From the history of pigeon breeding. Pigeons: history of domestication, appearance, behavior features Domestication of pigeons

24.07.2020

Today there are more of which are grown in captivity. They are very different in appearance, so for a long time researchers believed that they descended from different species of the pigeon family.

But in fact, all breeds are descended from one species - This bird is the most common representative of the family, it inhabits all continents except Antarctica.

Man tamed a blue dove in the period from 5000 to 10000 years ago, but most researchers believe that these birds serve humans from 5000 to 6000 years. According to some sources, they were domesticated for the first time in Egypt or Libya, according to others - in the Sumerian state. It is not possible today to reliably determine where this happened.

The rock dove is very widespread and for many thousands of years it has been living side by side with humans in various parts of Europe and Asia. Most likely, different peoples of the Ancient World tamed and began to use pigeons independently of each other.

Somewhere they were simply revered as sacred birds, and somewhere they were sacrificed during religious rites. Also from antiquity. Later, pigeon mail appeared.

The appearance of the pigeon and features of behavior

The rock dove can be attributed to medium-sized birds:

the length of his body is about 30-35 cm;

wingspan - 50-55 cm;

weight - from 265 to 380 g.

At the same time, representatives of various can differ significantly in their size and weight from their wild ancestor. Weight of meat pigeons can be more than a kilogram.

So, the maximum weight of birds of the American King breed is 1.1 kg, and the average weight is 650 g. The pigeons of the Austrian meat breed Strasser weigh slightly less - from 900 g to 1 kg. And French Monden pigeons weigh from 900 g to 1.3 kg. Thus, they are significantly smaller in size, but at the same time, they are much larger than the wild rock pigeon from which they originated.

Difference in color

The colors of pigeons are very diverse. These birds can have both monochromatic faded plumage and very variegated and bright. There are white and black pigeons, fawn, blue, green, orange and red.

What does a pigeon chick look like?

Which emerge from eggs, weigh about 10 g, they are completely devoid of plumage, and their eyes are closed. Later they are covered with yellow down, and then feathers. At the age of two months, young pigeons become full members of the flock. They can be distinguished from adult birds by their thinness and duller plumage.

Features of lifestyle and behavior

Semi-domestic pigeons that can be found on city streets often do not live up to 5 years. Their average life expectancy is 6 years.

At the same time, those who are kept in favorable conditions can reach 35 years of age. This lifespan is made possible by optimal temperature regime, constant access to clean drinking water, and good sanitation, which minimizes the risk of infections.

When does it rush?

The breeding season in which inhabiting cities and domestic birds is very extended in time. They can reproduce all year round. The female usually lays two eggs, less often one. She begins to incubate the next clutch even before the chicks from the previous brood mature.

How are nests built?

The wild rock dove lays eggs and incubates chicks on rocks. These birds build primitive nests from small branches, roots, dry grass. Semi-wild pigeons that live in urban environments can lay their eggs on bare concrete, planks, or on the ground.

Why do pigeons nod?

One of the interesting features of pigeons is that when walking, they repeatedly throw their head forward sharply. This is due to the peculiarities of bird vision. For their eyes to have time to focus on something, they must remain motionless relative to the object for a certain time.
This is what happens after the pigeon nods. He continues to step forward, and his body moves in space, while his head is at one point.

In one experiment, pigeons walked on a treadmill. If the speed of its movement was equal to the speed of the step, that is, the bird walked along the path, while remaining motionless relative to the surrounding space, the shaking of its head stopped. In another experience the pigeons stopped nodding their heads when they were blindfolded.

However, birds can nod their heads even when they are standing in one place. In this case, the wiggles have a different function. Thanks to them, the bird can estimate the distance to objects that surround it, including - to food objects lying on the ground. By nodding, her vision turns from monocular to binocular.

Male and female pigeons

External differences in pigeons are much less pronounced than in. Nevertheless, males can be distinguished from females both in appearance and in behavior. Individuals of the male sex are larger, they have larger heads, thicker and blunt beaks with developed waxes - volumetric formations that are located in the region of the nostrils.

Also, females have larger eyes and thinner neck. However, these features are not typical for all. So, males of decorative breeds are smaller than females and may have more graceful body outlines.

Males are more prone to aggression and conflict. Females behave more calmly, but they coo more often.

How to tell?

To reliably find out the sex of a pigeon, you must use at the same time several methods for determining it:

to feel the pelvic bones - two tubercles that protrude on the stomach near the tail of the bird: in males they are located closer to each other than in females;

to plant a bird, the sex of which must be determined, to a male individual: two males will begin to fight to determine which of them is stronger, if you plant a female, the male will begin to show her attention;

consider the bird's head in profile: males have a higher forehead, a more massive beak, a larger wax.

In the event that you use several methods at once, the likelihood of error in determining gender is minimized.

Why do pigeons are bred

Depending on the purpose, all breeds of domestic pigeons can be divided into four groups:

postage;

flight;

meat.

Pigeon mail has long been one of the main types of postal communication. it the most ancient way of transmitting correspondence through the air. It became possible due to the fact that pigeons always return to their native nest from any point, wherever they are. Pigeon mail was used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Romans and Jews. It has long lost its significance, and now these birds are raised mainly for meat.
Flying breeds are used for performances - they are able to make pirouettes in the air that look very impressive.

The main feature of decorative pigeons is e perfect appearance. At the same time, many of them fly badly, and some do not rise into the air at all. Birds of meat breeds, as their name implies, are raised for human consumption.

Domestic pigeons, which have become an integral attribute of many households, are able to bring aesthetic satisfaction with their bright appearance or unusual flight style. They can be a source of dietary meats popular with gourmets. These birds perfectly adapt to life in areas with strong winds, high humidity, hot and harsh climates, and with proper care they can live in a dovecote for up to 15 years.

About 800 breeds of domestic pigeons are known, and an even greater number of lines are capable of forming fundamentally new breeds in tens of years with proper selection.

