Hiway16 Magazine... about people and places in north-central British Columbia, Canada

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Pigeons on the wing

by Diana Roberts

As you're heading into Burns Lake, from the west, look up and you may see a flock of pigeons swooping through the sky.

Stella Unruh raises pigeons at her home, along Highway16, 4 km. from town.

Four years ago, her father-in-law gave Stella her first pigeons. Stella says that some people don't like pigeons, but she thinks they're beautiful birds.

She started with two pair and, as of last fall, she had over 40 pigeons. There are risks. Every now and then they find a pigeon dead on the highway, hit by a car. As far as other birds, eagles won't bother them, but hawks will eat them.

Pigeons on the wing over Highway 16

The pigeons really do flock together. When they decide to go for a flight, they all go at once. It's incredible to see them swooping through the sky all together. They are in perfect synchronization. It's almost like their flight is choreographed!

They take off from the top of the bird/chicken house, then they circle the area in a clockwise motion, suddenly they all swoop down and hover above the top of the hen house just before they land. They fly around a lot, but they never go very far from home.

Chickens share their coop with the pigeons

The pigeons live in the hen house with seventy chickens. The birds get along quite well, and both species have their own nests. Stella says the pigeons will sit on, and hatch, the chicken eggs if they are in the pigeon nests.

Pigeons are sometimes butchered for their meat. "The meat from a pigeon is dark," says Stella.

Pigeons will bathe usually every three days. In the winter, the Unruhs put buckets of warm water in the hen house for the birds to bathe in.






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