Source: https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/6/11213/The-ancient-art-of-pigeon-towers
The pigeon tower is an ancient method of raising and keeping pigeons within a farm or a house near green areas. Although there are other modern buildings and techniques that are more efficient in keeping pigeons, old is gold as they say.
Pigeon towers are unique icons and beautifully shaped, made with all natural materials and a design that allows fresh air to blow through. Pigeon owners often allow their birds to fly around through the fields.
Aside from being bred for consumption, pigeons are also raised as pets. They are really beautiful birds that have a special voice, wisdom and family structure. Pigeons are extremely peaceful and raise their young together.
Pigeons are usually seen around grain crop times spreading along the fields, sometimes in the hundreds in a breathtaking scene. By sunset these birds return to their respective homes, giving the pigeon towers a homely feel.
The main predators of these birds are crows and rats, who frequently feed on chicks and eggs. This is also why pigeon towers are more frequently found in areas where there are less of those predators.
So how do people train the pigeons to recognize these towers as home? First, two pigeons are raised in the tower and fed by their owners so that they grow to recognize the tower as their home. Once the pigeons are acclimatized, other pigeons can be brought in.
Green seen with pigeon Towers – Mahmoud Hawary
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Dovecotes: A Signature of the Egyptian Landscape
Source: https://egyptianstreets.com/2022/04/24/dovecotes-a-signature-of-the-egyptian-landscape/
Clay needles the horizon of many rural villages; unassuming structures, polka-dotted with nooks and nests and the song of Egyptian Swift pigeons. Otherwise known as dovecotes or pigeon houses, these “earthen chimneys” are one of Egypt’s signature sights, looming higher than the squat, red-brick buildings in their periphery.
Used as a means for both farming and raising pigeons, dovecotes have featured in local history as far back as ancient Egypt. Between the need for manure for grain farming, and the staple addition of pigeon to the Egyptian diet, locales such as Mit Ghamer, and Roman-remains of Karanis have featured them in prolific numbers.
Constructed from mud-brick, dovecotes are artificial formations that emulate mountainous topographies. On occasion, they are built sitting on the upper stories of houses, though the vast majority is a stand-alone, tower-like variety that varies in size, color, and type. Designed to allow air through, the spacious interior allows birds to fly through and nest comfortably.
Over the centuries, they have become integral to Egyptian urban planning, particularly given the scarce nature of arable land.
Although infamous as pests in other countries, Egyptians have a lingering fondness for pigeons; they are useful and resourceful creatures in local lore. Pigeons are allowed to linger on farmlands, seen as a “special voice” of wisdom and family structure. They are taught to recognize dovecotes as their home through regular feeding and friendly interaction, where they are socialized to more domesticated forms of living.
Pigeon in Egyptian cuisine
Egyptian cuisine, colorful as it is, reserves a special place for the inclusion of pigeons. Most famously is hamam mahshi, a stuffed-pigeon dish where the birds are filled with rice or freekeh, onions, and chopped giblets. Spiced with cinnamon, cumin, pepper, and nuts, they are then roasted and served whole. Because of its prolific addition to the Egyptian diet, a local economy has formed around pigeons – within urban and rural communities alike.
The dovecotes, nonetheless, remain a sight to behold, and during arid sunsets, these humble creatures can be seen soaring in unison, down the Nile, and into their homes.
Their dovecotes.
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Pigeon Houses and Agriculture in the Nile Delta, c.1806
Pigeon houses atop village houses. Source: Ali Bey, Travels…
In October, 1806 the North African traveller ‘Ali Bey went by boat from Alexandria, Egypt, on the coast of the Mediterranean, through the Delta to Cairo – a trip that took nine days. His descriptions of the country side are of a landscape and society that in large part has disappeared.
I have selected portions that exemplify some of these lost scenes, especially of livestock and pigeons. The role of doves, or pigeons, as a key source of meat in some parts of the Delta and elsewhere in Egypt is particularly interesting and suggests a lively trade between the farmers of these huge pigeon houses and Cairo. Land being at a premium, pigeons seem to have been a popular item to raise and sell.