Specialists distinguish several directions for breeding pigeons living next to humans:

poultry of meat breeds;
postage or sports;
flying pigeons (racing);
decorative breeds.

Breeding pigeons is not very financially costly, since the birds are unpretentious and have a high degree of reproduction of offspring (they are able to breed up to 10-12 chicks per season).

The domestication of pigeons took place more than five centuries ago, as evidenced by the texts of legends and drawings of various peoples of the world.

The breeds of domestic pigeons were especially popular in Europe and the countries of Central Asia, where their flying qualities were highly valued. Over time, birds began to be brought into the territory of modern Russia.

They adapted to local habitat conditions, forming completely new lines, which eventually turned into full-fledged breeds of pigeons with characteristic external and flight characteristics.

Tipplers - creators of city pigeons

In recent decades, the number of professional pigeon breeders has significantly decreased, but Russian breeders still enjoy well-deserved authority among their colleagues. They continue to breed new lines by crossing pigeons of different breeds and discarding non-characteristic individuals.

Thanks to the crossing of British and English turmans, a new breed of poultry has appeared, which is very popular among pigeon breeders in Western Europe and the European part of Russia. Visually, this is a very simple type of pigeon, having a gray color with a rainbow tint in the darker neck region.

Thoroughbred tipplers are high flying birds and can climb over 2 km. They are capable of staying in the air for up to 20 hours or more, demonstrating excellent flight characteristics.

It was the tipplers, lost and fleeing from their owners, who crossed with representatives of other European breeds, who created a variety of urban pigeons that have chosen the roofs and squares of large cities.

Perm hryvnias

The primordially Russian breed of high-flying poultry, called the Permian Hryvny, was bred on the territory of the Upper Kama region. They are perfectly adapted to the harsh conditions of the local climate with variable weather and high clouds.

Birds of this breed have a simple streamlined body structure, various colors and legs absolutely free from feathering. The main feature that gave the name to the breed is the obligatory presence of a dark spot on the back of the head, resembling a mane.

Mane do not differ in special high-flying characteristics, although some individuals are able to rise to a height of up to 2 km. Birds always fly in flocks, circling over their dovecote. This guarantees their timely return home in the event of a sharp change in weather or an unexpected attack by predators.

The auditory system of pigeons easily perceives infrasounds with a frequency of up to 10 Hz, which allows birds to know in advance about the approach of a thunderstorm or an impending earthquake.

For more information, see the article

Nikolaev high-flying

The rather heat-loving birds of the Nikolaev breed are known as magnificent flyers. Pigeons love to be released into strong winds, demonstrating a variety of flight techniques.

These poultry are individualistic and do not like to fly in a flock. When lifted into the air, they seem to "show off" to each other about their flying capabilities, creating an unimaginable, but very beautiful chaos in the sky. They show the skylark and butterfly styles typical of all high-flying, but are able to soar vertically upward and stay in the air with their chest to the wind.

Among modern pigeon breeders, birds with a fundamentally new "sickle" type of summer, when the body is parallel to the ground, and the flaps of the wings resemble the movements of a sickle, are very much appreciated.

Nikolayevtsy can have different colors, but the presence of a white tail is necessary, which can sometimes be bordered with dark feathers. The flight of these birds is so mesmerizing that they are specially selected for release during various ceremonial events.

White-headed kosmachi and short-beaked birds from Armavir

The breed of white-headed cosmachs does not differ in high flight characteristics, rising into the air to an altitude of slightly more than 100 m and being in flight for no longer than 2 hours. They are prized for their beautiful years and combat, accompanied by multiple pole exits.

Low flight altitude allows observing them for a long time, enjoying the flight technique and appearance of these birds. A characteristic feature of the Armavir spacecrafts is that when they land, they turn over in the air.

Also, the breed of short-billed cosmachs (beak more than 8 mm), bred in Armavir, also belongs to decorative flying. She is known for the fact that small-nosed birds have white plumage of the head, on which a peculiar forelock may be present. Thick plumage on the legs reduces the flight capabilities of pigeons, giving them unusual decorative characteristics.

Both of these breeds belong to domestic species of pigeons and are not found in the wild.

English monks

The English cross pigeon, or English monk, which belongs to the decorative domestic breeds, is a very famous breed, bred back in the 19th century. The characteristics of the breed qualities were determined by the pigeon breeders of Great Britain. Monk pigeons have an unusual feather forelock on their heads, resembling a hood. The birds are distinguished by the vertical posture of a small body, the length of which reaches 25-35 cm, and the females are much smaller than the males.

This is a short-billed pigeon with a fairly large skull, which is not distinguished by good flying qualities.

English monks were introduced to Russia and the CIS countries relatively recently, and so far they are significantly inferior in popularity to local pigeons of high-flying breeds.

Chinese seagulls

This breed of domestic pigeons was bred at the turn of the 19th-20th in France, where the birds were given a rather unusual name. Perhaps the main reason for the decision was the fact that, compared to others, Chinese gulls are distinguished by increased fertility.

Decorative birds do not demonstrate excellent flight characteristics, although they are able to stay in the air for more than 6 hours. In the area of \u200b\u200bthe chest and thighs, they have fluffy plumage, which looks very beautiful when the males take a fighting stance.

The color of Chinese gulls can be white, silver, gray-gray, yellow, red, black. There are motley and color-sided birds with a painted tail.

In America, even before Europeans discovered it, they were domesticated musk ducks(Cairina moschata) belonging to a completely different genus. In the wild, these ducks live in Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. Their name is associated with a peculiar smell emanating from the skin of these birds. Male muscovy ducks have a black-brown back, dark green neck and head. The wings and tail are green with a metallic sheen, there are also white feathers in the wings. The eyes and beak are surrounded by outgrowths of naked red skin. Females are colored similarly, but less brightly. In the course of domestication, white birds appeared. Muscovy ducks have tasty meat and valuable down, and their weight reaches 5.5 kg. In Europe, however, they are not bred in large numbers.

