# How to make my pigeons fat?



## Chitee&Pumba

Hi Guys,

I want to know, how to make my pigeons fat n healthy.. !
I have been giving them lottsa food, corn, chickpea, peanuts, wheat, brown rice, white rice, pearl millet, white millet, African millet, Calcium etc. And the food is also kept 24x7. Ofcourse at times it gets over, but is quickly refilled.
Clean water is also provided 24x7.

Still my birds are not attaining the bulk as they should. They are lahore pigeons and this breed is big and bulky.
For one of the male pigeons, a couple of flight feathers are not there (though its growing), therefore I guess it exhausts more energy for flying short distances. Is it because of that, that it has lost weight?

If so how can i revive it? Are there any other nutritional components that I need to include???


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## spirit wings

how you tell they are of good weight is by holding and feeling them.. if you feel the keel bone protrude too much they are under weight.. your pigeons may be just fine. a fat pigeon is not healthy either. I do not know much about lahores but they are larger birds but some strains of the breed may be smaller..depends on the breeder.


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## Hareloft

they need lots of grit like cushed granite or any small stone


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## John_D

Weigh them, and check against the breed standard?

Could give 'em a big mac and fries to go


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## Jaysen

i think there might be a language barrier here. I'm just guessing.


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## Charis

Are they young birds?


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## Jay3

Are,these young birds, as they do take time to fill out.


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## sev3ns0uls

no i think its more like "google translating".

anyway, spirit_wings has your answer.


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## Chitee&Pumba

Thankyou so much for your inputs. 
The birds range from the age of 6 months old to 2 years. 
I know that the younger ones need to fill out. but one of the adult bird is not gaining weight. Thats what my concern was.


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## Shadybug Lofts

They will be under weight if they have worms.


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## Chitee&Pumba

Hi, 
I have already given them de wormer Ivermectin, and I hope to see some results in the coming days. I would like to know if I need to give them a dose again (maybe in two weeks or so..). I dissolved 12 mg ivermectin tablet in 10 ml water and fed approx. 2 ml of it to each bird. I was effective. Do I Do I need to give them medication for tapeworm as well, as somebody told me that Ivermectin is not effective against tapeworms. They recommended me Praziquantal against tapeworm. If yes what is the time duration I need to maintain.


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## Chitee&Pumba

Also I would like to know if garlic cloves work against these internal parasites?


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## Shadybug Lofts

I know you have to worm again in 12 days because the wormer does not kill the eggs and they will hatch in 12 days and your birds will have worms again. I don't think garlic does anything for worms. I don't know about tapeworms.


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## Jay3

Tapeworms aren't as common so I wouldn't worry about it. Yes, as Shadybug has said, worm again in 12 days.


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## Chitee&Pumba

Thankyou very much guys


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## Chitee&Pumba

Actually, somebody told me that if you bathe the birds with water having garlic cloves & basil leave, the external parasites vanish. I havn't tried it though. They also said that if you feed your birds with garlic cloves, it cures a lot of other ailments.


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## Jay3

Garlic is good for them to a point, but garlic chasing away worms or other parasites is an old wives tale. People used to believe that adding a little garlic to your dogs food each day would also stop them from getting worms. Not true.


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