What do pigeons eat

Wild pigeons feed on plant seeds, green shoots, insects and berries. In winter, it is difficult for birds to find food under the snow and they peck berries of mountain ash, flock in search of food to the garbage cans. In urban conditions, the grass is mowed, the streets are cleaned. For pigeons practically no natural food left and they gather in flocks in places where people feed them.

People often use for crumbing stale bread and seeds. The bird eats all the foods offered, but pastries cause fermentation in their stomachs. Pigeons are sick and may die.

Bread leads to obesity and a sedentary lifestyle of a bird. With such nutrition, the life expectancy of pigeons is reduced to 5-6 years, while nature lays down 15-20 years of life on a varied diet.

Physiologically, the pigeon’s intestine is short (about 1: 7 to the body length), therefore, in feeding this bird, heightened attention to the quality of feed and the frequency of feeding. Pigeons eat three times a day, 20-40 grams. With the characteristics of digestion is also associated with the need for poultry feed, containing 15% protein and no more than 5% fiber.

If you wish to feed the bird on the street, it is better to use raw sunflower seeds, oat-flakes, barley, balanced mixture for feeding parrots.

Feeding pigeons at home

When keeping the house, the bird is fed during the day, three times in the summer and two in the winter. In the summer, when chicks appear, the first feeding is organized in the early morning, before the onset of heat, optimally at 4-5 in the morning. Parents feed pigeons goitre "milk".

At high temperatures, the bird drinks a lot of water, so the “milk” becomes liquid and less nutritious. The second feeding occurs at 13 o'clock and the third - before sunset - at 19-20 hours. In the cold season pigeons reproach at 8-9 o'clock in the morning and at 16-17 o'clock in the evening.

Impact of nutrition on poultry health

Feeding domestic pigeons is as follows. First, garbage and litter from the feeders. Then pour food. Feed feed is accompanied by tapping.

In the case of feeding a full grain mixture, it is poured in such quantity that the pigeons are eaten at a time. They do not allow a well-fed bird to scatter grain. Such food can deteriorate, become moldy and the pigeon will get poisoned.

Also not desirable feeding from the floor of the pigeon. Eating from the floor is considered one of the causes of infectious diseases of pigeons.

Golubovody adhere to the above frequency of feeding. If the period between meals to lengthen, too hungry bird will eat more food than you need. This is fraught with digestive problems.

Systematic overfeeding leads to obesity and premature death of the bird.

Feed storage

Grain mixtures for pigeons must be clean, without the inclusion of litter and dirt. The storage room is cool, dry and well ventilated.

Mold develops in the dampness of the grain. Mold fungi secrete mycotoxins. Feeding such feed causes disease and death of the bird.

Vitamins in the diet of the bird

The need for vitamins in pigeons depends on their size and physiological state. More vitamins are required for young birds, individuals with a digestive system disease, who have had an infectious disease. The need for vitamins increases dramatically A, d, b₂A b₃A b₅A b₁₂, C, E and K with stress and poisoning. Stressful situations arise when the population is crowded and there is a need to fight for a place, when a predator attacks, closing into the basket, long thirst.

Vitamin A regulates metabolism and stimulates the growth of birds. Its reserves in the body are replenished by adding fish oil, carrots, young greens, and yolk of eggs to the diet.

Vitamin D participates in mineral metabolism, helps to absorb calcium from feed, is responsible for the development of the skeleton and the formation of eggshell. Sources are fodder yeast and fish oil.

Vitamin E responsible for the reproduction of pigeons. Tocopherol is found in green grass, germinated grains of oats, vegetable oils. Oils use fresh. Substandard fats destroy vitamin E in poultry.

Vitamin K contained in eggs, so the need for it increases during the laying period. To replenish its reserves in the diet dove include green peas, spinach, carrots, green grass or grass meal.

Vitamins of group B form the nervous system and affect growth. Contained in oilcake, brewer's yeast, green plants, germinated grain, carrots, potatoes, animal feed.

Vitamin C responsible for the body's resistance to infectious diseases and the change of feather. Contained in green fodder, grass meal, carrots. In the water for feeding dissolve the tablets of the pharmacy drug ascorbic acid.