Dove

Wild ancestor of domestic pigeons - dove(Columba livia). It may have been one of the first to be domesticated by the Phoenicians in North Africa. Domestic pigeons have been known since ancient Egypt. They are depicted on the bas-reliefs of the times of the III-V dynasties (2500-3000 BC). With the Phoenicians or other seafarers, the pigeons came to Greece and Rome. Pigeons have long been bred in India and China.

The legend that the pigeons "hatched" Queen Semiramis on the banks of the Euphrates indicates the possibility of the existence of a Babylonian center of domestication of these birds. After her death, Queen Semiramis turned into a dove. Judging by some Babylonian legends, pigeons have been revered since ancient times in the countries of the Middle East. Among the Jews, they were a symbol of love and moral purity. In Christian teaching, this bird symbolizes the holy spirit.

Among the ancient Greeks, the dove was dedicated to Aphrodite, the Romans to Venus. In Median legends, the goddess Ishtar was a sacred dove. There is a well-known legend according to which the god of war Mars did not fight because he did not want to destroy the nest that the dove made in his battle helmet - therefore the dove was considered a symbol of peace and friendship.

Pigeons have a very developed desire to return to their dovecote (the so-called homing), they can return even from a distance of 1000 km. Taking advantage of this, pigeons were used as postmen (tying messages to a bird's neck or leg) already in Egypt and Rome. At various times, pigeons were also bred in significant numbers for meat.

Falcons and other birds of prey

Hunting birds cannot be called domesticated in the traditional sense of the word, because they were not bred in captivity. The Assyrians hunted with falcons during the time of Sardanapalus (668–626 BC). Even then, the falcon was held on a hand protected by a leather glove, and a cap decorated with feathers was put on the bird's head. A bronze depiction of a caped falcon head in Egypt around 800 AD. e., indicates that falconry was known there by that time.

The Romans did not practice falconry, but the sport was very popular in medieval Europe. It also spread in India and in various regions of Asia. The warlike Turkic and Mongol tribes considered hunting with birds of prey not only as entertainment or fishing, but also as a military exercise. Hence the eastern proverb: "Falconry is the sister of war." Children of Genghis Khan Jagatai and Oktay hunted with gyrfalcons. And, apparently, successfully, because, according to legend, at the end of the week they sent 50 camels loaded with swans to Samarkand for distribution to the people. Tamerlane also hunted with gyrfalcons. At the beginning of winter, he went to Bukhara, where many waterfowl, including swans, accumulated on the lakes. The beaters frightened the bird with a drumbeat and poisoned the bird with gyrfalcon.

In Russia, falconry was especially widespread in the southern regions. According to legend, in the IX century. Oleg built a falconry yard in Kiev. Under Yaroslav the Wise, hunting with birds of prey was already regulated by law. The theft of a falcon was punishable by a large fine.

They tried to hunt with a variety of birds of prey, which were trained for different game: turachi, geese, cranes, ducks, as well as mammals, such as hares and gazelles.

The most common hunting birds were falcons, and among them the gyrfalcon were considered the best. In Europe, only members of royal families could use the gyrfalcon for hunting. Peregrine Falcons were left for princes, dukes and earls, and sparrowhawks for priests.

It is known that in Russia, gyrfalcons have been caught at least since the 13th century. Falcons were also harvested in the Urals (near Perm), near the White Sea and even on Novaya Zemlya.

In the XV century. gyrfalcon are becoming a "diplomatic weapon". So, the khans of the Golden Horde received hunting birds from the Russian princes as tribute. Boris Godunov in 1600 sent gyrfalcons to the Persian shah. In the XVII century. regular deliveries of birds of prey from Russia to Persia, Turkey, Crimea, and sometimes to Poland, Denmark, England, Georgia, Imereti, Khiva and Bukhara have already begun. In the XVII century. French traveler Chardin mentions that the gyrfalcon brought from Moscow were considered the best hunting birds in Persia and were very expensive.

In the XVI century. Falcons were supplied to Moscow by the so-called "scavengers" from the local population, and this was considered a state duty. The special instructions indicated the rules for the extraction, keeping and delivery of birds. Everyone related to falcons was forbidden to smoke tobacco, drink, gamble, so that "the sovereign's birds from drunken and unclean people would not be wronged." The birds were transported with the greatest care in special carts or sleighs, in boxes upholstered with felt and matting on the inside.

The legend of Tryphon the Falconer tells that once Ivan the Terrible's favorite white gyrfalcon flew away in the rich game lands of the Naprudny village near Moscow (now the area of \u200b\u200bthe Rizhsky railway station, one of the streets in the vicinity of which is called Trifonovskaya). The Tsar gave his falconer, boyar Trifon Patrikeev, three days to search for the bird. By the evening of the third day, the tired and desperate falconer sat down on the hillside and dozed off. In a dream, his patron St. Tryphon, who rode on a white horse and held a gyrfalcon on his hand. He said that you need to look for a gyrfalcon on a pine tree in the Mytishchi grove. Having found the bird, boyar Trifon Patrikeev built a small stone church on that place, which has survived to this day. On the wall of the chapel is a copy of the fresco depicting St. Tryphon with a white gyrfalcon on the glove of his right hand - the so-called "Russian" icon of Tryphon (original in the Tretyakov Gallery).

In the 17th century, at the time tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, falconry in Russia reached its peak. The king was a passionate lover and connoisseur of this sport. In the environs of Moscow, special krechatniks were then set up in the villages of Semenovskoye and Kolomenskoye, perhaps there were krechatni in Moscow itself - hence, apparently, the name of one of the Arbat lanes, now, unfortunately, lost - Krechatnikovsky.

In the 18th century. rifle hunting began to develop, and with the advent of shot, the use of hunting birds generally receded into the background. Nowadays it is a hobby of individual amateurs, although good birds of prey are still highly valued. In addition, tame falcons are used in large cities to protect architectural monuments from crows and other birds, as well as to scare away birds from airfield runways.

