Meat pigeon farming puts the Pigeon King on the road to prosperity

Every holiday, the consumer market becomes especially bustling. But for Wang Lin, a farmer in Fanhe Town, no matter the holiday, the meat pigeons he raises are always in short supply. More than ten years ago, Wang Lin, who raised pigeons in his hometown in Hebei, conducted market research and saw that in Northeast China there were few farmers raising pigeons while market demand was large, so his whole family "migrated" to Fanhe Town to settle down and take root, launching his pigeon-raising business. As the scale of his pigeon farming expanded, Wang Lin established the Tieling Beidou Meat Pigeon Breeding Professional Cooperative, raising meat pigeons on a large scale, managing the pigeon houses scientifically, and selling pigeon by-products online, drawing the secrets of prosperity from pigeons and becoming the widely known "Pigeon King" of Fanhe Town.

Pigeons sell without worry  Diners nationwide come to buy

Walking into Wang Lin's pigeon house, more than 3,000 pairs of high-quality breeding pigeons are plump and full, now murmuring softly, now singing loudly, a truly delightful sight. Wang Lin told reporters that the market demand for meat pigeon farming is large, and from pigeon eggs and squabs to mature pigeons, they are loved by different diners in different regions. "Southerners have a big demand for pigeon eggs and squabs, while northerners like to eat roast pigeon, so my customers are spread all over the country," Wang Lin, holding a stack of express delivery slips, told reporters. Today, the more than 6,000 meat pigeons Wang Lin raises have already been reserved, and even so, he still receives many calls every day from customers who come to order meat pigeons. Wang Lin said that at his peak he raised nearly 20,000 pigeons, and the pigeon houses were not even enough. When spring comes this year, he will also introduce some new meat pigeon breeds, continue to expand the scale of farming, and constantly improve the quality of the meat pigeons.

Just as the reporter was interviewing, Zhao Guangshan, the owner of a barbecue restaurant near Qianshuiwan Community in Fanhe New District, came to Wang Lin's pigeon house to catch pigeons. Zhao Guangshan said: "My barbecue restaurant has been open for more than two years, and for these two years we have always used Brother Wang's meat pigeons as ingredients. His pigeons have a lot of meat, and customers all say the taste is good, and they come specially to my place for this flavor. I come every few days, and each time I have to catch thirty or fifty pigeons to take back, and even that is not enough to sell."

Innovating pigeon-raising equipment  Broadening sales channels

Wang Lin is a man who loves to study things. From small-scale free-range pigeon raising to large-scale pigeon farming, Wang Lin went through a long period of exploration and learning. Now, Wang Lin's farm has built three large pigeon houses. What surprised the reporter was that the pigeon houses of more than 2,000 sq m actually employed only 3 workers. Wang Lin said that having 3 people help him raise pigeons is already enough: timed mechanical feeding, automatic watering, mechanically assisted manure cleaning, and constant-temperature boiler automatic ventilation mean his pigeon houses have almost achieved automated farming. The wash-free drinkers, hand-cranked manure cleaners, electric manure cleaners and other pigeon-raising tools he made himself have helped him save a great deal of manpower, and the manure cleaner alone has been a great help to Wang Lin's farming. "In the past, cleaning pigeon manure had to be done cage by cage, taking out the manure-catching boards and still using a shovel to scoop, which was very cumbersome and consumed time and manpower. Now with the manure cleaner and the manure board conveyor belt, using the principles of the scraper and the conveyor, one person can do the work of ten. Moreover, the manure cleaner scrapes manure without residue, and one machine can serve the entire pigeon farm," Wang Lin said.

Since establishing the meat pigeon breeding professional cooperative, Wang Lin has also had his own website and Taobao store, selling not only meat pigeons and pigeon eggs, but also the pigeon-raising equipment Wang Lin invented, which has brought Wang Lin another considerable income. Wang Lin's daughter, who is studying at university, has become the manager and maintainer of the website and online store, and during holidays she also returns to the pigeon farm to help her father with some work. Wang Lin said: "The internet has opened up a new world for my meat pigeon sales, and I also plan to make good use of the internet and strive to register my own trademark and packaging as soon as possible."