Ali Bey – Travels of Ali Bey in Morocco, Tripoli, Cyprus, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, and Turkey, between the Years 1803 and 1807. 1816
‘At two o’clock on Monday, the 3d of October, I embarked in a cancha, and proceeded up the river. This sort of vessel is used only upon the Nile. Its construction does not differ much from that of the djermes. It is of the same size, and has the same rigging; but it has two rooms, which form a drawing room and cabinet, surrounded with small windows, and a small balcony behind the whole, being independent of the rest of the vessel. I occupied these apartments; and my servants, horses, and baggage, were stowed in the body of the ship.
…At half-past nine a favourable wind sprang up, and we set sail. At ten we entered the mouth of the Nile. What a fine picture! This majestic river, whose waters flow slowly between two banks covered with palm-trees, and those of every other Species; with large plantations of rice, which were then in cultivation; with an infinity of wild and aromatic plants, whose perfumes embalmed the air; with villages, and small houses, scattered here and there with cows, sheep, and other animals, peaceably reposing upon the verdure; with a thousand species of birds, which made the air resound with their notes; with millions of geese, ducks, and water fowl, diving into the water; with large flocks of swans, which appeared as sovereigns among these aqueous animals; all combined to make me exclaim, Ah! why did not the goddess of Love fix her abode upon the banks of the mouth of the Nile!
Dove houses … are very common in all the villages (and) arid hamlets (in the Delta). Pigeons supply the place of meat, which is scarce, on account of the want of pasturage. There are no trees near the river on either side, in this part of the country.’
(And further on:)
…The appearance of Rahmanich is not more agreeable than that of the other towns of Lower Egypt. The houses are built upon small heights, and are composed of bricks made of the black earth upon which they stand. As they are not white-washed, they give the town a very melancholy look; which, however, possesses one singularity, namely, there is one quarter composed entirely of dove houses, each of which has a round roof, that gives it the appearance of a large sugar loaf, or parabolic cupola; and the tout ensemble of these cupolas present an aspect truly original.’
(several days later):
‘We passed Zaouch about four. The aspect of this village is extremely singular, which may be conceived by forming an idea of 150 parabolic cupolas, about twenty feet high; the diameter of the base not exceeding eleven feet, constructed of black bricks, and a lofty minaret rising in the middle of them. These cupolas are dove houses; and as they are much larger than the bases, which serve the inhabitants of the town instead of houses, they form rather a town for pigeons than for men.
(Further down the Nile:)
At every instant we perceived barn floors for beating out the rice. The banks were covered with cows and buffaloes. Several of these animals were immersed to their necks in the water: they sometimes plunged their heads under also, and remained in that state for a minute.
(And several days after that):
‘… we saw some hamlets with dove houses, which appeared to me to be formed of baked earth, and shaped like segments of circles, the diameter of each of which was a foot at the base. These flat-looking cones, the insides of which served as nests for the pigeons, were placed one upon another, and formed large cones like those at Rahmanich, the whole being cemented with mud. A window, placed on the outside, served as an entrance to the birds. The master of the building entered by a door placed in the side of the base, which served him for a habitation. There were a number of sticks fastened horizontally on the outside, which served as perches for the doves.’
Source: http://www.travellersinegypt.org/
Amazing dovecote construction in Egypt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHo9Dl5Iau0
Other
Tinos (a Greek island situated in the Aegean Sea), Greece
Ad Dilam, Saudi Arabia
Qatar
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Researching: Dovecotes as wild nutrient collectors
Dovecotes are a great addition to any small farm (and possibly your backyard too). Keeping doves is like keeping chickens, in a way, except there’s minimal feeding involved if you take the traditional approach. The doves fly off every morning, forage within their natural radius, and come home each night to roost.
And when they come home, they deliver to the floor of the dovecote free nutrients, in the form of guano. So firstly there’s free fertilizer, with no feeding costs. Secondly. if you’re that way inclined, there’s a seasonal supply of dove eggs, and squabs. Wild protein, delivered to your door.
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