My birds are obsessed with car undercarriages

[nxd10]

I have a small flock of currently 14 homing dove in a nice roomy coop. I fly them every day. Good seed plus they forage chicken crumble, especially when they have young ones.

They are obsessed with car undercarriages. After they've flown, they go under the cars and start picking things off and presumably eating it. They have oily spots on their white feathers. They are getting more and more into it. I pulled up in my mother-in-laws car the other day and they started eating off her front bumper before she pulled out.

They also really like picking all the grit out of the doormat and the rug I keep under my picnic table. They have normal chick grit and I have a whole yard of clean grass and dirt. Plus the pebbles on the shingle roof.

This can't be good for them and I don't know why they're doing it. They seem completely healthy. They're breeding well. They fly fine. Any ideas?

 

[sourland]

I would guess that they are picking grit particles off of your car. Do you provide them with a mineral grit. Another possibility depending upon your location is salt particles.

 

[jak2002003]

I think 2 things are happening here.

1. You have not trained them to properly fly around and then return to their coop.

2. They are lacking something in their diet.

You need to train them to fly in the air for an hour or so (without landing) .. then call them back down so they all go quickly into the coop (via a trap door) and can not get back out.. then you can feed them in there.

If you let them fly around and roam.. spending time doing nothing out of the coop.. they are going to start getting into bad habits like yours are doing. They are also likely to get eaten by hawks or cats.. or have accidents.. or even get lost or trapped somewhere.

Chick grit is too fine for pigeons. They need proper pigeon grit.. which is quite large.. They should also have pigeon minerals.. looks like a pink small stones. Have these in separate small pots inside the coop.. always available to your birds.

Is the seed hole grains.... chicken scratch or cracked seeds are bad for pigeons as a main diet. A proper pigeon mix will be better.. and if they are laying eggs or raising squabs they need extra nutrition.. more protein.. and this can come from chicken pellets.. or even peanuts.

Hope this helps.

I know from my own experience how naughty pigeon can be if given too much freedom. When I first started keeping them I like them to just free range all day.. and come and go as they liked. It backfired on me as some went off with feral pigeons.. some started landing on my neighbours window ledges and conservatory roof.. making him really angry at me... some got lost.. and some got eaten by a sparrow hawk.. I even had a pair get into our attic and start nesting.. and one fell down another neighbours chimney!!!!

I trained them properly after that and they got free flight 2 X a day for an hour or so .. and time to have a bath and sunbath in the garden for a short time when I was there to watch them before I called them into the coop.

 

[nxd10]

Thank you. They are eating whole grain food and chicken crumble (not chicken scratch). They definitely want that when they're raising young. But I agree they seem to be missing something important in their diet. I will get appropriate grit and minerals. That's a good thought.

It would be a good time to try retraining. I have 4 quite young ones, 3 more just hatched, and just got a second egg today. I do let them fly a lot and you are probably right about getting in trouble with too much freedom. No one mad yet.

When you trained them to fly twice a day, did you do that by releasing them far from home or did you only feed them twice a day on return?

Also, do you have a recommended feed mix?

 

[jak2002003]

Hi.

I only 'trained' them in my back yard!!! I never took them away to fly.. they were just pets really.. and I liked seeing them flying in formation above my house.

I used to have food available for them all the time.. so they got too fat.. wasted seed by throwing it on the floor.. and would not fly much as they were unhealthy.

Once I started the training I took the food away.. and only fed the 2 X a day.. each time I rattled a can of seed and whistled to them. After they started slowing down eating and messing about (after about 5 minutes) I look the feeder back out till next time.

After a few days they learned that when I called them and rattled the tin they were getting fed.. and they would all quickly surround me waiting for the feeder.

The I started letting them out to fly.. and if they landed on my roof of in the garden I waved a broom at them to get them flying up into the air again.

Once they lost some fat and got better muscles they loved flying.. and got really high in the air. It was great to see.

After about 30 mins to one hour.. I called them down and rattled the tin.. put the feeder in the coop and they would all come rushing in to eat.

They learnt really quickly.

NOTE
If you have any pairs raising squabs they need more feed. I used to house them in a different section or the coop.. or in big dog cages... and they would have food all the time for them.. I usually did not let them out with the other.

 

[jak2002003]

My feeding times were about 7 or 8am..... Then one in the late afternoon.. about 6pm... but it varied a bit depending on my work.

Over time you get an idea of how much they will eat.. so you can feed the right amount.

In the end they should eat all the seeds with just a few left over each time. If you feed too much.. they will selects their fav seeds and leave the others.. which is not good for them.

Or course they will need more in winter.. and if raising squabs.. or flying a lot. I recommend picking some up each week to check their weight. You don't want them fat.. or too skinny. You should be able to feed the breastbone slightly. If its hard to find they are too fat. And if its very sharp with a hollow each side they are way too thin.

 

[laughingdog]

The group of prized hand selected young rollers were doing this and getting killed in road, on side of, and chasing cars.. found they went after fine sharp fish tank like gravels dust/dirt/sand minerals and salt.
i started giving a cage bird gravel that was sand like particles of calcium salt minerals and vits sprayed on etc. poultry grit seemed to help some, and that red clay mineral bricks/blocks, also they went at rabbit mineral stones crazily.

 

[Majd]

I say it just a free flight ploblem as they will delightfully go explore and pick off their own grit and other stuff not necessarily b/c they need it but for entertainment and fun(extinct)..
They will do what a pigeon does... I know it's frustrating but if you want to avoid b/c it comes with trouble, train them to trap after flying immediately....

 

[nxd10]

Thank you for all the good expert advice.

After just a few days, they seem to be exploring more than just the underside of my car and my mat.

I don't know if it's the mineral block, large grit in addition to the chick grit, additional chicken mix in their seed, or better flight training, but they are flying more and playing greasemonkey less. I'm going to start flying them longer every morning - one of us goes out in the car every day and can drop the ones not on nests (they are breeding like crazy - just got two more eggs today). I'm limiting their flight time and putting food out while they are out so it's there when they get back. I will try to train them to come to call - I would love to see them do that.

I've had them for 4 year or so - this car problem started a few months ago. Typically, we've lost a bird or so a month from birds that don't come home from a drop, hawks, one got hit by a car, etc. But I had not wanted more than a dozen birds. I may have to start addling eggs soon. With the squabs and squeakers, I have 12 adults, 2 squeakers, 3 squab (one hatched this morning) and two new eggs (one laid this morning).

I understand the 'fat' problem. For a while I just fed them chicken crumble and they got fat and didn't want to fly. They are much leaner now.

 

[jak2002003]

Sounds like you are doing a great job with them now! Well done. Good that they are breeding a lot too.