# Food and grit



## YARDBIRD (Mar 27, 2007)

I went and bought pigeon feed for the first time today. I got purina checkers, does this sound ok? I am comparing the lable to gamebird layer food. My layer food has more protein and other nutrients are broken out on the lable. The pigeon food looks like more plant based protein. I have not gotten home to open the bag yet. Is there a big difference?

Also, to get pigeon grit, I would have to buy 50lbs at a time. I only have 1 bird so I bought chicken grit because it was sold by the scoop. Is this ok as well. 

Newbie, bear with...


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

Hello Newbie,

Now you got yourself a bag of pigeon feed I take it ? Because from your post, all you mentioned was the manufacturer, and not the contents of the bag. Are we talking pellets or seeds first of all ?

And when you say chicken grit....are we talking granite or oyster shell etc. ?

For all I can tell from the post, you could be feeding rabbit food.....


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

*Ps*

If necessary, spell out the ingredients from the side of the package, and we will figure it out.


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## warriec (Feb 2, 2007)

I think because you have only 1 bird you are better off feeding natural products.

by they way, what does pigeon grit contain?


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## YARDBIRD (Mar 27, 2007)

*chow*

Ok let me start from the beginning.
I picked up a white homer at a poultry auction that a guy did not want.
I have it in a 11.5x32x8hign flight pen with 3 silkys, 3 guineas, and bachelor pheasants.
Everyone is getting along fine.

I went to our local feed store and purchased purina checkers pigeon feed. It looks kinda like laying pellets. Here is a rundown of nutritional info...

crude protein 15%
crude fat 2.5%
crude fiber 5.5%max

ingredients start out 
processed grain biproducts
grain biproducts
plant protein products
forage products

then it continues to list all the supplements added as well as no ruminant meat or bone meal
"feed as complete ration to pigeons"

My gamebird food has 20%protein and more vitamins listed than the pigeon feed. It does not list the plant protein products as mentioned above.

The grit I bought is white/grey/shiney. It is in a brown bag and so no ingredients listed.

Thanks


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## luckyloft (Oct 21, 2006)

*Checkers*

Yardbird, I feed my pigeons Purina Checkers Pellets. I have used Checkers Pellets for years. They seem to do fine. I do not race my birds and I think most racers use grains. I have always heard that if you feed only pellets you do not need to feed grit, it's already in the pellet. I add corn to my pellets because if you feed only pellets their poop can be a little runny. Also, I like the corn in the winter because it gives them a little heat.


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## YARDBIRD (Mar 27, 2007)

*gamebirds*

I give my birds extra corn/scratch in winter.
The goldens are cold hardy, but I feed all my birds extra corn in winter.

What I will try to do is feed ****** in separate dishes up high on the wire, with a separate bowl for grit if needed, and if it wants additional gamebird chow or corn it can eat with my other birds on the ground. 

I still need to find a buddy for it. I do not plan to race at this time. I have read that fancy pigeons are not the best in a mixed flight pen so probably another homer. The pheasants and guineas ignore ******, the silky bantam hens have included it in their pecking order but do not try to hurt it...

Thanks for your help.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

I've always given my pigeons the seed mix instead of pellets. 
The mix I get is 15% protien. I would list the ingredients but I threw out the label already so I can't tell you exactly but It does have,
green peas
yellow peas
popcorn
safflower
wheat
brown peas
two other seeds that I can't recall the name of {ask me in 5 minutes and I might remember}
One time the feed store mistakenly loaded pellets in my car instead of the seed mixture and my pigeons wouldn't eat them.


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## YARDBIRD (Mar 27, 2007)

*plant protein*

Sounds like the plant protein is better than animal protein. 
I also try to plant things they like to eat inside my pens, and we give my pheas kids things like cooked corn on the cob.


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

YARDBIRD said:


> Ok let me start from the beginning.
> I picked up a white homer at a poultry auction that a guy did not want.
> I have it in a 11.5x32x8hign flight pen with 3 silkys, 3 guineas, and bachelor pheasants.
> Everyone is getting along fine.
> ...


OK,

Now we are getting somewhere. The food you have is pellets, as opposed to seeds. The food is fine, and a good way to go, since you are giving them almost everything they need. Sounds like the grit is granite...which is the same thing they make tomb stones out of...except this is very small particles, that all sounds good also. In fact my very first bag of pigeon food, is what you have !

