# Why is my pigeon such a picky eater?



## Lunasuke (Aug 9, 2016)

So, I found a pigeon in my balcony, abandoned, about a month old I would say, still had some feathers to be grown under it's wings and some yellow fluff in places. At first she wouldn't eat on her own, so I fed her with a tube blah blah then she started eating on her own, little parrot feed seeds and now she's been with me for about 2 weeks since I found her. Problem is, she's become a picky eater, she only goes for the big stuff, like safflower seeds and shelled sunflower seeds (which I don't let her eat, but she tries anyways). I've picked out all or most of the safflower seeds I could from my parrots' food and there's none left. I'm going to get more safflower seeds today, but I think it's unhealthy for her to only eat those. How can I get her to eat more of the regular seeds and other food rather than just safflower seeds? (BTW, she only eats other food when she's gotten really hungry).


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

*Thank you for your concern.

It is very unhealthy to eat so many fatty seeds. You need to buy a good pigeon seed mix, which will supply her with all the nutrition she needs and only has only 2% sunflower seeds in mix, which are the little black kind.. not good for their liver to get too much fat.

She is a picky eater because she is allowed to eat her favorite seeds first and then gets more. Give her a tablespoon or little more of a pigeon seed mix for breakfast and don't give her anymore until her next meal. She may grow hungry and eat the remainder. Sometimes a little tough love does the trick.*


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## FredaH (Apr 5, 2016)

Lol, I have three like that and had been taking what they don't eat and putting it outside for the wild pigeons until I read a post about them becoming nutritionally deficient if they don't eat a mix of seeds. Now I leave it for a while before I give them fresh and - surprise surprise - they've started eating all different seeds. Makes sense really, crafty pigeons.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Your bird may not have been abandoned, as the parents start another nest and leave them alone. They do come back a few times a day to feed the baby. They are better off raised by the parents, as they and the flock teach them what they need to know in order to survive in the wild. Now this bird won't know any of that, and will need to be a house pet in a cage for its lifetime. That can be a long time, like 15 years. Do you have that much time to commit to her? It often does appear that they have been abandoned, but that is seldom the case.
All pigeons are picky and will grab what they like first. That's normal. Just leave the feed there until she tries everything.


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## Lunasuke (Aug 9, 2016)

Jay3 said:


> Your bird may not have been abandoned, as the parents start another nest and leave them alone. They do come back a few times a day to feed the baby. They are better off raised by the parents, as they and the flock teach them what they need to know in order to survive in the wild. Now this bird won't know any of that, and will need to be a house pet in a cage for its lifetime. That can be a long time, like 15 years. Do you have that much time to commit to her? It often does appear that they have been abandoned, but that is seldom the case.
> All pigeons are picky and will grab what they like first. That's normal. Just leave the feed there until she tries everything.


I put her outside and watched her all day (As I don't have anything better to do), no bird came. She is pretty domesticated by now, and I have all the time in the world to commit to her, so that's nothing to worry about.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Just saying that you could have missed them, as they don't stay long. And pigeons seldom just abandon their young. They are cute now, but all have different personalities when they grow up. You may not think him so adorable then.

What is it you are feeding him? What type of mix?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

They have pigeon and dove mixes that you can buy in 5 pound bags that would be better for him. To it you could add some dried split peas, lentils, a bit of brown rice, and a small amount of safflower seed. There are other seeds that pigeons like that you could add to the mix also.


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## Lunasuke (Aug 9, 2016)

Jay3 said:


> Just saying that you could have missed them, as they don't stay long. And pigeons seldom just abandon their young. They are cute now, but all have different personalities when they grow up. You may not think him so adorable then.
> 
> What is it you are feeding him? What type of mix?


I let her eat what my cockatiels eat (sunflower, safflower, nyjer, white proso millet, shelled and cracked corn, peanuts, sorghum). She also eats cashews, but won't eat anything moist unless you (gently) force feed her, which I stopped doing after she learned to eat on her own.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

That isn't really a healthy diet for a pigeon, and after taking the high fat seeds away, that leaves what? nyger and millet, both tiny, and not really what a pigeon needs. It would also take so many to fill her up. The cashews are not good for her either, except in small amounts, like for a treat. A pigeon/dove mix would be fine with those other things added to it. She would probably eat better.