In addition to natural sources of vitamins, the industry produces special mixes for pigeons, balanced in vitamin composition. Poultry farmers also use premixes for chickens, adjusting dosages.

Diet: summer and winter menu

The main food of pigeons is grain. Optimally - barley or pearl barley and oats. They add millet, sorghum, wheat, sunflower seeds and hemp.

The ratio of grain to grain mixes differs in different periods of bird life. Summer is a period of activity, therefore diet make up more nutritious. In the summer menu include millet, sorghum, canola, vetch, peas, buckwheat. Be sure to include in the diet of young greens, green peas.

In winter, protein feed is replaced with barley and oats. The approximate ratio of grain in the winter menu:

• 40% - oats,
• 40% - barley,
• 10% - chopped corn,
• 10% - chopped lentils.

Vitamin supplements to the winter diet:

• grass meal
• grated carrot
• dried dill and parsley.

One of the winter feedings is recommended to be replaced with boiled boiled potatoes mixed with wheat bran.

In any period, up to 30% of wheat can be included in the grain mixture. Normalization of vitamin and mineral nutrition is relevant throughout the year.

Poultry farmers purchase or prepare their own mineral supplements. Its composition:

• 4 pieces of grated red brick,
• 2 pieces of crushed old plaster,
• 1 piece of pounded egg shell,
• 1 part of sand,
• 1 part meat and bone meal.

All components are mixed and pour 2% salt solution.

As mineral additives, you can use chalk, sulfur, fertile layer of earth, gravel.

Features of feeding different breeds

Each breed of pigeons has feeding habits. Meat, postal, German exhibition and other large birds are fed large grain (large peas, corn). Small and short-bred breeds feed on small grains or cereals.

Decorative pigeons lead a sedentary terrestrial lifestyle. The amount of grain per individual should not exceed 40 g. Bodies feed moderately so that they do not overeat. When breeding for slaughter, the feed rate is higher and is determined individually.

Chicks feeding

After the chicks have been transplanted from their parents, they need an enhanced diet. Amount of feed - 40 g per day.

They feed pigeons three times a day. The daily rate is divided into four parts. One part is given in the morning feeding, the second - at noon, two parts - in the evening.

Chicks reluctant to eat legumes, but love wheat. Grasses for pigeons are enriched with fish oil.

By the time the chick leaves the nest, the ration is adjusted, the amount of wheat is reduced, and the protein feed rate is increased.

Molting period

The period of changing feathers from pigeons requires energy expenditure and lasts from July to October. The bird is provided with nutritious food. Protein feed needs enough, but not an excess amount, so as not to provoke mating.

For plumage growth, the bird is fed with flax, sunflower and hemp seeds.

During molting pigeons have a bad appetite. Then add 1-2 grains of black pepper to the feed. Norm feed on 1 head - 50 g

Preparing for the competition

During the preparation of pigeons for the competition, they are provided with enhanced nutrition rich in carbohydrates and protein. In the grain mixture include corn and rice with sugar.

Immediately before training the bird is not fed. After the competition for the replenishment of forces give oilseeds in a mixture with wheat.

The rate of feed per individual - 50-60 g.

Breeding and mating

The mating period requires protein nutrition, balanced on vitamin and mineral composition. Lack of vitamins at this stage leads to a decrease in reproductive properties, obtaining weak offspring.

The intensity of egg-laying is decreasing, and due to the lack of vitamin A, it can completely stop.

The most suitable food - on the basis of legumes. Fish oil is administered cyclically (give a week, then a week - a break).

In the diet include multivitamins. The bird eats 50-60 g per day.

Winter period

In winter, the bird is fed on the basis of the amount of feed - 50 g per head. With a very low temperature and not very nutritious diet pigeons can overeat. Therefore, poultry farmers monitor the full value of the diet.

On particularly cold days, increase the amount of corn in the grain mixture.

The given recommendations for feeding pigeons are indicative. Golubevody make changes based on individual experience.

Table. 1. Approximate ration of feeding pigeons by periods of life.

