Pigeons...take two.

I am sorry to say the first try at meat pigeons was not a success.
The birds I obtained for breeder stock had spent their entire lives caged up to this point. Consequently they were very weak fliers and this made them easy prey for both the local hawks and unfortunately our Maremma, Alessa. Now the hawks were a known factor and I expect to lose the occasional bird to them. That is the nature of both hawks and pigeons. I had unwittingly aggravated the situation however by slaughtering a beast the week of their release from captivity and this brought the raptors from far and wide as always. Of course when they had finished cleaning up the remains of slaughter they turned their attentions to whatever else there was to eat in the area. Bad timing on my part.

I had not expected our Maremma, our flock dog who is supposed to guard the livestock, to view the pigeons as a tasty snack. I was somewhat disappointed to say the least. Some retraining was involved and I hope she has learned her lesson. I will have to watch her closely to see if it has worked.

In any case our original stock of twelve birds was whittled down to five in the couple of weeks after release. So I went and picked up another twenty birds, instant flock, and have re-incarcerated all pigeons for another fortnight. So far so good. This time they will be released in a raptor free environment and with the Maremma on a short leash until they have settled in.