On the Guanzhong Road, people often refer to pigeons as oriole pigeons, which is a collective name for hundreds of species of birds in the pigeon-shaped order Doves. Most of what we usually say and see are carrier pigeons, mainly for communication and racing. Today to introduce to you is the shaanxi Guanzhong region unique traditional ornamental pigeon, Guanzhong ornamental pigeon has a history of more than 400 years, is the earliest artificial hybrid breeding breeding, at first popular in the court, with the passage of time slowly introduced to the folk. With the changes of history and the difficulty of breeding ornamental pigeons, the number has become smaller and smaller, and it has reached the edge of disappearing.
(Black at both ends)
Pigeon Road on Guanzhong Road
Guanzhong people often refer to ornamental pigeons as "short-mouthed children" because, here the older generation of people play pigeons with extremely high requirements, no matter what breed, the body shape requirements are well-proportioned, the mouth must be short and thick and clean white and the nose is flat, commonly known as "clean mouth" with a little black called "oil mouth", all black called "iron mouth" does not eat, the length of the mouth generally does not exceed 2cm; the nose must be pink, the two nose beans should be large and separated; the claws pink can not have hair legs; the coat color can not have stray hair; the eye mask is pink and the eye mask is large. The hen has a round head and a beautiful eyebrow, dressed like a girl with a jade stand; the has a full head and a slightly forward chest, which must have a mighty feeling. It also requires the to have a crest, that is, above the bridge of the cock's nose, there must be several hairs like small shells standing upright in the middle of the brain gate, the so-called one flat and one phoenix. There are at most 20 varieties of "golden-eyed white, blood-eyed black, double-headed black with squeezed eyes, golden well jade railing, duck neck, jade wings, and black crane hearts", but there are only about 10 that can be seen now. Among them, it is divided into four color systems, "white, black, tile blue, rust red", of which black and white are the most differentiated varieties.
(Black Clip Strip)
(Unicorn flower)
(Gooseneck)
(Crested Goldeneye Vallan)
Different from exotic pigeons
The ornamental pigeon in Guanzhong is different from the Beijing ornamental pigeon, the Beijing ornamental pigeon nose bean is one, and the Guanzhong ornamental pigeon is divided into two, which is more beautiful! Compared with the northeast, Xinjiang and other places, their ornamental pigeons have hair on their legs, while the Guanzhong ornamental pigeons have no hair on their legs, revealing long pink legs, which is more ornamental, and the large white circles are also the most distinctive places for Guanzhong ornamental pigeons.
(Snow Eye White)
(both reds)
(Crested Black Well Bar)
(Blood Eye Black)
Fewer and fewer reasons
The low breeding ability is one of the main reasons for the decline of ornamental pigeons, due to the low survival rate of short-mouthed feeding offspring, although under normal circumstances, pigeons can breed six or seven times a year, but for ornamental pigeons, it is good that one pair of adult pigeons can successfully raise two young birds a year. After the hen lays the eggs, the male and female take turns incubating the eggs, and the males enter the nest at 9 a.m. every day to hatch, and the hens come out of the nest to forage for food and activity. The hens hatch from 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. the next day. In this way, the male and female alternate, day after day, until the young birds have hatched. After the young birds hatch, the male and female jointly secrete the milk and feed the young birds. The incubation period of eggs is generally about 17 days, beyond which the young birds have not yet hatched, and the male and female pigeons will abandon their old nests and find a new nest to lay eggs and hatch again. The second reason, by the impact of carrier pigeons, due to the increasing number of people raising carrier pigeons, but the ornamental pigeons are limited by vision and physical strength, the flight distance is limited, which is why people love to tie pigeon whistles to the legs of ornamental pigeons, people can judge the position of pigeons according to the whistle, but now the flight is often wrapped in the carrier pigeons and lost; third, there are many natural enemies, due to slow flight speed, often attacked by eagle falcons, etc., basically on the verge of extinction, such as copper back, hemp back such a good breed, can only be seen in the ancient paintings of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
(Golden-eyed iron-billed two-headed black)
Rare things bring about a turnaround
There is a saying in the countryside of Guanzhong, "If you want to be prosperous, raise a bird pigeon!" In recent years, due to the fact that good Guanzhong ornamental pigeons have become more and more difficult to see, its value has also begun to rise! A pair of few thousands, more than tens of thousands! However, there is still no market, and only the best-looking Guanzhong ornamental pigeons can be seen in the surrounding countryside or a few players, but players have begun to collect and breed Guanzhong ornamental pigeons. Ornamental pigeons are "monogamous" birds that are single-minded and inseparable once paired. In order to avoid the degradation of varieties caused by inbreeding, there are planned artificial selections. Usually, a good pair of ornamental pigeons, the owner will give them three pairs of "nanny pigeons", help them hatch the young birds and provide milk to the young birds, to ensure the survival rate of the young birds. I hope that through the efforts of enthusiasts, these unique ornamental pigeon breeds in the Guanzhong region of Shaanxi Province will continue...
Wu Hongbo Guo Hongwei Text/Photo