How do pigeons feed in nature

Some bread crumbs will not be full. Despite the fact that the birds almost never refuse this delicacy, they are rather forced to saturate with bread when there is no other food nearby.

Food for pigeons, like most animals on Earth, should be diverse and it is designed to keep the bird's body in good shape. Since this organism has a fast metabolism and the need to maintain a specific value of body temperature, about 40 degrees.

Due to the lack of necessary substances and vitamins, the urban pigeon lives quite a bit, sometimes only a few years. While well fed in captivity, it is fully capable of living all twenty years.

Especially often such a picture can be observed in winter, when the grass they need is hidden under the snow.

How do pigeons feed in nature

Parents carefully feed their offspring within one and a half months of chicks in the nest. At this time, they give them the so-called goiter. Gradually, with an increase in body weight, the volume of servings increases.

In winter, with food is not very, therefore, in every way welcome feeding, which people can exercise. In addition, both parents do not always feed the chick; sometimes one of them dies and all the burdens fall on the wings of one.

What is different food domestic pigeons

First of all, the feeding of a pigeon may depend on its breed. Since their body weight may differ, the daily rate varies from 25 to 50 grams of feed. Also on the diet affects their purpose, the postal "dose" may be a little more, including, among other things, rice starch and even sugar.

So, what do pigeons eat at home?

In particular, grass, cabbage greens, legumes and even mixed fodder. The process of feeding should take place approximately as it does in humans at home - three times a day, however, in winter, two is enough not to cause egg-laying.

In winter, you can turn to flax seeds and other oilseeds. In addition, the diet can be modified depending on the period of life, because if the pigeons are adults and freely fly out into the street, it is not necessary to completely “keep” them. But not in winter, when it is difficult for them to find healthy food by themselves.

How to feed in the pre-breeding and productive period

It is reasonable that during mating and feeding of chicks, food should be increased and saturated with healthy proteins. And also to monitor compliance with the feeding regime: the first meal should begin very early, around five in the morning.

The latter, around nine in the evening. And yes, wheat should be removed from the main food, since it can increase the already unnecessary excitability.

In general, care should be taken to fill the female's body with essential vitamins, without which egg-laying will not occur or the incubation qualities of the fetus will be low.

In particular, this is influenced by vitamins A and carotenes, therefore a complex of trivitamins or germinated grains is recommended.

What is recommended to give domestic pigeon

In addition to the main cereals, which have already been named, it is quite possible to use other types of cereals, such as oatmeal, buckwheat, wheat, and corn.

This also includes hemp or sunflower seeds, but in limited quantities to prevent obesity. You can also give peas and lentils, granulated yeast, rich in protein.

It is strongly recommended to use germinated grain, which is easily digestible for poultry and is well digested.

This is the basis of pigeon health. You can supplement the diet with finely chopped carrots, pumpkin, greens and ordinary table salt, which can be diluted in water.

It is highly recommended to include fresh grass, as well as nettle leaves or clover. In addition, it is necessary to take care of the mineral dressing, which then will favorably affect the future development of the offspring.

For saturation with minerals, clean, without fertilizers, forest land and water without gas will be suitable.

What not to feed pigeons

It is contraindicated to try to make a bird of prey out of the domestic pigeon. In a sense, you can’t give him meat and fish products, because a pigeon’s body simply cannot cope with such food. Black bread is also contraindicated for these birds, leading to disruption of the normal operation of the ventricle.

Milk also adversely affects the domestic pigeon due to the large amount of phosphorus it contains. Ordinary seeds, in principle, can be, but only in moderation, because they are fat, and this adversely affects the liver.

How to feed pigeons chicks at home

It is not an easy task, because without the right food little chicks can die very quickly. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully follow their diet, once took up the feeding of these birds in captivity.

If the chick has just hatched from the egg and is taken from the nest, then at first it should be fed with warm egg yolk, possibly diluted in milk.

During the week this will happen through a syringe. Then you can gradually connect different types of milk porridge, lentil or pea.

Then it should be included in the diet protein from chicken eggs mixed with fish or corn flour, give a little white bread, which can be moistened with droplets of fish oil.

