File:Findlater Doocot - geograph.org.uk - 1761276.jpg

English: Findlater Doocot The doocot at Findlater dates from the 16th century, and is a Category 'A' listed building. It is of rubble construction, and limewashed. The protruding stone bands at intervals are to discourage rats from getting inside. Doos are semi-domesticated Rock Doves (Columba livia), the ancestors of the common feral pigeons found in towns. The birds bred almost all year round and provided eggs and fresh meat in winter, and their droppings were a useful fertiliser. However they fed on surrounding crops, so a law in 1617 stipulated that doocots must not be built less than two miles from the boundary of the estate, so in effect only substantial landowners could build one. This one is associated with Findlater Castle, about half a mile away. It is a 'beehive' doocot, the oldest type, and contains some 700 nesting boxes, each measuring about 15cm x 15cm x 36cm . The boxes start about 18 inches (45 centimetres) off the floor, and taper up to the top, where there was a opening through which the birds could come and go. A ladder on a pivoting stone in the centre of the doocot gave access to the nest boxes. Young pigeons, called 'peesers' were harvested when they were about four weeks old, usually in the morning when the parent birds were out feeding. There was a belief that the destruction of a doocot would be followed within the year by the death of a family member.