We have a friend that raises show pigeons. Sometimes he gets undesirable traits for showing, but they are perfectly healthy and normal. He asked if we would like the ones that won’t show well, and we decided to give it a try. We got 5 this past week and we put them in with the chickens by adding a wide board in the rafters and a large perch in the run.  At first the chickens were furious and spent a couple of days trying to kill their new roommates, but they have sort of accepted them and only try to kill them when they get in their way. They eat all together on the ground, thankfully.

Emma and Dorothy are itching to get in the coop to check out the pigeons. Emma wants to chase them and Dorothy wants to stalk them (she even stalks the chickens who are more than twice her size). Note in the picture that one is on each side of the coop.

Our plan is to raise them to eat. Squab is supposed to be a good meat, if they are young enough. I still have some research to do on the whole process, but I am looking forward to it. We’ll see how it goes.