When the chicks grow up, they need to be taught to the tray so that they can later find the water and grains on their own. The pips must still be small.

Until the plumage in chicks has changed, they need to continue to supply useful protein and other vitamins. A little later, you can already give and food for parrots.

As a conclusion, we emphasize once again that proper nutrition is required not only to a person, but also to all his household members. Tamed birds must be respected and all necessary conditions for their maintenance must be respected.

Basic information

Nicely feed those birdsthat inhabit the street. Pigeons are no exception. It is necessary to understand that in the conditions of natural birds themselves obtain their food, relying on their instincts. The diet of domestic and wild pigeons are significantly different. To preserve bird health, you need to know what pigeons feed in their natural environment. Before you get pigeons at home, find out more information about their content.

At home, feeding pigeons is as follows:

1. In the warm season, three times a day,
2. But in the autumn and winter - twice (1 time simple feeding, and the second - feeding with vitamin supplements.

The first food in the cold period of the year, pigeons should be given at nine o'clock in the morning, and the second - at twenty o'clock in the evening. Chicks relied enhanced feeding. It is necessary to look at their condition to determine the frequency of feeding. When raising the offspring, you need to feed the pigeons three times a day: the first feeding is four in the morning, the second at thirteen hours, the third at twenty.

You can independently grow fresh greens, and not just buy it. For the birds are useful plants such as nettle, alfalfa, sorrel. During the molt the birds need to eat hard, that is, three times a day. The main emphasis is placed on protein foods, and cabbage and rapeseed are also needed. In complexity, the daily rate of feed should reach 50 grams. During egg-laying and reproduction, the daily rate increases to 60 grams. The basis should be mineral supplements and protein foods.

How to feed the pigeons living in the street

Most of the inhabitants of the planet are convinced that for a pigeon the best food is bread and other flour products. It is for this reason that almost everyone who is undernourished bread or buns, throw them on the ground, so that their birds pecked. But to ensure a full-fledged diet, they need to eat a variety of, and most importantly, balanced.

In addition to all the above, wheat bread in the stomach of birds is digested very poorly. Связано это с особенностями ферментного содержания и скоростью перерабатывания частиц пищевых. Для тех голубей, которые содержаться в условиях домашних и предназначаются для размножения, хлеб, как основной компонент корма или его составляющий, является запрещённым. Связано это с тем, что он отрицательно влияет на птичий организм.

It should be remembered that the biological age of these birds reaches 13 - 15 years, but street birds do not live for more than 6 years. This is directly related to the fact that a defective and abnormal diet, which consists mainly of flour products, prevails. The main components of the natural diet, which is formed in natural conditions, are seeds, grains, grass and other greens.

But in the conditions of urban flowers and grass are constantly mown, it is because of this that the birds often have to spend a long time looking for food for themselves. If you want to help pigeons with food, it’s better to offer them cereals or unroasted seeds instead of flour products.

Winter meals and chicks

Basically, on the street there are adult individuals, and chicks up to 1.5 months are in nests - their parents feed them. This process is carried out with the help of biological special composition, called goiter milk, as well as softened grain. As the bird mass increases, the amount of feed increases. The minerals and vitamins necessary for chicks, they get with food. Under natural conditions, millet or rice is not used by pigeons, choosing millet or oats for their nutrition.

A very difficult period for birds that live in the wild is winter. Even in urban areas, most of the food sources are hidden under the snow. For this reason, the birds choose the places where more people accumulate. So, they are more likely to feed them. In addition, wild pigeons can often be found near garbage heaps or in landfills.

In the winter cold, as a rule, pigeons need not only simple feeding, but also a complete source of food. In order to provide the birds with all the necessary substances, a person needs to know what pigeons eat and what they can feed at all. The best solution is trough with millet, oats or grain. For pigeons, food should not contain garlic and bread.

How and what to feed pigeons at home

Domesticized pigeons have specialized feeding. A completely healthy and adult pigeon requires approximately 35 grams of feed per day. For more convenient feeding, the dry forage part, which consists of millet and cereals, which birds love very much, should be placed in specially equipped feeders. Also, pigeons living at home and in the wild love wheat very much. It can be approximately 30% of the total diet.

