With a large city under siege, how long would the uban pigeon supply last, if they were the only food source for the inhabitants?

Pigeons are like big doves and are quite tasty. I’d say a few weeks.

I think less, maybe two weeks, longer only if rats are eaten in large numbers.

Not long. Remember that passenger pigeons were nearly made extinct in the early part of the 20th century, because they were cheap food. That caused the population to reduce by so much it could not be sustained.

6 months to a year max.

I’m guessing hours. There’s not much meat on a pigeon, and there are a lot of hungry bellies in a large city.

I’d say maybe a day or two. With humans being as greedy as most of them are, I can see most of the population freaking out & killinmg extras for their freezer so they can eat while others go hungry!!!

Funny. Just noticed a group of fat pigeons hanging around the Metro Transit Center here. The public is being asked not to feed them. Now I know why we have to fatten them just in case.

Judging by my impression of the size of human population here, the pigeons would be gone in a week.

I am not sure since I have this question about it…Wouldn’t the birds learn that they were in danger and fell elsewhere, like the woods, outside the city.

There are very FEW woods in most large cities!!! When I worked in DC they sat just out side my office window. IF I could have opened my window, I could have just picked it up & harvested it right there.

They could last a very long time if one has the knowledge and means to raise them.
Squab, anyone?

I live in a sizeable city, but I see very few pigeons here.
When I lived in Reno I saw lots of them scavenging the downtown area, but starting from a few blocks outward it was crows, starlings, mourning doves, and geese…
lots of poopie geese. That is what I have would effort to stock in my freezer.
A few breadcrumbs and I could easily have five to take home.

A day or two. I can eat a whole chicken if I’m hungry. And that’s about two pigeons worth. Less than a week for all food sources, not counting dead humans.

If the city were under bombardment and/or people were attacking pigeons all the time, I think many of the pigeons might fly out of the city, too.

If you’re really curious about what it would be like, try finding a good account of the siege of Stalingrad.

Must have already had the siege, no pigeons. Just was downtown, not a pigeon anywhere.

Only food source? What are the pigeons eating? But better than that, which wil starve first, a man or a pigeon? As noted above, the rats are certain to to be the winners in the contest for predation. Of the creatures concerned, it is obviously the pigeons with the best prospects of literally fleeing the siege, and eliminating “the urban supply”. It’s interesting to speculate on how useful house cats miight at last prove themselves in providing their owners with prey before they themselves are relegated to kettles. The feral cats will certainly fare better than human beings. Man’s best friend would be predictably eliminated immediately after the devouring of everything in a cage or fish tank. And YOU Loli are certain to provide a nutritious repast as a reward for roaming the city lecturing inhabitants on the immorality of cruelty to animals!

Haven’t seen any “uban” pigeons in a while so I guess they’ve all been eaten.

We have very few pigeons here, but I estimate a few thousand turkeys, ducks and wild chickens, plus feral cats, coyotes, fox and skunks.

Speaking of dead pigeons, Tom Lehrer sand it well
youtube video of song Poising Pigeons in the Park

Skip over the ad and listen to the lyrics

Hope I am not censored.

That song is funny. I used to have dinners at a restaurant in Annapolis with a piano man, and that song was one of his regulars.
Good times.