Now domestic cormorants (genus Phalacrocorax) are found, perhaps, only in the basin of the lower reaches of the Yangtze. Birds dive from a boat for fish, but cannot swallow it because of the ring worn around their neck. They are encouraged to work with fish and are also fed with soaked beans. It is known that they did the same here 1400 years ago in 590–617. However, it is believed that the Japanese first domesticated the cormorant. They have used it in a similar way since the 5th century AD. Cormorants' eggs were laid for incubating poultry.

Cormorants were also used for fishing in Europe - for example, in England in the 17th century. The tame cormorants lived in Fontainebleau with Louis XIII in 1625. They came from Flanders, where they probably came from China, since the Jesuits from the Spanish part of the Netherlands visited China as missionaries.

For the first time canaries ( Serinus canaria) Europeans found in the Canary Islands off the northwestern coast of Africa. The locals already kept canaries for their beautiful singing. They were greenish-brown birds, smaller than modern canaries. Soon, the same birds were found on the islands of Madera and Porto Santo, located north of the Canary Islands. The scientific name given to him later Serinus apparently connected with the Siren, a character in Greek mythology, who with her singing lured sailors to ruinous places.

In the XV century. Spanish and Portuguese sailors began to bring canaries to Europe. At first, these birds were very rare, they were presented to the royalty. The singing of the canaries evoked general admiration. In the royal chambers, canaries were kept in cages decorated with pearls. For them, spacious open-air cages with live plants were also arranged.

Spanish monks were the first to learn how to breed canaries. This happened around 1500 in the XVI-XVII centuries. in different countries of Europe, birds with a yellow color began to appear in broods. From Western Europe, canaries came to Russia, Turkey, China, Japan.

Canary breeding was carried out by people of very different incomes. Wealthy women used hand-held canaries as a living decoration and went out to the guests with a bird in their hand, as evidenced by the paintings of artists of that time. Many breeds of canaries are now bred, in a variety of colors and shapes.

INTRODUCTION

or otherwise, domestication is the process of changing wild animals or plants, in which for many generations they are kept by humans genetically isolated from their wild form and are subjected to artificial selection.

The history of domestic birds is very solid: about 5 thousand years ago, chickens, descending from the bank and red chickens of South and Southeast Asia, and geese, descendants of the wild gray goose, were domesticated. 3-4 thousand years ago, ducks were simultaneously domesticated in Europe and China, and guinea fowls in West Africa.

Many peoples were engaged in the domestication of birds. It is well known that in ancient Egypt, tame cranes lived in captivity (as evidenced by the drawings of that time). However, cranes are still sometimes used by humans at home, although this hardly gives us the right to call cranes domesticated birds. They live in the poultry yard, bringing order among ducks and chickens. The fact is that cranes are gregarious birds, they have a well-developed herd feeling; being among domestic birds, the crane behaves like the leader of a crane flock. He does not allow the birds to scatter far from each other. In case of danger, for example, having noticed a hawk, the crane boldly rushes at the enemy first, and usually it manages to drive away the predator. If the chickens walk outside the house, then in the evening the crane drives them home.

The point here is not in the mind (which the crane cannot be denied), but in the sense of gregariousness. When it comes time to return home, the crane does not do it alone, but necessarily together with the birds of the whole flock. Chickens and other "ward" birds learn to understand the sound signals that the crane gives.

Attempts to domesticate certain birds were made quite often, but they were not always reasonable. Is it worth, for example, to domesticate the eider, the most valuable bird of our north, which gives precious fluff, incomparable with anything in its heat-insulating properties? After all, domesticating means taking on a year-round dependence and feeding in the summer and, which is especially difficult, in the winter. But the eider lives splendidly even without our concern for its feeding, the reserves of food in the sea are very large, and the eider use a small part of them. It is only necessary not to disturb the eider, and it becomes trusting, like poultry, but does not require anything from a person, except, perhaps, to protect the nests from predators. And the benefits from such tamed birds are no less than from domestic ones. After all, in the eider, only the down in the nest is valuable, the bird nests very accessible to humans, and you only need to collect the down in the nests.

We use either wild or domestic birds, but nowadays it is no longer possible to draw a sharp line between the two. Many wild birds are tamed to one degree or another and not only live completely dependent on humans, but also breed in captivity, that is, they have become domesticated to some extent. Some decorative or songbirds are quite domesticated: mute swans adorned ponds in the Middle Ages, at the same time they successfully bred pigeons, bred many new breeds of postal or decorative ones.

Domesticating chickens

Domestic chickens are believed to have evolved from the wild bank hens (Gallus gallus) found in Asia. In addition to the bank, or red jungle, chicken, the genus of comb hens (Gallus) includes three more species: the gray jungle chicken (Gallus sonnerati), the Ceylon jungle chicken (Gallus lafayettei) and the green jungle chicken (Gallus varius). Wild representatives of the genus inhabit the territory of India, Indochina, southern China, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The earliest evidence, which Charles Darwin also relied on in his writings, pointed to the domestication of chicken in the region of India around 2000 BC. e. Later researchers argued that this could have happened around 3200 BC. e. and even earlier in another region of Asia. At present, a lot of facts have been accumulated that testify to the more ancient history of the domestication of chickens - 6000-8000 years BC. e. in Southeast Asia and China.

Breeds.

There are many breeds of chickens in the world, different in appearance, color, breeding characteristics and direction of use. Different breeds of eggs have different colors, for example: white, brown, green, blue, red (see Chicken egg). Currently, there are about 180 chicken breeds in the European poultry standard. However, in general, there are many more of them on Earth.

From an economic point of view and by the nature of the main product, the breed can be divided into three main groups:

~ on chickens differing in egg production (egg breeds),

~ for general use (meat and egg breeds) and

~ on mainly meat chickens (meat breeds).

The breeds of these directions have constitutional and exterior features. Egg chickens are small in size, grow quickly, ripen early. Chickens of meat and egg breeds are larger, with well-developed muscles, less early maturing. In addition, previously distinguished breeds, remarkable for their endurance, ability to hatch and with great height and weight.

