon and evening, or twice), and fix the position of the trough, so that the pigeons can develop the habit of returning to the nest on time and eating at a fixed point. In order to make the pigeons return home immediately after being released, you can release them on an empty stomach and give them water and food as a "reward" in time after returning home, or you can give less food before releasing them and more food after returning to the nest, etc., to induce the pigeons to return to the nest. , to avoid being in a hurry to return home because they are not hungry, and staying outside will delay the return time. After forming a conditioned reflex, the homing pigeons will immediately move into the loft every time they return from a flight or competition.
4. Training must be consistent and irregular training is strictly prohibited. When flying pigeons for training, they must be held twice a day, morning and evening, for 1 to 2 hours, regardless of wind or rain, to enhance endurance; the exercise time cannot be shortened in winter and summer to train the pigeons' ability to withstand cold and rain, and adapt to various harsh climates. Flying, breeding "all-weather" excellent homing pigeons, enabling homing pigeons to fly back from hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away.
5. People and pigeons are "friendly" and cultivate the obedience of pigeons. The trainer must first get "friendly" with the pigeons, so that the pigeons can come and go as soon as they are called during training. "Affinity" starts with young pigeons. The trainer must personally teach the pigeons to drink and eat, and make the pigeons form conditioned reflexes to the training signals; when feeding, the pigeons must be given friendly calls and touches to let the pigeons take the initiative to approach people. . Over time, pigeons develop a feeling of being close to their owners without fear. Only after the "affiliation" is successful can the homing pigeon be obedient to people and receive flight training.
6. Pair in time to prevent loss. After the homing pigeons become sexually mature, their temperaments are active, and the males and females chase each other. At this time, mates must be selected in a timely manner (housing pigeons that lose their mates midway should also be remated). Otherwise, pigeons without a mate during the estrus period are prone to flight loss. Generally, it takes 2 to 3 days for pairing to be successful.
7. Use clean water to bathe the homing pigeons. Homing pigeons are released every day, and bathing can not only keep their feathers clean, but also prevent external parasites. Bathing should be done at noon on a sunny day, 5 to 7 times a week in summer and 1 to 2 times in winter. A small amount of iodine or 0·1% potassium permanganate can be added to the bath water.
8. Check the health of the pigeons frequently. When releasing pigeons in the morning, observe the speed, number and flying conditions of the pigeons coming out of the cage; check whether there are any abnormalities in the feathers and feces in the pigeon house; , promptly discover homing pigeons showing signs of illness and take corresponding measures. In addition, homing pigeons should also be vaccinated according to the situation.
In short, the feeding and management of homing pigeons is actually to use their characteristics to tame and control the homing performance, obedience and return accuracy of homing pigeons from the four aspects of food, housing, mates and diseases. This is the guarantee for the normal reproduction and healthy growth of homing pigeons, and is also the basic work for training and training excellent homing pigeons.
Pigeons eat millet, rice, corn (corn), wheat and other grains and cooked food. Bird feed, chicken feed, sand (helps digestion), etc. are similar to feeding chickens.
Pigeons are vegetarian and monogamous, so it is best to feed them on the balcony or rooftop.
Pigeons need to have a nest during the breeding season because they need to hatch their eggs. At other times, they just need a bamboo to rest on.
