If you want a pigeon breed that is firmly rooted in history, then the Ice Pigeon may be the perfect breed for you. Let’s take a little look at it, shall we?
Where Do Ice Pigeon Come From?
As with all domesticated pigeons, the Ice Pigeon breed descends from the Rock Pigeon.
Although, we are not 100% sure where the Ice Pigeon breed was developed. In fact, we are not even 100% sure where the pigeon breed originated from.
Most people believe that it was in Germany or Poland, which means that this breed did not originate from a country that is well known for ice, but more on that soon.
So, where does it play a major role in history? Well, before he wrote The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin owned a few of these pigeons.
He experimented with the breeding of them. He wanted to see how selective breeding played a role in the development of the colors of the pigeon.
This means that if you own an Ice Pigeon, then it is going to be a bird that really is an important part of history. It will be closely related to one of the pigeons bred by one of the most important people in the history of evolution!
Actually, scratch that, the most important person in the history of evolution.
What Do Ice Pigeons Look Like?
The Ice Pigeon gets its name from the look. Specifically, the name comes from the color of the pigeon.
While various colors of the breed are now in existence, the original Ice Pigeon was purely gray, almost looking like the color of the ice.
This bird is smallish for a pigeon, and it is probably best known for the round head that it boasts. There may be small decorative patterns on the breed, but nothing that really stands out.
As we said; there are a variety of different colors for this breed, although the ones that people desire most will be the Ice colored ones, which are very prominent throughout Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom and in Germany.
The Ice Pigeon as an Ornamental Breed
Thanks to Charles Darwin and the ‘experiments’ that he carried out on the Ice Pigeon, this is a breed that is especially popular among show pigeon owners.
This is because it has a gorgeous look, and a lot of people are trying to shake up the color of the bird to make it look even better.
If you attend a pigeon show, then it is almost guaranteed that you will see some Ice Pigeons on display.
You do not even have to take this breed to a show in order to really appreciate how beautiful it is, but that is something that we are going to be discussing in a lot more depth shortly.
As a Breeding Bird
As with all domesticated birds that have been built for a popular purpose, the Ice Pigeon is a top breeding pigeon. In fact, this is how a lot of Ice Pigeon owners will be making their money.
If you can create an Ice Pigeon that has much desired colors for the bird, or even a show winner, then people are going to be willing to pay a lot of money for the off-spring.
It is also a popular pet breed, and that means it should be easy to sell too.
The wonderful thing about most pigeons, and that includes the Ice Pigeon, it should be tremendously simple to breed.
They create fertile eggs pretty easily, and Ice Pigeons tend to look after their young fairly well.
So, if you want to get into the breeding game, then the Ice Pigeon is probably going to be a brilliant place to start.
The Ice Pigeon as a Pet?
The Ice Pigeon makes a tremendous pet pigeon.
For starters; most people probably want their pigeons to look as stunning as beautiful, and it is very tricky to find an Ice Pigeon that looks better than this one.
The fact that it is available in a variety of different colors means that it is going to be even more of a fun pigeon breed to purchase.
The main reason why it is so loved as a pet, however, is due to the fact that it is one of the calmest and most docile pigeons you can own.
It takes to humans very easily, and this is one of the breeds that you could probably get an adult to love humans, although it is probably going to be easier if you raise them by hand from the moment that they hatch.
They tend to do well with other pigeon breeds, but we would never really recommending putting tons of different breeds in the same cage, because conflicts will likely happen.
It is worth noting that if you do keep the Ice Pigeon as a pet that this bird is a decent flyer. This means that it will need to be locked up securely in order to ensure that it is well protected.
Ice Pigeons For Food Purposes
Nobody will raise the Ice Pigeon for food purposes.
It is a small bird, so it doesn’t really give off that much in the way of meat. If you want a meat pigeon, then another breed would be better for you.
With this one, if you kill the bird for meat, then you are pretty much throwing away money. You could end up making a lot more selling your bred offspring to other pet owners. This bird is that desired.
The same goes for the eggs that the Ice Pigeon produces. It lays them frequently, but you wouldn’t want to eat them. This is a bird that you will pretty much constantly want to be trying to breed.
Again, if you are raising a pigeon for eggs, then there are going to be far, far better birds out there for this purpose.
You will still be throwing away money if you use the pigeon for anything but breeding, to be honest (unless you purely want a pet).
You might want to explore other pigeon breeds:
– Lahore Pigeon
– Jacobin Pigeon
– Frillback Pigeon