The long-known egg breeds include:

~ Spanish (English Spanish)

~ Italian (German Italiener), or Leghorn (English Leghorn)

~ Hamburg (English Hamburg, or Hamburgh)

~ Red Cap

~ Andalusian

~ Minorca

By the time large poultry farms were organized (1920s - 1930s), bird breeds were classified. For example, he proposed a classification of the main breeds of poultry, taking into account the geographical feature.

Most of the older chicken breeds, with the exception of Leghorn, have lost their relevance in today's large-scale egg production. On small private farms, these and some other non-incubating breeds require large walking space and good winter heating. Many of them sweep a year for 10 months. The annual number of eggs laid by them reaches up to 250 or more; most of the eggs laid are in the spring and summer.

In the industrial poultry industry, including the meat industry and egg production, hybrid breeds and crosses of chickens are used. At the same time, the main tasks of breeding work with chickens are to breed specialized egg and meat lines, test them for compatibility and crossbreeding to obtain hybrid layers and broilers.

DUCK HOME

The ancestor of the Old World domestic ducks is the mallard duck (Anas platyrhyncha). Its domestication took place in different places and at different times. In Greece, already in the 5th century. BC e. kept the so-called spotted ducks. However, they were kept under nets, which suggests that they were not fully domesticated. Columella in Italy (1st century BC) advised collecting wild ducks' eggs and placing them under a hen-hen, which also testifies to the continuing process of domestication. The same author writes that special yards were set up in Rome for keeping ducks.

In China, ducks were domesticated earlier. They even carried out a kind of incubation there - eggs were laid in baskets with heated chaff, which were placed one on top of the other in heated rooms.

Since then, many breeds of domestic ducks have been bred. They lost the ability to fly, their physique changed, their weight and egg production increased. Of course, the color has also changed. Domestic breeds have an increased tendency towards albinism and melanism. Some breeds “got” a uniform brown-gray outfit (khaki), although in all breeds, even whites, from time to time there is a return to the color of the wild mallard. The so-called "royal ducks" are distinguished by lush crests of soft feathers. The pure white, silvery English ducks "Aylesbury" are known for their delicious meat and soft feathers, which are used for decoration. Peking ducks have a massive body and a straight fit, the color is white with a yellow tint.

Recently, breeds of ducks that are distinguished by a special egg production - khaki ducks were bred. Among them, there are individuals that produce up to 300 eggs per year.

In America, even before Europeans discovered it, muscovy ducks (Cairina moschata), belonging to a completely different genus, were domesticated. In the wild, these ducks live in Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. Their name is associated with a peculiar smell emanating from the skin of these birds. Male muscovy ducks have a black-brown back, dark green neck and head. The wings and tail are green with a metallic sheen, there are also white feathers in the wings. The eyes and beak are surrounded by outgrowths of naked red skin. Females are colored similarly, but less brightly. In the course of domestication, white birds appeared. Muscovy ducks have tasty meat and valuable down, and their weight reaches 5.5 kg. In Europe, however, they are not bred in large numbers.

DOVE HOME

The wild ancestor of domestic pigeons is the rock dove (Columba livia). It may have been one of the first to be domesticated by the Phoenicians in North Africa. Domestic pigeons have been known since Ancient egypt... They are depicted on the bas-reliefs of the times of the III-V dynasties (2500-3000 years BC). With the Phoenicians or other seafarers, the pigeons came to Greece and Rome. Pigeons have long been bred in India and China.

DOMESTICATION OF GEOES

Wild geese are easy to tame when taken at fledgling age. Within one or two generations, these birds get used to humans and reproduce successfully in captivity. It is also convenient that geese have a good appetite, they eat a lot and are easy to fatten, and at the same time wean them off long flights. Many sources claim that geese are the first poultry.

The domestication of geese took place many times in different regions. The progenitors of domestic geese were mainly three species. The gray goose (Anser anser) has been domesticated in Europe and in various regions of Asia, except for the east. It has a gray patterned plumage and a red beak. This species is common throughout Europe. In China and the Far East, the sucker goose (Anser cygnoides) living there was domesticated. It is a larger goose with a black beak. Modern domestic Chinese geese are very similar to their wild progenitor.

It is believed that the wild Nile goose (Chenalopex agypticus) was domesticated in Ancient Egypt, but its domesticated descendants have not survived. This type of geese lives almost everywhere in Africa, except for its western part. The Nile goose is slightly smaller than the other progenitors of the domestic species. It has beautiful reddish-brown plumage with yellow tints.

In ancient Egypt, they knew well domestic, or rather semi-domestic, geese. In Egyptian tombs, built over 4 thousand years ago, there are many drawings of geese: scenes of their feeding, roasting on a spit, images of peasants carrying geese to the market.

Geese are mentioned in the Odyssey - Penelope had 12 geese and she loved to watch them greedily devour the wet grain.

In Greece, Asia Minor and Central Asia, geese were sacred birds, they were also considered a symbol of abundance. During excavations of the ancient city of Penjikent on the territory of modern Tajikistan, an image of a young man was found holding a domestic goose for sacrifice.

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In Mesopotamia, geese were kept in flocks, revered as sacred birds, but also used as food. Images of geese are found on seals and other objects. An interesting statuette from Ur, (3rd millennium BC) depicting the goddess Ban, sitting on the backs of two geese; and the other two geese serve as her footstool. There are also clay reliefs and cylindrical seals showing geese in the form of a goddess. Until now, it was believed that images of ducks were used in the scales, but recently it was found that in fact in ancient times they were images of geese. Such scales in the form of geese have survived in some countries to this day.

The Indians believed that the geese were giving advice to Brahma himself. The Romans revered geese for the fact that these birds saved Rome in 390, waking the inhabitants of the city with their cackles. The geese were kept in the Temple of Juno on Capitol Hill.

