Feeding pet pigeons question

[elizabethjg]

I have seen online that racer pigeons have very strict diets, a meal in the morning and a meal at night. But if your pigeons are just pets can you be a little less strict and free feed them like chickens? Or will they eat non-stop and become obese and die? I currently don’t have pigeons but I was thinking of getting a pair, sorry if this is a dumb question haha.

 

[QueenMisha]

I have Fantails as pets! (If you're looking for a pet breed, look into these guys). I free feed a 14% protein mixture and they seem to do well on it. I usually just toss a cup or two out on the ground in the morning and there's always some left at night. They all seem quite healthy and happy.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Quote:

I have seen online that racer pigeons have very strict diets, a meal in the morning and a meal at night. But if your pigeons are just pets can you be a little less strict and free feed them like chickens?

I have 66 trips around the sun and have been keeping homing pigeons for years. I supply feed and water to my birds 24/7 (I do not race competitively). It works for me. I feed whole corn layer pellets in separate feeders and hand feed shelled unsalted peanuts as a treat only. Hand feeding peanuts to my homers keeps them from becoming aloof which they are known for.

This is the sort of feed fanciers who race their pigeons provide. Then again their are probably as many feed recipes as there are fanciers.
I am unable to buy this feed in my area due to the fact there are few pigeon fanciers.

 

[Gray Farms]

I raise Modenas and feed a flock of 30, approx. five to six pounds a day in feed. I feed a little more when they are feeding babies as well. You want to feed them "no matter how many you have" just enough that the pretty much clean it up everyday. For two I would start with a cup of feed and see how they do. I buy scratch grain "crimped corn, milo, wheat" and I mix it with a little black oil sunflower seed, safflower seed, and calf-manna pellets "a little extra in the winter too". They really like it and clean it up everyday. And they get a little extra fat for winter from the sunflower and safflower seed.

 

[MeepBeep]

I just recently adopted a lost Homer Racer, that will be kept as a 'pet' by us...

After doing a lot of research and some hands on, I fully endorse the practice of feeding it twice a day...

At first our pigeon was offered free choice, it only ate the most desirable grains it wanted and tossed the rest on the floor, it would literally empty an entire bowl of food in minutes just picking out the desirable stuff it wanted to eat, a huge waste of feed and not a balanced intake...

We now feed it one tablespoon of feed morning and one tablespoon at night and there is zero waste, it eats all the grains and empties the bowl with each feeding...

As touched upon by others above finding pigeon feed can be hard in some areas, I have no problem finding it in my area but only in 50lb bags with a high cost and that is overkill for a single bird, so I set out to mix my own using stuff I can readily and easily obtain at local stores... I make no claims on this being a perfectly balanced diet, but i suspect it's pretty close..

Do note that pigeons need light to synthesize vitamins so pet pigeons need to be outdoors, by a window or be provided artificial full spectrum lighting to be healthy...

This is my feed mix, from easy to obtain items at Walmart and/or the local grocery stores...

I started with a 7lb bag of wild bird feed, to be specific it was Pennington Select Birders Blend... I chose this one because it was one of the few wild bird feeds with a nice variety of whole grains and no byproducts or filler corn...

Ingredients: White Proso Millet, Sunflower Seed, Safflower Seed, Wheat, Milo, Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Vegetable Oil

It was a 7 pound bag that started at 10% min. protein

I added

1/2 lb popcorn @ 11%
2 lbs lentils @ 26%
1 lb wild rice @ 15%
2 lbs dried whole and split peas @ 25%
1 lb barley @ 10%
1/2 lb whole oats @14%

and a dusting of Diamond V XP food supplement, as I have it on hand as a supplement to young birds, it's a great feed supplement loaded with vitamins, if you don't want to buy this you could substitute some other bird vitamin powder mix from the pet store...

That puts the feed at about 15% protein overall, with a nice mix of grains and if rationed out morning and evening the bird eats it entirely...

 

[laughingdog]

Feeding free style basically for pelleted feeds, as otherwise pigeons pick out only foods they want and can get unhealthy n sick from malnutrition though being flexible they eat great at adapting to seed n grain only diets.. as found healthiest of mine when eat leafy greens berries seeds nuts fruit n bugs etc. I never starved them, but just used to have some who loved n always best health seen in pigeons.

 

[laughingdog]

Ideally a seed grain n nut blend should have at least six but seven nine eleven or more of those mixed in better. Easiest is pigeon parakeet or chicken pelleted feeds. Otherwise fourth chicken layer with scratch grain mixes n wild bird seed mixes are best choice over all if can carry and store n wanna bother over loving job of mixing all at feeding time.

 

[elizabethjg]

Thank yall, info was really helpful!