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## Lunasuke (Aug 9, 2016)

Jay3 said:


> That isn't really a healthy diet for a pigeon, and after taking the high fat seeds away, that leaves what? nyger and millet, both tiny, and not really what a pigeon needs. It would also take so many to fill her up. The cashews are not good for her either, except in small amounts, like for a treat. A pigeon/dove mix would be fine with those other things added to it. She would probably eat better.


Okay, I'll look into that, thanks a bunch for your help.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Those things aren't in pigeon mixes, except for the millet, which is very little bit in a pigeon mix. Different birds have different needs. If you fed your cockatiels a pigeon mix, they wouldn't like it either, and it wouldn't meet their needs.


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## jak2002003 (Jan 10, 2012)

Get a bag of wild bird seed from the pet shop. You can also add dried green peas to the mix and chicken feed pellets.

Just feed 2 times a day... just a spoon full each time. Don't feed any more seed until you pigeon has eaten almost all the previous ration. 

They will eat the tastiest seeds first.. then eat the rest. You bird is just overfed so not hungry to eat the other seeds.

Also make sure you have a pot of pigeon grit and crushed oyster shell or crushed cuttle bone in the cage as they need this to digest their seeds and also for calcium.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

jak2002003 said:


> Get a bag of wild bird seed from the pet shop. You can also add dried green peas to the mix and chicken feed pellets.


*It is not necessary to get wild bird seed, as pigeon seed mix is best for pigeons, and there are so many good quality pigeon seeds out there, different mixes for different nutritional needs. *


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## jak2002003 (Jan 10, 2012)

*seed*



Skyeking said:


> *It is not necessary to get wild bird seed, as pigeon seed mix is best for pigeons, and there are so many good quality pigeon seeds out there, different mixes for different nutritional needs. *


Pigeon mix... as you must know, comes in huge sacks. This poster only has one pigeon. If they buy a big sack the seed will decrease in nutritional value by the time its all eaten... all the sack will be like many years supply for just one pigeon.

They don't need this pigeon mix.. its just a pet pigeon.. not a racer or performing flying bird. They get all they need form the wild bird seed.. and is much cheaper and more easily available then specialist pigeon foods.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

jak2002003 said:


> Pigeon mix... as you must know, comes in huge sacks. This poster only has one pigeon. If they buy a big sack the seed will decrease in nutritional value by the time its all eaten... all the sack will be like many years supply for just one pigeon.
> 
> They don't need this pigeon mix.. its just a pet pigeon.. not a racer or performing flying bird. They get all they need form the wild bird seed.. and is much cheaper and more easily available then specialist pigeon foods.


*Please do not continue arguing, and you are derailing the thread.

They do not get all the nutrition they need from wild bird seed, and incidentally wild bird seed comes in huge bags, not so smaller anymore. Pigeon seed can be bought by the lb.

*


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## FredaH (Apr 5, 2016)

jak2002003 said:


> Pigeon mix... as you must know, comes in huge sacks. This poster only has one pigeon. If they buy a big sack the seed will decrease in nutritional value by the time its all eaten... all the sack will be like many years supply for just one pigeon.
> 
> They don't need this pigeon mix.. its just a pet pigeon.. not a racer or performing flying bird. They get all they need form the wild bird seed.. and is much cheaper and more easily available then specialist pigeon foods.


Not so!

OP you can get good quality pigeon mix in smaller quantities. Mine are pet pigeons but I wouldn't just give them wild bird seed. Amazon sell many different types and if you search online you'll find a good mix.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I can't buy it by the lb. here, but if I had one bird, I wouldn't give it wild bird feed. I would get a pigeon/dove mix, and add to it till it was more like a pigeon mix. Many wild bird mixes are really bad, and contain maybe three different things in them. Usually nothing nutritious. If you only have one bird, then you can afford to do better than that.
You can also google pigeon mixes to give you a better idea of what is in them, and how they look.


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