In general, the Romans undoubtedly understood a lot about geese. They ate goose meat and greatly appreciated goose eggs. However, it was believed that hard-boiled, they become inedible. Goose liver was a great delicacy, and the Romans knew how to increase it by feeding the birds a mixture of flour, milk, and honey. Down feathers were used for cushions and upholstery; geese were plucked twice a year. The use of quill pens for writing was first mentioned by a certain Valesius in the 5th century AD. e. Ghee goose fat was used in medicine as a remedy against skin diseases, it was taken internally against colic. And fat was also used as various lubricants.

In ancient Germanic mythology, the goose was also considered a sacred animal. It seems that geese were bred in large numbers in both Gaul and ancient Germany. In Pliny's time, magnificent geese were imported from Gallic Belgium and from Germany. For sale to Italy through the Alps, they were driven on foot - this was considered profitable, since there was no suitable transport for transporting geese, especially through the mountains. You can imagine how much fat the birds lost on the way!

In the Middle Ages and later, domestic geese were already widespread throughout Eurasia. The Frankish king Charlemagne (742–814) issued a decree in which his subjects were charged with keeping geese in the household. The peasants had to annually bring a certain number of fattened birds to the monasteries and shelters by Saint Martin's Day (November 10). In some European countries, mainly German-speaking, the expression "martin gus" has been preserved.

At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, with the development of intensive agriculture, swamps were drained, natural meadows were destroyed, and with them pastures for geese disappeared. In Western Europe, goose breeding has suffered greatly. But in Eastern European countries, especially in Russia, geese continued to be kept in significant numbers.

But they began to breed geese in Russia a little later than in other European countries. This branch reached its greatest development in the period between the 17th and 19th centuries. Then the country exported abroad a lot of fluff, feathers and goose meat. Mass shipments of geese abroad were made in the same way as in ancient Germany: the geese were driven on foot. This was considered beneficial for long distances and lack of convenient communications. Live birds were transported for sale from Russia to Germany and Austria-Hungary. But the geese were “shod” before such a long journey. It was done like this: on level ground, poured melted liquid resin, and sand was poured in a thin layer next to it. The herd of geese was driven first through the resin, and immediately after that - over the sand. Now geese could walk tens of miles without damaging their paws.

In North America in the XVIII and XIX centuries bred geese descended from European and Asian breeds. The local Canadian goose tamed here is not widespread.

Homemade ostriches

Ostriches today are bred like cows, sheep and pigs - on farms. Nevertheless, for the majority, these birds remain exotic. They are most common in East Africa.

The homeland of ostriches is the African continent, although some scientists claim that ostriches came to Africa from Asia.

In preglacial times, ostriches lived in southeastern Europe, northern India and China. The bones of seven to eight extinct ostrich species were found here. African ostriches hundreds of thousands of years ago, and possibly later, lived in the south of Ukraine and further east to Mongolia. In Syria and Arabia, they were exterminated quite recently (according to some sources, even in 1948!).

One way or another, but in the hot southern steppes, these amazing birds arrange their nests and hatch chicks on their own, but they can feel just as good on an ostrich farm somewhere in the Murmansk region.

Ostriches are well domesticated, so they have been bred on special farms for quite some time. According to some sources, the first pens for semi-domestic ostriches appeared on Algerian land, according to others - first in South Africa in 1838, and then in Algeria, Sicily, Florida, in the south of France, near Nice, and later even in Australia, where the wild ostriches seem to still live in some places now.

Before World War I, about 300,000 ostriches lived on farms in South Africa. 370 tons of ostrich feathers were exported by this country in 1910. The feathers from the birds were not pulled out, but once or twice a year they were cut close to the skin. Only two-three-year-old and older ostriches were suitable for such an operation - the feathers of young individuals are invaluable.

Then the war began, and everyone had no time for ostriches. After the war, the surplus of ostriches began to be eliminated - they opened free hunting for birds. They were chasing and shooting in cars: from each such "walk" they brought hundreds of ostrich skins, sewed handbags and other things from them. The meat was left in the steppe, so that hyenas, jackals and vultures ate their fill.

After some decline, ostrich farms have revived again: 42 thousand birds now graze in South Africa in extensive paddocks. Feathers and even ostrich skin are used for different crafts.

Of course, feathers are not the only value ostriches have. They say that ostrich meat tastes like a cross between poultry and beef, and ostrich eggs are delicious, like chicken eggs, while weighing from one and a half to two kilograms each. There are many hunters on them in the savannah - even oryx antelopes (with hooves) and vultures (using a stone like a hammer!), Breaking the shell, eat ostrich eggs. These eggs also have a valuable advantage: they do not spoil soon, they can be stored in the refrigerator for a whole year.

One inconvenience: breaking the egg is difficult. The shell on it is thick - a millimeter or two. And they cook for a long time: "hard boiled" - for two hours.

However, this does not in the least hinder the fans of ostrich breeding: today, even in Russia, there are many ostrich farms - from Krasnodar to Murmansk, feathered horses have taken root.

The ostrich rightfully won the title of "very-very". Firstly, it is the tallest bird in the world, secondly, the heaviest and, thirdly, the fastest. An ostrich is taller than a horse, and weighs at least ninety kilograms.

The ostrich is an extremely strong animal and can be easily ridden! An adult male carries a man without difficulty, and a saddle is not required: after all, there is a "featherbed" under the rider. The ostrich runs 50 kilometers per hour without straining (for half an hour without slowing down and measuring 4-5 meters with each step!). And the highest agility is 70 kilometers per hour. Africans argue that a swift bird cannot be caught up on horseback.

The strength of the ostrich is such that it easily resists rather large predators, reminding itself of the legendary regal feathered predators of prehistoric times. In the Hanover Zoo, there was such a case: an ostrich got angry at something, kicked the grating and bent a centimeter-thick iron rod at a right angle. In Frankfurt, in the zoo, the ostrich also "got excited": he kicked the watchman, touched him only with his finger, but threw the man onto the wire fence. In zoos, only two-meter nets can keep ostriches; if lower, they can jump over them.

The only thing in which the ostrich is inferior to the rest of the birds is that it cannot fly. Its wings are short and weak. Flying these birds replace spring dances. During such games, they bend their legs and hit their heads on their sides-drums. The black plumage sways like waves, and the white feathers seem to be lush foam on the black waves.

