Types of Pigeons Kept
The Rock Dove, which is generally believed to be the ancestor of domesticated pigeons, was probably domesticated around ten thousand years ago. There are hundreds of breeds of domesticated pigeons arising from this common ancestor which are currently cultivated by pigeon fanciers. Because of the large number of domesticated breeds, pigeon fanciers find it convenient for certain purposes to group sets of domesticated pigeons into larger groups.
In the United States and United Kingdom, there are three major recognized groups of breeds of domesticated pigeons:
- Flying/Sporting
- Fancy
- Utility
It is worth noting that pigeon fanciers in other nations use different schemes in grouping domesticated pigeons; for example, a nationwide pigeon organization in Germany uses a far different grouping scheme. The Australian grouping system is similar to the UK/European groupings. For example see: Major breed families of fancy pigeon.
Read more about this topic: Pigeon Keeping
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