Any thoughts on switching to crumbles

[OR4-hmom]

We have an assortment of pigeons, Modena, Mookies, Parlour Rollers. Each breed is leaving large amounts of some type of seed/pea.

I have heard of pigeon pellets rather than whole seed mix and was curious if anyone has any experience with it. The picky rollers and mookies won't eat the peas now and I wonder if they would eat the pellets.

 

[jak2002003]

We have an assortment of pigeons, Modena, Mookies, Parlour Rollers. Each breed is leaving large amounts of some type of seed/pea.

I have heard of pigeon pellets rather than whole seed mix and was curious if anyone has any experience with it. The picky rollers and mookies won't eat the peas now and I wonder if they would eat the pellets.

If they are picky they are over fed.

Only feed 2 times a day with as much as they will eat and none left over. They eat their favourites first.. then will eat the rest.

I fill the feed container with pigeon mix... put it in the coop for about 10 minutes in the morning.. take it out. And again in the evening. I do not refill the container until most of the seed is eaten... so they have to eat it all. I do throw away any old or bad seeds that are left in the bottom... they know not to eat these.

My experience with the pellets was not a good one. It made their droppings much more messy.. seemed to make them poop a lot more! I also found the squabs did not grow so well on them or look as healthy. The cost was also higher than the seed mix. I now keep my birds on the natural diet.. not a pelleted processed diet.. and they seem to be in great body condition.

Don't forget to always have the grit and minerals available to the birds too..

If you have pairs raising squabs you have to add more seeds than normal.. and they need the extra for the squabs.

 

[OR4-hmom]

Thank you for the input. They are all sitting on eggs now, and the Mookie baby is about a month old now. They are going through quite a bit of grit, picking out the oyster shell it seems.

 

[jak2002003]

Bet you are looking forward to seeing some squabs hatch!

We would like to see some pics of them...

I sometimes add a handful of chicken layer pellets to the mix... just when the females are getting ready to lay eggs.. for the calcium. I only feed the layer pellets at that time... as too much calcium is bad for the growing squabs.

 

[OR4-hmom]

We are very hopeful for young. The Mookie have proven themselves good parents. The Modena should be any day now and are fierce defenders of the nest. The Parlor Rollers are the though ones. They lay fine and fertility is good but they crush the young.

We have 3 pairs of unknown breed we are hoping to use as surrogates. They are light colored birds from the flock that hang out at the Walmart parking lot. Sorry hawks they live with us now and are no longer on the menu!

 

[laughingdog]

I feed layer pellets/crumbles from pairing to sstop of young being fed by them. seems to make their bones stronger, as i haven't had nroken bones in my performance pigeons. they are hit, hit into stuff, not flown for too long, not flown soon enough, or BOPs attacking and even smashin into (though two have had dented keels from). i haven't seen YET (being key word.. lol), adverse reactions. was told that scratch helps keep calcium from bothering them, though I'm pretty sure it doesn't. I've only been in pigeon hobby for few years.

 

[jak2002003]

We are very hopeful for young. The Mookie have proven themselves good parents. The Modena should be any day now and are fierce defenders of the nest. The Parlor Rollers are the though ones. They lay fine and fertility is good but they crush the young.

We have 3 pairs of unknown breed we are hoping to use as surrogates. They are light colored birds from the flock that hang out at the Walmart parking lot. Sorry hawks they live with us now and are no longer on the menu!

Be careful using the feral pigeons..... they may have diseases that will infect you birds.. and if you use them to raise the squabs they could make them sick also.....

Many feral birds have disease and don't show any symptoms.. but domesticated birds have no immunity to them.. so will come down with it.

Salmonella is a very common in feral birds.. also Paramyxovirus and Pigeon Pox. Adult birds you see in feral flocks probably have had one or all of these diseases... and now they are recovered they will remain carriers for life.

.... I speak from personal experience.. when I allowed a pair of feral pigeons to mix with my fancy pigeons.. they gave my birds Salmonella and despite expensive and long going treatment form the vets.. I lost 14 adult birds and 16 squabs.. I was devastated as these birds were my much loved pets The 2 feral birds were still live and 'healthy' and I released them into the flock in the city.

 

[laughingdog]

I've kept ferals away from other pigeons, and used to hatch n raise babies healthier, as crop milk i think has immunities in to common n not so in pigeons n parrots. i had since switched babies around temp to ferals as had th then.