As mentioned above, pigeon food must be complete. It is for this reason that before using food that was produced in an industrial environment, it is necessary to carefully study its components. Be sure to include in the feed vitamins, minerals and other useful substances.

How to care properly for pigeons that are kept at home

To get the bird healthy, you need to know how to feed a pigeon correctly. For successful breeding, you should ensure proper care and study what the bird prefers from food at different times of the year. Keep the house clean. Cleaning of nests, where young animals are kept, should be given special attention.

It should be clean not only in the main dovecote, but also in the incubator. Naturally hatched eggs must be cleaned: if they are polluted, the access of air decreases, and as a result, the embryo may die.

The proper diet birds should include such components:

1. Shredded lentils - 10%,
2. Fresh corn, powdered - 10%,
3. Oats - 40%,
4. Barley - 40%.

In winter, this mixture is ideal for feeding.

But if you breed pigeons for meat, then include such ingredients in its diet:

1. Hemp seeds - 5%,
2. Flakes or boiled oatmeal - 5%,
3. Wheat or wheat waste - 15%,
4. Peas (you can use pea flour or split) - 20%,
5. Millet - 20%,
6. Corn - 35%.

In winter, in addition to the bird ration you need to enter fresh greens. It can be purchased on the market or in the store or grow at home. If all the extra care and feeding takes place according to the rules, then serious health problems can be avoided. The main such diseases are spring sickness and its treatment. The most useful additives are: boiled potatoes, fresh apples and carrots.

Feeding during the breeding season

During the breeding season Caring for pigeons should be special. Their diet should be different from winter or everyday. Particularly important elements that must be present in the avian diet during this period are trace elements and vitamins. With their lack of productivity of hens will significantly decrease, as well as the viability of chicks.

During the breeding season, the main components of the specialized food that feeds the pigeon should be legumes. With their help, the birds will get all the necessary elements for them and very quickly sated. The main component, which birds love very much, is pea.

Feed mixture for pigeons during the breeding season should consist of the following ingredients:

1. Dried or fresh peas - 20%,
2. Oats - 20%,
3. Barley - 20%,
4. Wheat - 10%,
5. Corn kernels - 10%
6. Millet - 10%,
7. Vika - 10%.

Option number 2 (for winter feeding)

1. Peas dried Vika - 20%,
2. Not fried oilseeds - 10%,
3. Barley - 10%,
4. Fresh peas - 15%,
5. Millet - 10%,
6. Wheat - 15%,
7. Corn - 20%.

To combine the ideal feed mixture, you should know what can and cannot be given to pigeons. remember, that garlic and bread of this bird is not recommended use.

Feed Additives

The necessary vitamins and trace elements of birds can be obtained from such components:

1. Salt is not iodized cooking,
2. Clay,
3. Chalk or lime
4. Ground Nettle, Ground
5. Sulfur,
6. Topsoil
7. Fish oil (it is especially good in the winter season).

It is also advised to buy a special complex of mineral supplements and pour it into the pigeon feeder.

What is forbidden to feed the pigeons

If you are breeding or simply decided to feed the pigeons, then you should know those products, than to feed them is strongly not recommended:

1. Milk products - can cause dysbiosis.
2. Meat products - in the pigeon stomach they are not digested. As a result, the death of the bird.
3. Bread - poorly digested and leads to bloating. May cause bird death.
4. Fish products - not absorbed by the avian organism.

Also avoid overfeeding the birds. In limited quantities, give them seeds.

In addition to the main food, you must also give supplements, which will contain beneficial trace elements. In the diet are required mineral supplements. Especially their influence on the bird's body can be felt in the winter season. At this time, the birds need to reinforce the body with substances useful. It does not matter if the bird lives in a dovecot or in outdoor conditions. On top dressing the greatest demand for rearing chicks in winter.

In addition to the above, timely and high-quality mineral supplements have a positive effect on bird digestion and durability of the shell, and during the molt or growth period they maintain the bird's body in perfect condition.