Pigeons can be divided into meat pigeons, ornamental pigeons and homing pigeons. Among them, meat pigeons are used for food. Their meat is not only tender and delicious, but also has high nutritional value. The protein content ranks first among various meat products, and it is both a precious delicacy and a high-end supplement. Meat pigeons are mainly characterized by their large size, docile nature, high reproductive rate and rapid weight gain of young pigeons. Meat pigeons have strong disease resistance and can adapt to various climatic conditions. Therefore, the scale of meat pigeon breeding farms can be large or small, and they can be raised in the south or north of my country. However, the pigeon house should be chosen as far away from residential areas as possible to keep the pigeon house quiet and avoid frequent interactions between humans and animals, which is not conducive to epidemic prevention. The pigeonhouse needs to be spacious, bright, well-lit, dry and clean. Try to choose a place with high terrain, which is not prone to water accumulation after rain, is free of waste gas and waste water pollution, has good water quality, and has convenient water supply, which is conducive to cleaning and disinfection. The feed for meat pigeons is simple, using whole grains. Commonly used types include corn, peas, sorghum, wheat, hemp seeds, etc. The daily feed amount for a pair of breeding pigeons in production is about 150 grams. Meat pigeons can generally live for 10-15 years, but the breeding age is 5-6 years, and the optimal breeding age is 2-4 years old. Usually a pair of meat pigeons can breed 6-8 pairs in a year. Except for the sparse eggs during the moulting period from August to October, they can lay eggs and raise chicks all year round. Meat pigeons can be divided according to their growth and development: Squab: refers to young pigeons (also known as young pigeons or young pigeons) that are 25-30 days old after shelling. Because young pigeons before 3O days of age are fed by pigeon milk produced from the crops in the digestive systems of their parents, they are called squabs. Because the meat of squab is tender, delicious and nutritious, it is regarded as a famous dish. Squabs grow quickly and have a short feeding time. They can weigh more than 600 grams at four weeks of age and are ready for consumption. After the squab hatches, the parents will naturally nurture their offspring carefully. But there are also some problems that parent pigeons cannot take into account, and management personnel need to take careful care to make the squabs grow normally. The body of newly hatched squabs has poor disease resistance, but they eat a lot and defecate a lot. If they are not cleaned up in time, they are prone to disease. Squabs can live independently away from their parents when they are 30 days old. At this time, provide them with finer particles and good quality feed. After a day or two, the pigeons can eat on their own. Young pigeons: Pigeons grow up to 6 months after hatching. Pigeons in this period are called young pigeons. Young pigeons are suitable for group breeding, which is beneficial to the movement, growth and development of pigeons, and lays the foundation for good reproductive performance in the future. Adult pigeons: After a growth and development period of 4-6 months, they enter the sexual maturity stage and begin to mate and breed and raise young. Pigeons in this period are called adult pigeons. Pigeons after three or four months of age begin to have secondary sexual characteristics, which is called the estrus period of pigeons. Pigeons that have reached sexual maturity will show various courtship behaviors and will mate and produce offspring on their own. This is the natural reproduction method of pigeons. But in order to prevent inbreeding, pigeon breeds degenerate and prevent. In phenomena such as "early marriage", "homosexuality" or improper pairing, artificial pairing methods must be used to breed excellent offspring. Pigeons are monogamous birds. Once mated, they will remain together for life. It takes a long time to re-pair after being separated artificially. In order to prevent various adverse consequences caused by unpairing, the matching work must be planned and arranged in advance. A better method is: after the pigeons are four months old, raise the female pigeons and the male pigeons in different pens. However, it should be noted that pigeons of the same sex raised in the same column should also be of the same or similar breed and age to prevent larger pigeons from bullying smaller pigeons, causing the weaker pigeons to become disabled. Arranged marriages are arranged for mature pigeons according to the purpose of the breeders. Matching male and female pigeons are placed in cages so that they can develop feelings for each other and mate and lay eggs. This takes 10-12 days. Most pigeons can develop feelings during this period of time, become a loving couple, and start a harmonious life of having children. After the female pigeon lays two eggs after mating for three days, she begins to incubate the eggs. The husband and wife have a tacit understanding of cooperation, and both partners participate in the work of raising the nest and hatching the eggs. The work schedule is relatively clear and fixed, and they are implemented very seriously. The incubation period of eggs produced by pigeons is quite consistent, ranging from 17 to 19 days, with most being 18 days. After the chicks hatch, the couple jointly produces pigeon milk and feeds the chicks mouth-to-mouth until the chicks can live independently. The brooding period is generally 25 to 30 days.
It should be noted that during the incubation period, breeders should deal with necrotic eggs on time and in a timely manner, find infertile eggs or dead embryonated eggs by looking at the eggs, and remove these useless eggs so that individual nests can be hatched. Allowing those production pigeons that have no eggs to hatch, to lay eggs again and hatch them, thereby greatly increasing the group reproduction of production pigeons. Pigeons are relatively easy birds to raise, but during the raising process, the principle of prevention should be adhered to, regular disinfection, careful observation, disease prevention and treatment, scientific management, and scientific feeding. Raising meat pigeons will definitely bring greater economic benefits to people.