LIST OF REFERENCES

1. Newspaper "Biology" ed. House "First September", No. 02/2004

2. “Complete encyclopedia of poultry farming. Content. Feeding. Bird care and breeding ", publishing house AST-Stalker, 2002

3. "Breeding and rearing of ostriches", AST-Stalker, 2005.

4.http: // ***** /

5.http: // ru. wikipedia. org /

From the history of bluefish

Like other domestic animals, modern pigeons descend from their wild ancestor. The monophyletic origin of all currently existing breeds was proved by Charles Darwin. Wild pigeons - gray and rocky - as the ancestors of domesticated, were described in detail by A. Brem and M. Menzbier. These birds are very similar to each other in plumage, body shape, lifestyle.

People began to domesticate pigeons in ancient times. It is impossible to determine the exact time of domestication of the pigeon, but, according to archeology, the pigeon was known in Egypt 5,000 years ago. At that time, the pigeon was used for communication, pigeon meat was used for food, in the religious cult of the pigeon they sacrificed, pigeons were bred for aesthetic purposes.

The design of ancient temples that have survived to this day, the images on the coins quite accurately indicate the use of the dove by man in historically distant eras. So, on the walls of the temple in Medina, built about 3000 BC, there is depicted the release of four doves with dispatches announcing the beginning of the reign of Ramses III.

In the works of the Roman scientist and writer M. Varro, who lived in the 1st century BC, there is information that there were dovecotes in ancient Rome, which housed up to 5 thousand pigeons. His compatriot Pliny the Elder (died during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD) pointed to the existence of very large pigeons in the south of the Apennine Peninsula. In his major work "Natural History", consisting of 37 books, he described in detail how to keep and breed these birds.

In excavations in the territory located east of the Mediterranean Sea, finds have been made that testify to the existence of the cult of the dove in the ancient states of Assyria and Phenicia. Porcelain images of pigeons were found during excavations in Pompeii.

The history of Russian domestic pigeon breeding begins with information published in the "History of Animals" by the Swiss naturalist Konrad Gesner (15161565). He gave a description and a picture of our Russian trumpet drummer. Almost simultaneous data from domestic literature on the breeding of pure flying breeds in Yaroslavl (XVI century); about the formation of a short-billed tape turman in the city of Rzhev (Rzhev in the old days was called "pigeon's heart") in the 17th century and about centuries-old history unsurpassed domestic turman with world fame - Moscow gray.

In the Middle Ages, pigeons were already used as postal ones. So, in the 16th century, during the war between the Netherlands and Spain, they were the main means of communication on the battlefield.

In 1870, the only thread connecting Paris besieged by Prussian troops with the outside world was pigeon mail. For this, over one and a half thousand birds were used. The enemy tried in every possible way to break this thread, but all efforts and means, including trained hawks, were ineffective.

The experience of Western European armies in using carrier pigeons for military field communications interested the Russian General Staff, and in 1874 instructions were given to start the construction of military carrier pigeons in a number of large Russian cities: Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev and others.

At that time, carrier pigeons were brought to Russia from Belgium, but this does not mean that domestic pigeon breeding did not develop. At the end of the 16th century, there were so-called "clean" pigeons in Yaroslavl. By the beginning of the 18th century, this breed, but already significantly improved, became widespread in many cities of central Russia. The list of domestic breeds has been steadily growing. The second half of the 19th century was the heyday of pigeon breeding in Russia.

On the initiative of K.F.Rul'e and N.A. Severtsev at Moscow University in the middle of the 19th century. the first state pigeon nursery was established.

On the basis of the instructions of the Russian General Staff in 1874, a society for the breeding of carrier pigeons was organized and a network of mail-pigeon stations was created.

In 1877, in Warsaw, AI Westenrik published the first book in Russian, "Postal Pigeon", in which he outlined all the issues of breeding, maintenance, organization of postal communication and the Charter of the "Columbia" pigeon society. During this period, interest in carrier pigeons is growing in Moscow and other cities of Russia.

On May 17, 1897, the ornithological department of the Society for the Acclimatization of Animals opened an exhibition of pigeons in the Moscow Zoological Garden.

At Moscow University and the Ornithological Society, lectures are given for those interested and, since 1878, materials about carrier pigeons have been published in the journal Nature and Hunting. Russian pigeon breeding of the 18th and 19th centuries It mainly had a racing orientation, that is, the pigeons valued flying qualities - the height, duration and beauty of flight. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries. thanks to exhibitions and competitions, pigeon breeders begin to get carried away with the exterior of domestic pigeons and acquire pigeons of foreign decorative breeds. In 1877, on October 30, the first competition of Moscow gray turmans was held.

The first society of amateurs-pigeon breeders was created in 1890 in Kiev and was called "Kiev Society of Pigeon Sports", later it was transformed into the "Russian Society of Pigeon Sports". From 1893 to 1904, this society published a special magazine "Bulletin of Pigeon Sport".

In 1896, a collection of articles about pigeons "The Pigeon Hunter" by VM Paltsev was published. Was also published the manual "Post-pigeon sport" I. Bungartz.

Pigeon breeders worked with a passion that is not very common for modern hobbyists. And although these were mostly poorly educated people who did not have any idea about selection as a science, working on a whim, they managed to breed many breeds that combined decorativeness and high flying and sports qualities. However, there were only about 5 thousand purebred carrier pigeons in Russia before the October Revolution.

As time went on, tastes changed, and the appearance of pigeons began to be of paramount importance. The best flyers, with beautiful exterior and plumage, were locked up as producers in aviaries, they lost their flying qualities, which finally disappeared in their offspring. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, amateurs began to practice closed contests, shows of birds in a narrow circle, gathering in someone's private apartment. Individuals that received general recognition went into the elite class.

