Forced fattening of meat pigeons

The meat pigeon is 18 ~ 25 days old and its weight can reach 350 to 500g. It can be sold on the market according to the situation. But at this time, the moisture content in the meat of pigeons was higher and the subcutaneous fat was less. In order to improve the meat quality of pigeons, fattening can be forced for 5 or 7 days before sale. After forced fattening, the pigeons have crisp skin, soft bones and fragrant meat after cooking.

1 pigeon selection

Pigeons at the age of 10 to 25 days can be forced to be fattened. The pigeons of 15 ~ 20 days old and weighing 350 to 500g were used for fattening, and the pigeons were required to be large, full muscle, shiny feathers, white and tender skin, healthy and without disability. Pigeons over 30 days old, weighing less than 350g, thick fur, disability and disease are not used. Pigeons with young age and small body weight can be fattened for longer.

2 pigeon house equipment

The style and structure of the fattening pigeon house can be modelled on the general pigeon house, the height should be appropriately lower, the windows can be less and smaller, and curtains should be used to block the light. The air should be ventilated and fresh, and the humidity should be low; the floor brick or cement should be heated and kept warm when the weather is cold, so that the temperature should be kept at 25 ℃.

The equipment used for fattening pigeons are fattening bed, fattening cage, material basin, feeding machine and so on. Fattening beds are mostly used in China, while multi-layer fattening cages are mostly used abroad. The style of the fattening bed is the same as that of the nursery bed, but the edge height 20~30cm, width 65~70cm and length 1m 3m should be 60~70cm off the ground. About 40 pigeons can be raised in a fattening bed cubicle with a length of about 1m.

There is only 12.7~30.4cm in each cubicle of the fattening cage, which can only hold 1 or 2 pigeons to ensure that the pigeons will not be crowded and scratch each other's back skin. The length of the fattening cage depends on the length of the pigeon house. The number of layers of multi-layer fattening cages can be reached by the hands of the breeder. The bottom of the cage is a metal mesh with holes around 2.5cm, under which a metal water dung plate is installed, and pigeon droppings fall into the basin from the mesh.

3 fattening feed

The diet formula for fattening is 50% corn, 15% brown rice, 10% beans and 25% beans (if beans are scarce or the price is too high, the proportion of beans can be reduced to less than 20%). In order to facilitate feeding, large seeds such as broad beans and corn should be broken into small grains and used. In order to soak the grain and bean seeds thoroughly and softly, soak them in water for 1 day and night. When feeding, the water temperature should not be lower than 2535 ℃.

4. Feeding method

4.1 feeding with funnel

The funnel can be made of metal or plastic. The length of the funnel pipe is about 14cm, thick 1~1.3cm, and the pipe mouth is blunt, round and smooth. The specific method is to insert the funnel tube into the bottom of the pigeon's esophagus and pour the small, smooth and easy-to-leak grains such as corn, sorghum and wheat, which are clean and dry, into the pigeon crop through the funnel mouth. If it is blocked midway, you can try to poke the feed down with a thin strip, or blow the feed off by blowing air at the mouth of the funnel. The dry feed is half full, followed by some water. Be careful not to insert the leaky bucket tube into the trachea. This method is very difficult for one person to operate, and it is best to have an assistant to help.

4.2 injection of syringe

The requirements for syringe nozzles are basically the same as funnel tubes. The feed is packed in a syringe tube and injected into the pigeon crop with a push rod. Granular, powdered or paste feed should be used in this method. Whether granulated feed or water depends on which is convenient and the effect of feeding.

4.3 filling and feeding machine

At present, there is no special feeding machine for filling pigeons in China, and most of them are refitted from filling duck feeding machines. The specific method is: first put the soaked small seeds or broken grains together with an appropriate amount of water into the filling funnel of the feeding machine, then hold the pigeon in the left hand, open the mouth of the pigeon in the right hand, insert it into the outlet of the feeding machine, and then step on the switch with the right foot, and the feed and water will be poured into the crop of the pigeon, and each time you step on the switch, you can fill and feed one pigeon. Generally, a feeding machine can feed 300,500 pigeons per hour. Be careful when filling and feeding, and move lightly to avoid damage to the mouth and tongue of the pigeon.

5 amount of feeding

Meat pigeons are forced to be fattened, usually fed twice a day, each time one pigeon is fed with 50g / 100g food (half of the water or a little more). About half an hour after each feeding, you can put down the curtains and let the pigeons rest and sleep quietly. If there is a scar on the throat of the pigeon, it means that the feeding operation is inappropriate and should be carefully carried out or improved.