Pigeons, More Than Just Pets

pigeons (pigeons) is known as one of the birds close to humans. This bird is also called the pigeon name, which is the most famous species in the Columbidae family.

The advantages of the pigeons are not only kept as a pet, this bird has also been used to produce meat, ornamental, racing and even for communication purposes (post dove). If the maintenance is done in earnest, then the originally only a hobby can be changed and upgraded into a profitable hobby that can supplement family income.

The price of a pigeon or a pair of racing pigeons varies, adult male doves that have good flying qualities and breeds can reach 5 million rupiah or more, while male pigeons cost around 500 thousand rupiah.

Pigeons can be used as a game or performing breed. Performing breed there are two kinds, namely flying flat and flying high. The flat flying pigeons are enjoyed by fans from the male speed race attractions with a certain distance to the holding jockeys (quoted in Ridwansyah's (2011) Faculty of Animal Husbandry, IPB) research.

In one mating, in general the dove will produce between 2-4 grains. Until now, this way of bird maintenance is still traditional. Pigeons are extensively maintained, ie removable pigeons and often roam for their own food. Feed pigeons in the form of corn, brown rice and sometimes food scraps on the ground.

Pigeons include vertebrate and hot-blooded animals. Its body temperature is about 41 ° C, its body shape is suitable for both air and ground life because it has long wings to fly and feet that are suitable for walking and perch without difficulty. The neck is long and flexible, the big head gives the capacity for a large brain, its body is compact, rigid and its vital part is well protected from enemy attack (Levi (1945), in Ridwansyah (2011).

One characteristic that distinguishes pigeons with other birds because pigeons can produce crop milk or milk that is a cream-colored milk that is removed from the parent cubes of males and females, where this fluid is given the mother pigeon to piyik (child newly hatched birds) by fooling and pumping into the mouth piyik.

In the city of London pigeons are used as a tool to control city air quality. The doves were sent to fly around London for three days to gather information. The project is called 'Pigeon Air Patrol', a project aimed at raising awareness of London's heavily polluted sky. The project relies on Twitter's service to connect London residents with racing pigeons equipped with backpacks. This backpack has a function to preach air quality in specific places and times. (Greeners.co, April 18, 2018 edition