As a feed, be sure to include the following components:

1. Manganese,
2. Copper,
3. Iodine,
4. Iron,
5. Phosphorus,
6. Calcium (crushed shells can be used).

An important role is played by such components:

All these substances involved in ensuring the stable operation of the avian organism in chicks and adults. Minerals pigeons can be obtained from mineral still water, chalk and crushed egg shells. It is advisable to include boiled or raw buckwheat in the bird ration. All minerals must be present in the avian diet. But do not overfeed your birds. This may adversely affect their health.

Other feeding features

You need to clearly know what to give the birds from July to October. This will help avoid breeding problems. It is at this moment that pigeons require enhanced food feed, which will be many useful substances. At this time, the bird is preparing for a long winter. With pleasure in the winter, the bird will eat barley.

Make a main focus on minerals and proteinwhich will help strengthen the body. In order not to provoke sexual overstimulation, protein should be given in moderate amounts.

For pigeons that participate in a variety of competitions, need power enhanced. This is due to the fact that during the flight a large amount of energy and strength is wasted. Their diet should contain rice and corn with added sugar.

Ration of street birds

Many types of food that people used to feed pigeons in the square are not really suitable for birds. Most street dwellers die because of pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract. The average life of birds feathered is 2-5 years. Nature also measured the bird a maximum of about 20 years. Natural diet pigeons:

Feature of the form - to settle in the city limits. Pigeons eat what is more accessible: food waste from trash cans or human-made food. Ptahi unpretentious. Greens with a full set of vitamins and minerals in the city is almost impossible to find. It is believed that it is better not to feed the pigeons on their own. Otherwise, follow the recommendations:

1. Bread and other flour products slowly kill pigeons. Crumbs or large chunks suppress appetite without bringing energy value. They negatively affect the internal organs of pigeons.
2. Salt and complex fats from roasted seeds are also detrimental to birds.
   
3. Choose to feed natural grains. On sale are cheap varieties of cereals. Ideally, pigeons are given special food from a pet store, which contains all the microelements needed by the bird.
4. Do not sprinkle spoiled, moldy, or expired food.

Attention! Black bread is especially dangerous for birds. It causes fermentation in the stomach. Increased risk of volvulus. Strongly harmful chips, coconut chips, salty crackers, snacks.

Chicks on the street in general can not be touched and even more so to feed. Parents themselves will give food (goitre milk). By the appearance of a man, they will react wary. Adults can even throw a nest with offspring if they feel your presence.

How to feed pets

Domestic thoroughbred pigeons feed on a different principle. With this breeding, the basis of their diet is grain:

• 40% of daily value - barley,
• 10% - millet,
• the rest of the grain - corn, sunflower, wheat, legumes.

Pigeons eat a little: a day - 20-30 g (light breeds) or 30-50 g (large varieties). 70-80% is the proportion of grain. In warm time, fresh vitamin mixtures of chopped green nettle, lettuce, sorrel, alfalfa, spinach, cabbage are added to the feed.

Other useful mineral supplements are shredded eggshells, shells, red brick chips, charcoal.

Council Nutritional regulations are adjusted depending on the activity of pigeons. If the dovecote is open, the birds constantly fly, then they need more food. For the same reason, portions are reduced in winter.

Even feathered still need a moderate amount of salt. It is served in dissolved form - 20 g / l. Pets themselves will drink as much as they need. Just take care of free access to water.

Birds need improved nutrition during egg-laying, molting or during the breeding period. Give the feathered healthy and tasty food: peas, lentils, vetch, oatmeal (cereal), peeled oats. Follow the feeders and constantly update their contents. Collect grass for feeding on clean, tested lawns or grow in a potted pot.

In the summer pigeons are fed three times a day. To birds that fly freely, food is given out in small portions as supplementary food. In the cold season, natural pastures are not available to them. Birds are transferred to a 2-time enhanced nutrition. Consider replacing vitamins from fresh grass for a second, evening feeding.

The maintenance of such pets is not considered difficult. Take care of the feed that pigeons eat to prolong their life in all conditions.