For your situation, you have done well. Now, all you have to do, is sell or give away all those other animals and become a serious pigeon fancier !!  

Thanks for your visit and your post !


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## YARDBIRD (Mar 27, 2007)

*too funny*

U soooo funny!  

Here is something I just found...

Last month we looked at ways to house pigeons, from humble dove-cotes to purpose-built lofts for particular pigeon needs. This month we will investigate the nutritional needs of pigeons.

Ads by Google
feed, probiotics, enzymes, news, animal nutrition, article database
www.AllAboutFeed.netWhereas chickens generally require food with plenty of fibre, pigeons have a largely low or non-fibre diet. Grains and seeds feature highly in the food taken by wild pigeons, with certain quantities of greenstuffs and grits being eaten also. Birds in the wild have a wide choice of different foods, whereas our pet birds must be content with eating what is given to them. A full-grown pigeon will eat about 500 grams of grain each week.
Ideally, the pigeon keeper will try to emulate the wild birds' diet as best he/she can, but obviously there are restrictions as to how effectively this can be achieved. Domestic birds do not have access to all of Mother Nature's gifts, so we must improvise somewhat to give our pets the best possible diet. 

Grains make up the bulk of a pigeon's diet. In fact, pigeons simply like their grain better than anything else, and will take a wide variety of most things on offer. However, some grains are better than others and some should be avoided altogether. Dried field peas make an excellent staple food and pigeons will do nearly anything to get them. They will usually pick all the peas out of a mix before eating anything else, and they sure do well on them too. Peas are high in protein and promote strong muscles, bones and plumage. Probably the second favourite grain to a pigeon is corn. Corn is an excellent winter feed as it is readily stored in the pigeon's body as fat. For this reason however, corn should be fed wisely and never more than thirty per cent of the diet, particularly if your pigeons have limited access to flying areas. Pigeons will happily eat sorghum (sometimes called *****) and this is another good staple grain. Pigeons like sorghum because it is a small round grain, which is easy to eat. Wheat is a common grain found in pigeon mixes, but the birds tend to not like the soft white kinds of wheat, but prefer the darker red wheats which are much harder. If barley is available, this can be added to the mix also, but the four grains, peas, corn, sorghum and wheat will keep pigeons happy forever. A good all-round mix would be 30% peas, 30% corn, 30% sorghum and 10% hard wheat. 

I must be a well rounded bird mommy, however, my ****** is really cute. I can see the obsession starting. Usually where I start with 1 bird, many follow. I think my boyfriend would love it if I just concentrated on one kind of bird...


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Here is a link that shows pictures of the various seeds and grains in a pigeon mix, however I don't recommend the formulations of this brand.


http://purgrain.com/ingredients.htm


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

Treesa,

Slightly off topic, but I recently purchased a number of bags of the Professional series. The feed, I admit was very clean, but the formulations of Champion Breeder and Champion Racer are absolutely horrible in the opinion of myself and my loft manager. The "Breeder" was so full of red milo that it caused the breeders to go off their feed and pump the young full of water. The so called "Racer" formula has way to much corn. I hope all my competitors use this junk ! I wouldn't use this stuff if they gave it to me for free. 

Perhaps they get it right in the other formulas, but I am not going to experiment. 

Warren


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Warren

  WOW! That is quite an eye opener,we have been using this link as an example for people of a good pigeon mix for years, and for pictures of the various grains and seeds, but if the formulations are bad, I won't recommend it, only for pictures of each type of grain and seed.

So, which one can you recommend?


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

Purgrain was recently bought out by the same firm which owns the Brown's feed. Purgrain has a nice web site, which goes over seeds and grains...so that is still worth noting. The grain is sparkling clean, no problem there. My only gripe is with the formulation of the so called "Professional Series", since I paid perhaps 20% more locally then my regular Brown's supplier, I expected something much better. 

For the typical pigeon keeper, if that is all that is available, I would not fret about it. I am only talking about my dislike of the formula, or percentage of seeds used. l also dislike the paper packaging, as it is inferior to the new Brown's packaging. 

They have a number of other formulas, so perhaps some of them are better, and perhaps with the new ownership, some changes may be in store. For the person who has a few pigeons as pets, it may not make much difference. For the competition flier, you can't afford to settle for 2nd best, and a good feeding program requires more then just good clean grains, there has to be good balance and those two I mentioned, are really out of whack !


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