Domestic pigeon breeding at the beginning of the century was characterized by a wide scope: exhibitions, competitions were held, contacts were established with foreign pigeon breeders, which contributed to the improvement of the breed composition. Standards were developed for the breed. For this purpose, a special commission was created in 1901.

Russian Society of Agricultural Poultry in the First Decade of the 20th Century. actively conducted its work and had a wide network of branches in provinces and cities, for example, in 1910 there were 43 of them. In all branches, a lot of work with pigeon breeders was carried out, exhibitions, competitions were organized, domestic pigeon breeds were improved. At the All-Russian Congress of the Society, a decision was made: to recognize pigeon breeding as an equal branch of poultry farming, to enjoy all rights and protection of the law on an equal basis with other branches of poultry farming, to widely popularize pigeon breeding, to strengthen responsibility for misappropriating other people's pigeons.

As an example of the qualitative composition of Russian pigeon pigeons, the following fact can be cited. During the Civil War, Baron Wrangel, leaving the Crimea, took with him all the carrier pigeons of the Sevastopol pigeon station. The pigeons were sold to Germany. From there, one by one, at different times, many of them returned to Sevastopol, having flown 2300-2500 kilometers in a straight line.

In 1925, carrier pigeons were taken over by Osoaviakhim. All work acquired a serious basis, they began to keep records and systematic training of birds. The Lomonosov University has built a nursery in Ostankino for their breeding, in a number of cities there are military pigeon stations. The members of Osoaviakhim bred pigeons and handed them over to the station, from where they were distributed to the units of the Red Army, who were supposed to communicate with pigeons.

In 1929, the pockmarked carrier pigeon of the famous Moscow pigeon breeder Domashnev set an all-Union record for flight speed, flying 537 km in 6 hours 0.8 minutes and showing average speed 86 km per hour.

During the Great Patriotic War, carrier pigeons delivered over 15 thousand "golubegrams".

After the Second World War, the military abandoned pigeon mail. Only one army in the world - the Swiss - has left 40,000 military carrier pigeons "in service".

Later, amateur pigeon breeders begin to hold competitions of homing pigeons for flight range and speed of returning home. The traditional routes of flights were determined: Leningrad-Odessa, Leningrad-Kiev, Murmansk-Odessa, Arkhangelsk-Odessa, Volgograd-Kiev and others. Fans of sports pigeons began to unite in sections and clubs.

The bulk of amateurs-pigeon-breeders prefer sport-racing (high-flying) pigeons.

It was customary to name pigeons of high-flying breeds bred in our country by the name of the city or area where they were obtained, ornamental pigeons by morphological characteristics and color of plumage. Pigeons of domestic breeds (Moscow turman, Nikolaev, tape, Orlov, Smolensk, Arkhangelsk bullfinches) have repeatedly received high marks at international exhibitions. In those not so distant times, good flyers were highly valued and did not spare a lot of money for them. They say that once an Oryol trotter was exchanged for a gray Moscow turman. Some of the famous flyers left their names in the history of Russian pigeon breeding: Red-headed and White Eagle from Odessa breed pigeons, Silver Prince from Moscow pure ones, Marshal from White Kryukovsky ones, etc.

But the second world War dealt a crushing blow to pigeon breeding. As soon as the rumbles of war died down, enthusiasts rushed to collect the surviving specimens, began to revive the pigeon breeds.

A significant role in preserving the breeding stock was played by the Ostankino nursery of Moscow State University, headed by prof. V.F. Larionov. Almost immediately after the war, great enthusiasts and amateurs in all cities began to search for the surviving pigeons and breed them.

In the 50s, pigeon breeders in different cities began to unite in sections and clubs. So, in 1956 in Moscow on the initiative of the MGK Komsomol 17 regional clubs of pigeon breeders were created. As a result, already on July 28, 1957, at the opening of the Moscow World Festival of Youth and Students, 34 thousand pigeons flew into the blue sky of our capital as a symbol of peace and friendship between peoples.

In 1962, on November 17, at the Moscow City Society for Nature Conservation, the Club of Pigeon Breeders was established with 13 regional branches, currently there are 27 of them and the city club has more than 2.5 thousand members. It is the largest club in the country and it maintains constant contacts with more than 60 pigeon clubs in other cities.

In the 60s, in many cities, the work of pigeon breeders on the restoration of old domestic pigeons and the creation of new breeds of pigeons was intensified, the network of flight routes for sporting (post) pigeons was also expanding throughout the territory of the Soviet Union. An important place in the history of amateur pigeon breeding in the USSR is occupied by the International Congress of Poultry Breeders in 1966 in Kiev. On it, pigeon breeders from Ukraine and Moscow demonstrated a large collection of domestic pigeon breeds. Foreign amateurs got acquainted with all the variety of domestic pigeons of the Soviet Union and became interested in them. In the 70s, systematic exhibitions of pigeons were held in Moscow and in many cities of our country. So, in 1975 in Moscow in the fourth exhibition pavilion of the PKiO "Sokolniki" an exhibition of pigeons of the Moscow club was held with the participation of pigeon breeders from 36 cities of the Soviet Union.

In December 1975 in Budapest the pigeons of the Soviet Union took part for the first time in the International Exhibition "Intergolub-75". They were awarded three international prizes (A. Bogdanov, A. Raizman and V. Rebeca), 20 exhibition prizes and 47 diplomas.

Today in the world there are over 8,000,000 amateurs who are seriously involved in pigeon breeding. Thanks to them, this independent poultry industry is successfully developing and improving. New clubs of pigeon breeders appear, various associations appear. In 2001, the All-Ukrainian Association of Amateur Pigeon Breeders was opened in Ukraine. L. Derkach was elected its first president.

In 2001, the Presidential Council of the Russian Amateur Pigeon Breeders Association together with the Moscow Pigeon Breeders Club established the title "Honored Pigeon Breeder of Russia". This title will be awarded to amateur pigeon breeders who are constantly engaged in cultural pigeon breeding and selection. Candidates for this title should popularize pigeon breeding among the local population and take an active part in the public life of the Russian Amateur Pigeon Breeders Association.

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