# Food for my feral flock



## abbysian (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi: I have a bag of *wild bird seed *that I purchased from my local supermarket. I was feeding it to the pair of feral pigeons that laid their eggs on my terrace, a few months ago. Their baby is maturing into an exact replica of her mother and doing well. Once baby fledged, the three of them started spending less and less time on my terrace, until I barely see them anymore. They used to come to my terrace every day to eat the bird seed and drink water, then fly off to parts unknown. I am glad, for I want baby to join with the neighborhood flock, and live her life. Since I have a pretty good idea of where the flocks hang out, I have been taking the wild bird seed to these spots and feeding the pigeons. I was wondering, is it alright to add *uncooked rice and Quaker oats *to the mix, just to give the birds more variety, or are rice and oats not recommended. I try to leave food at least three times a week, in the hopes that mama papa and ababy are with the flock and eating too...I sure do miss them


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Thank you for feeding our noble feral flock.

You can try the raw oats, not sure if they will eat it.

IF, you give them rice, make sure it is long grain brown/organic uncooked rice, and only give it as 2 percent of the wild bird seed mix.


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## abbysian (Jun 15, 2008)

Trees Gray said:


> Thank you for feeding our noble feral flock.
> 
> 
> IF, you give them rice, make sure it is long grain brown/organic uncooked rice, and only give it as 2 percent of the wild bird seed mix.


I got some *organic brown rice*, some *split green peas *and some *crumbled multi grain bagel chips*. I added a small precentage of this mixture to the wild bird seed that I already had. I then took a small container down stairs and poured it at the spot where the pigeon flock hangs out. They went bananas Are the green peas acceptable, or should I use another type of pea? I think I may have seen *baby* in the group. I hope she is doing well. I am going to try and continue feeding the pigeons, especially during the winter. I do notice that some other people are leaving out rolls of bread and rice for the pigeons too. I will stick with the seed mixture, for the nutrients that the pigeons may need


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

What a delightful picture!!! 

You need to find a whole pea, as the split pea is not good for them, pigeons need whole grains/legumes.

I hope baby is doing fine too.

In the winter you should add whole corn, as it is best for their winter needs, you can add up to 30 percent to the wild mix.

Here is an example of what is in a pigeon mix:
http://purgrain.com/ingredients.htm


Thank you.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Split green peas are fine. I give them to my birds.


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## SerendipityCA (May 2, 2008)

*How much to feed?*

Hi all,

On somebody's recommendation (sorry, I forget who, but it's somebody else in Northern California), I went to Lucky Dog in Berkeley and bought a 50 pound bag of pigeon seed. I got the "no corn" type.

When I opened it today, the seed smelled a bit "old" - you know how when you've had a bag of brown rice in your cupboard for a long time and you open it and it doesn't smell fresh? Sort of like the oils have turned a bit? Well it smells exactly like that.

Anyway, assuming it is safe to feed this to the pigeons, how much should I give per pigeon per day? I'm apparently feeding a small army on the carport roof behind my building...we only had 3 or 4 resident birds, I thought, but when I throw it up there they seem to fly in from all directions even though I scan the rooftops and don't see more than a couple when I start, and I don't believe I'm in the line of sight of anything other than the immediately adjoining roofs. Maybe they have laser hearing and can hear the seeds hit the top of the carport tarmac!

Anyway, I've seen as many as 26-30 birds out there at one time, which worries me because several apartment buildings look out over that back area, and it only takes one cranky neighbor to ruin everything.

Speaking of which, I have 4-6 regulars at my spot where I feed near the cafe where I get my coffee. I picked a spot that has less pedestrian traffic, on the "blank" side of a commercial building, between some trees, so I can be covert when I need to be.

This horrible woman whom I'd actually met in the cafe standing in line the day before (she had been extremely negative and critical of the cafe, when she started muttering to me as we waited to be served, so I had a foretaste of her personality)...she was apparently standing on the corner as I crossed the street with two pigeons flapping after me at shoulder level, and began braying at me like a hoarse donkey "Hey! Don't feed the pigeons! Do you want a ticket?"

I ignored her and went over and crouched down and began spreading my seed, and she lumbered over screeching at me (I had my back to her) and pulled out her cell phone with her purse swinging wildly about 3" from my face. I never spoke to her, just finished feeding them and left.

The cafe owner thinks she knows her, and says she will ban her if she comes in!

I've tried my best to be careful, I don't feed when the police are around (they park nearby to visit Starbucks)....and now I have to look out for this nut case.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Trees Gray said:


> What a delightful picture!!!
> 
> You need to find a whole pea, as the split pea is not good for them, pigeons need whole grains/legumes.
> 
> ...


Treesa, just wanted you to know that I didn't INTENTIONALLY go against what you said about the split green peas..........we were posting at about the same time. 
However, what is the reason for not feeding the split green peas? I've been adding them to my feed since we started having a hard time finding different mixes like we use to get. In fact, while breeding this past year, I would fill a separate bowl with split green peas, and they LOVED them..........and I never saw a problem.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

I used to give it to my birds but not after reading that any broken seed can get rancid and cause issues for birds, just like cracked corn. To be safe, I give them only whole seeds and legumes.


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