PigeonPeddler.Com

 

Devoted to Breeding and Promoting of Pigeons

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Update 08-05-10  

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 Happy Breeding Season

PigeonPeddler.Com was developed Febuary 17th 2005.  It is created to promote Fancy, Utility, Performing and Rare pigeons worldwide with others who have the same interest.   By doing this, they can share their ideas and information, as well as contacts to clubs, buyers and sellers of  pigeons and related items.    Our goal as well is to share some images and informationfor all to view.   It will be interesting for all to view worldwide.   Scroll down to see some historic images of the California Pigeon Ranch in Los Angeles that inspired me to build this site.  It was a sight to see around the turn of the century.  At the time was the worlds largest pigeon ranch and producer of squabs.   The website name "Pigeon Peddler" was thought of by the California Pigeon Ranch and the two pigeon peddlers who are in the image below.   Our intentions are promoting them and selling off extra birds when we have them.  This way it helps with the the feed bill as well.   

   Flying Dove Gifs Images

             

A Pigeon Ranch In California.  The home of thirty thousand birds at Los Angeles.

California Pigeon Ranch
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Real Photo PC Early 1900's

                                                
Brief history of some Pigeon Peddlers
The second image below is two pigeon peddlers standing next to sixty thousand pigeons.   It was the largest pigeon farm in the world. Also one mile away was the railway yards that brought wheat and grain to bakeries nearby.  All varieties, all classes were there and one and all inbred. There were forty thousand cotes for young pigeons on the property. The squabs were caught and collected for market at three weeks of age. Squab sold for two to three dollars a dozen. It took sixty bushels of wheat and corn per day, which was shipped in by rail from Northern California.

Postcard 1900's
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Real Photo 1900's
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Postcard California Pigeon Ranch 1911
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 Only five men were needed on the farm and their principle labor consisted of catching squabs, feeding and cleaning out the nest boxes. Fertilizer was also a valuable product of the farm and sold by the carload. Tanneries, owners of orchards and berry farms being the principle purchasers. This brought in a hundred and twenty five dollars per carload. The peddlers of the farm started business with just one hundred birds. There many homers at the farm plus a number variations in color and markings. It was quite a sight to see all these pigeons free flying.

1900's California Pigeon Ranch Postcard
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California 1907 Pigeon Ranch
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1907 Real Photo Scene

1900's California Pigeon Ranch Postcard
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Real Photo Postcard California Pigeon Ranch 1903

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Above image is a stereopticon slide by the Keystone View Co., 1903

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California Pigeon Ranch 1903

Squab was sold at the ranch for food to the public and shipped via rail to western cities. Remember, only ice was available in 1909 to keep the dressed squabs fresh. The pigeon ranch started it's operation in 1898 from Mr. T.Y. Johnson.  It was located alongside the Los Angeles river across from Elysian Park near the intersection of West Dayton and Avenue 20, later renamed Figueroa and San Fernando Road, respectively. The farm benefited from its proximity to the railroad tracks, where the free-flying pigeons could scavenge for grain that dropped from the railroad cars. The farm's principal product was squab which was sold to local restaurants.  Fertilizer was the secondary product.

1910 Feeding time
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Daily feeding chore on the farm

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California Pigeon Ranch 1903

The Breeding of pigeons is a picturesque and remunerative industy of the far west.  The bird ranch owned by T.Y Johnson has succeeded beyond all expectation, and profits have been large enough to arouse great interest.    Three years ago, not withstanding the uncertainty of the outcome, Mr. Johnson selected a pretty spot in the Los Angeles river bed, where, among the sycamores, willows and alters that outlined the small stream, he erected a number of emmense bird tenements, one being sixty feet long, twenty - four feet wide and eighteen feet high.   Tiny domestic establishments were arranged in tiers all over the exterior walls, while through the interior ran eight narrow aisles, affording passageway to the inner flats.  The squabs are allowed to remain under the paternal roof for only three weeks, at the end of which time they are prepared for market. When they are old enough to fly they invariably become thin and tough.  At the age of six months, those birds which have escaped the stew kettle select their mates and nest.  During the past three years the 3,000 birds have increased to 15,000.  September and October are molting months, and during that time only forty dozen squabs are produced monthly, but during every other month four hundred dozen squabs are hatched. 


In selecting birds for the market, Mr. Johnson takes the dark - feathered youngsters, as he hopes eventually to have only white birds.  Two hundred and fifty dozen squabs, on an average, are sent to the market each month, the price of sale ranging from $1.50 to $3.00 per dozen, though in molting seasons when the birds are scarce $10.00 a dozen is often realized.  Mr. Johnson estimates that his revenue from the birds during the past year has amounted to $12.000.  At present the lofts are all occupied, and some of the more recent home-makers are compelled to occupy humble habitations on the ground.   Each week the lofts are disinfected with a solution of carbolic acid, while every nest is sprinkled with insect powder and sulfer, a process the birds seem to dislike. 

At meal time the scene on the ranch is one of picturesque animation.  Responsive to the first note of a musical, long- drawn whistle from Mr. Johnson, which announces a banquet, the birds flock from every crack and crevice of their tenement.  The air is full of pigeons.  To feed this flock of 15,000 birds requires twelve sacks of screenings, eight sacks of grain, and an immense quantity of boiled meal each day.  During the week, three or four barrels of stale bread are soaked in water and added to the menu.


The cost of these provisions amounts to $15.00 per day, which is at the rate of $5,475 per year.  The birds never stary beyond the wire boundries of their home, seeming quite content with the narrow confines of eight acres.    Convenience and comfort are carefully considered and every morning straw is strewn on the ground that the birds may build new nests if they so desire.  The life of this interesting bird city is one of un-ending contentment, undisturbed save when a predatory hawk or rat appears uopn the scene.  Fourteen to sixteen wagon - loads of guano are removed from the premises each year, and the great bulk of feathers taken from the marketable birds is utilized by the upholstery departments of furniture factories.     Edited by Helen Lucas Jones / April 1902  Life In America Magazine  

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California Pigeon Ranch 1903

In February 1914, heavy rains caused the Los Angeles river to flood, and the farm was washed away. The Los Angeles Times reported that the loss was valued at $50,000.  When terrific rains caused the free flowing Los Angeles river to swell and the Los Angeles Pigeon Farm was washed away in the flood, never to be rebuilt.  The estimated 500,000 birds were killed as a result of the damage.   It is now occupied by maintenance yards of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the MTA.  I hope you enjoyed the story of this historical ranch.  We have researched information and collected photos, cards, clippings, etc, through various  publications and sources.  If you have further information, prints,  photos, etc., of this Historic  pigeon ranch, please contact us, so we can edit it to this site for others to view.   Thanks for viewing!

1914 Newspaper Clipping of the Disaster
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Total Loss

Early 1900's CA Pigeon Ranch Attraction
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Visitors Paid To See The Birds

1900's California Pigeon Ranch Postcard
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Postcard 1908 California Pigeon Ranch
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Postcard 1903 California Pigeon Ranch
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1908 CA Pigeon Ranch
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1908 Real Photo Scene

Blast from the past! Real Photo Scenes

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Frillback Trade Card 1896

   

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