Making Pigeons Pay

This book contains a complete guide to breeding pigeons for profit, with information on common problems, selection, necessary equipment, ailments and diseases, marketing, and many other related aspects. An accessible and comprehensive guide, “Practical Pigeon Production” will be of utility to anyone occupied in keeping pigeons for economic gain, and would make for a useful addition to collections of allied literature. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly rare and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on pigeons.

They have been worshipped as fertility goddesses and revered as symbols of peace. Domesticated since the dawn of humankind, they have been crucial to wartime communications for every major historical superpower from ancient Egypt to the United States and are credited with saving thousands of lives. One delivered the results of the first Olympics in 776 BC and another brought the news of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo more than 2500 years later. Charles Darwin relied heavily upon them to help formulate and support his theory of evolution. Yet today the pigeon is reviled as a rat with wings. How did we come to misunderstand one of humanity's most steadfast companions?In Pigeons, Andrew D. Blechman travels across the United States and Europe in a quest to chronicle the bird's transformation from beloved friend to feathered outlaw.

One plucky pigeon dares to fly against the flock in this brightly illustrated, laugh-out-loud picture book about embracing the things that make us different. A colorful flock of pigeons pride themselves on their perfect unity. All except one: a bespectacled pigeon who is happiest doing its own thing. While the flock all looks the same, this pigeon enjoys wearing cowboy boots. While the flock flies in perfect formation, this pigeon soars like a superhero. When the flock finally confronts their contrary friend, they learn a thing or two about true perfection—and that we don’t all have to be the same to belong together.

Many people consider the ubiquitous pigeon to be a pest. But as Blechman demonstrates in his enjoyable and informative book, this much-maligned bird has served humans well for thousands of years.

Originally published in the early 1930s. The book contains much advice on every aspect of rearing pigeons for table birds. The illustrated contents include: Selection of Birds - Housing - Feeding - The Moult - Vermin - Disease - Breeding the Best - Determination of Sex - Marketing - Starting a Flock - Recipes for Cooking Squabs - etc. Many of the earliest farming or smallholding books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Home Farm Books are republishing many of these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.