# Vitamins



## pegleg (Sep 11, 2011)

Hi,
I have a former feral pigeon that I am now going to keep as a pet.She has been coming to my garden for food for 1 1/2 years or so for food she was always very friendly and landed on my shoulder and pecks my ear. Around 1 month ago she was missing for awhile then arrived close to death - eyes swollen, dehydrated. I brought her to the vet and got some baytril, and treated her for hypovitaminosis.(vitamin a & e deficiency in particular).

I have built a cage and put her in the garden for company with the other pigeons and fresh air, for around 5 hours each day. I have a basket up on a shelf in a spare room in the house for her to sleep /nap in which she loves.

I think it is best to keep her as a pet as she only has one foot, and a female sparrowhawk is a regular visitor to my garden now, and has killed/eaten 5 or 6 feral pigeons in the last 2 months.
The vet said to give her vitamins for around one month, my question is should I give her a vitamin supplement like johnsons vitamins for cage birds all the time now since I am keeping her as a pet?
Or is vitamins all the time bad for her? She likes peanuts and seeds only , so will develop a deficiency again , more than likely .

Thanks


----------



## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

It should not be necessary to give vitamins daily for a month. Maybe a couple of times a week. Whether she would develop a deficiency again depends on what seeds she has. Unless she has a specific problem absorbing and using particular vitamins (unlikely), a good all round diet for pigeons, or doves probably, would provide most of what she needs. 

Vitamin A is found in corn (maize), green peas, carrots and green vegetables. Providing finely chopped carrot, kale or a well chopped mix of greens like spinach leaf, rocket, watercress, lettuce will be good for her. Vitamin E is in grains such as wheat, and corn. Vitamin A is quite important, as it helps the liver to produce its own vitamin C, too.

Provide pigeon grit and maybe some crumbled mineral pickstone occasionally.

Pigeon vitamins and supplements can be found at Boddy & Ridewood's online store among others.


----------



## pegleg (Sep 11, 2011)

John_D said:


> It should not be necessary to give vitamins daily for a month. Maybe a couple of times a week. Whether she would develop a deficiency again depends on what seeds she has. Unless she has a specific problem absorbing and using particular vitamins (unlikely), a good all round diet for pigeons, or doves probably, would provide most of what she needs.
> 
> Vitamin A is found in corn (maize), green peas, carrots and green vegetables. Providing finely chopped carrot, kale or a well chopped mix of greens like spinach leaf, rocket, watercress, lettuce will be good for her. Vitamin E is in grains such as wheat, and corn. Vitamin A is quite important, as it helps the liver to produce its own vitamin C, too.
> 
> ...



Hi , thanks for your reply. I must buy some products online, I was using johnsons vitamin drops for cage birds in her water, the reason I was using daily was because it says on the label to put in the birds water daily. I will try giving her some veg as you say, should the carrots/lettuce/spinach be cooked? Should I buy vitamins for pigeons online and give a few times a week or should I lay off the multivitamins ?

I have a little bowl of grit for her,but I am not sure if she eats much of it ,maybe I should grind it up finer and mix it with her seeds?
These are the seeds I give her http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/tesc...ayre_Wild_Bird_Food_All_Seasons_Mix_23Kg.html

Thanks


----------



## dar.alroqya (Sep 14, 2011)

Thanks For Topic


----------

