Utility pigeons

Pigeons bred for meat

A young utility squab

Utility pigeons are domesticated pigeons bred to be a source of meat called squab. Squabs have been used as a food in many nations for centuries.[1] They were bred to breed and grow quickly.[2] Because they are bred for squab production, conformation to a show standard is usually deemed unimportant.

Utility pigeons are one of three main breed groupings used by pigeon fanciers. The other two are Flying/Sporting and Fancy.

The characteristics of utility pigeons of most importance to the businessperson who is keeping them are rapid growth and high fecundity.

The American King pigeon has been described as the world's first improved utility pigeon breed.[3]

There are breeds of pigeons which at one time were raised for utility purposes but which are now raised for show purposes.[4] Fanciers usually distinguish between the two sub-breeds by appending the word "show" or "utility" to the name of the breed. For example, there are show King pigeons and Utility Kings and they are two different breeds of pigeon. The show breeds can still be used for squabbing purposes.

## See also

[edit]

* American Giant Runt
* Carneau
* French Mondain
* King pigeon
* Strasser pigeon
* List of pigeon breeds

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Levi, Wendell (1977). The Pigeon. Sumter, S.C.: Levi Publishing Co, Inc. ISBN 0-85390-013-2.
2. ^ Seymour, Rev. Colin (Ed)(2006) Australian Fancy Pigeons National Book of Standards.
3. ^ Lan, Yuehang; He, Qin; Gibril, Bahareldin Ali Abdalla; Xu, Jiguo; Shang, Hanle; Xiong, Xinwei (1 April 2025). "Influencing factors and quality traits of pigeon meat: A systematic review". Poultry Science. 104 (4): 105000. doi:10.1016/j.psj.2025.105000. PMC 11932674. Retrieved 9 April 2025. "The American King Pigeon, the world's first improved meat pigeon breed, significantly contributed to the rapid expansion of pigeon breeding (Ashraful, 2021)"
4. ^ Hiatt, Shannon; Esposito, DVM, Jon (2000). The Pigeon Guide. Port Perry, Ontario: Silvio Mattacchione and Company. p. 32\. ISBN 1-895270-18-9.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Utility pigeons at Wikimedia Commons

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