Jacobin Pigeon – An Awesome Pigeon You’ve Never Heard Of

The Jacobin pigeon is easily one of the most striking pigeon breeds out there. While it serves very little purpose beyond being a show breed, or maybe a pet, this is still an exceedingly popular breed of pigeon. Let’s take a little look at in a bit more depth, shall we?

jacobin pigeon
Jacobin Pigeon – Photo by Martyn Fletcher

Where Do Jacobin Pigeons Come From?

The Jacobin Pigeon is another pigeon breed where we do not really have that much of an accurate breeding history. This is because nothing was ever recorded.

Obviously, the bird does come from the Rock Pigeon. However, this is pretty much the same as every other pigeon breed.

What we do know is that the Jacobin Pigeon was likely developed over the course of many centuries. This means that a lot of people had their hands in the development of this breed.

This is probably the main reason as to why it is so difficult to get a solid breeding history. There are just too many people involved in the process.

The breed was almost 100% developed across Asia.

Although, we have no doubt that further breeding has taken place in both the Americans and in Europe, although nowadays, the breed is probably not progressing as fast as it did in the past.

The Look of the Pigeon

The main feature of the Jacobin Pigeon is the feathers around the head. There are some people that liken it to a lion’s mane. It is certainly a striking look to this bird, and probably the main reason as to why it is so popular as a show breed and as a pet.

Jacobin Pigeon – Jennifer Graevell

At the moment, the Jacobin Pigeon is going through a period of selective breeding with certain breeders. While the bird tends to have a fairly long neck anyway, there are certain breeders that are trying to ensure that the neck looks longer.

By all accounts, this will help the feathers on the head to stand out a little bit more. The result would be a far better-looking pigeon breed.

This is a medium-sized pigeon. That being said, this breed is a lot slimmer than most other breeds. As a result, it probably isn’t going to be a bird that you are raising for meat.

The Jacobin Pigeon as a Show Bird

This is the main reason as to why the Jacobin Pigeon is raised nowadays.

People want to create a stunning show bird.

In fact, there are a lot of breeders trying to work on this breed to make the hood on the head a lot more prominent.

As we said before; a lot of breeders are trying to change up how long the neck looks.

If you want a pigeon that looks great, then the Jacobin Pigeon is pretty much the best route to go down.

Photo by UCFFool

Jacobin Pigeons as Pets

This is a pigeon breed that are especially well-known for being pets. However, most people do not recommend that you raise them as pets.

To be honest with you, this is a breed that is pretty much 100% a show bird. It takes a lot of looking after, and it doesn’t really do well living indoors.

You will need a decent pigeon set-up outdoors to home this bird and, even then, if you want to have more than 2 (a male and a female), then you are going to need to have a lot of space available, or you will run into issues.

If this wasn’t enough, this breed isn’t exactly known for being one of the friendliest birds in the world. Sure, there are a few that are going to be fairly friendly, most of them do not take kindly to being handled.

This means it doesn’t really make a decent pet.

Is the Jacobin Pigeon Raised for Eggs and Meat?

At the most, you will be getting about six eggs per year from the Jacobin Pigeon. This means that you will probably not want to raise it specifically for eggs.

Although let’s be honest, the vast majority of people are not going to be raising their pigeons for eggs. This is more of a ‘bonus’.

Because the Jacobin Pigeon lays so few eggs, and because it is a breed favored by breeders, almost all of these eggs will be used with the intention of developing the breed. They are never eaten.

Sure. Pigeons make a popular meat source, particularly throughout Asia. However, they are never really going to be eaten as a meat bird.

They are a bit too costly to raise (the price of the Jacobin pigeon can be very high, but more about this soon) and the amount of space that they need is ridiculous.

Just like the eggs, the meat that this bird produces is going to be more of a bonus. It is not the main purpose of the breed.

Breeding the Jacobin Pigeon and Price

Breeding Jacobin pigeons is incredibly easy. Eggs fertilize well, so if you have some good breeding pairs, each should produce about six eggs per season.

This means between five and six chicks that can be sold on. The best part is that this breed often commands top dollar when sold. Although, of course, this does mean that you need to have some decent breeding pairs to begin with.

The price of the Jacobin pigeon chicks can sell up to $200 each!

Raising the Jacobin Pigeon

The main problem with the Jacobin Pigeon is that this breed is incredibly territorial. This means that you are going to need to have a lot of space available for each breeding pair.

Ideally, you wouldn’t even keep them in the same enclosure as it will result in a lot of fights.

Their food consumption is about average for a pigeon. On average, a bird will eat about two matchboxes full of food each day.

When a female is on the cusp of laying an egg, then she may end up consuming a little bit more.

Finally; as we said before, this is not a friendly breed. This can make it tough to raise at the best of times. So, try to keep the interactions with the Jacobin Pigeon limited. You do not want to end up irritating them too much, do you?

See also:
Lahore Pigeon as a pet
Tumbler Pigeon
Frillback Pigeon
Archangel Pigeon

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