# weaning help!



## Grant2 (Dec 28, 2006)

family is into pigeonracing, so since they were available, I decided to raise a youngster. He or she is feathered out, and lost it's yellow baby feathers. It still wants me to feed the seeds to him . How do you go about weaning? He gets so crazy for food, I only feed him in the AM, and then leave seed out, and water which he has no problem with. He's trying to fly, and just flies from the counter to the floor, but is so spoiled, he pecks but drops the seeds right away. 
Any ideas??
Any advice is appreciated.Thanks


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Grant2 said:


> family is into pigeonracing, so since they were available, I decided to raise a youngster. He or she is feathered out, and lost it's yellow baby feathers. It still wants me to feed the seeds to him . How do you go about weaning? He gets so crazy for food, I only feed him in the AM, and then leave seed out, and water which he has no problem with. He's trying to fly, and just flies from the counter to the floor, but is so spoiled, he pecks but drops the seeds right away.
> Any ideas??
> Any advice is appreciated.Thanks


Hi Grant & welcome to the forum, 

How old is this youngster exactly...sounds like he/she is at least 35 days old. In my opinion and from what I know about weaning spoiled pigeons, the only way to go is by "tough love". If the bird is pecking at seeds then he knows what they are but isn't hungry enough to really try to eat them. 

I would suggest encouraging the bird to peck by showing him with your fingers. "Peck" at the seeds with your fingers in front of him and pick them up but stop feeding him manually altogether. They have to be hungry enough to really try to eat but don't worry because they can survive for a number of days without food. His pigeon parents would do the same and simply cut him off from feedings leaving him to fend for himself. Patience, persistance and with-holding hand feeding should pay off soon


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Grant2 said:


> family is into pigeonracing, so since they were available, I decided to raise a youngster. He or she is feathered out, and lost it's yellow baby feathers. It still wants me to feed the seeds to him . How do you go about weaning? He gets so crazy for food, I only feed him in the AM, and then leave seed out, and water which he has no problem with. He's trying to fly, and just flies from the counter to the floor, but is so spoiled, he pecks but drops the seeds right away.
> Any ideas??
> Any advice is appreciated.Thanks


You should probably allow him to stay hungry in the A.M. so he is forced to feed himself. He should be good and hungry then.

Make sure to supplement with a meal in the afternoon, and one at night until he learns to pick up and eat by himself. It will take a few days for him to actually pick up the seed quickly and actually swallow it one after the other.

There is nothing better then to have the youngster around other youngsters or older birds, and watch them eat...as he will learn VERY quickly then.


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## Grant2 (Dec 28, 2006)

Trees Gray said:


> You should probably allow him to stay hungry in the A.M. so he is forced to feed himself. He should be good and hungry then.
> 
> Make sure to supplement with a meal in the afternoon, and one at night until he learns to pick up and eat by himself. It will take a few days for him to actually pick up the seed quickly and actually swallow it one after the other.
> 
> There is nothing better then to have the youngster around other youngsters or older birds, and watch them eat...as he will learn VERY quickly then.


That sounds like good advice, he is so hungry in the AM, that I've been feeding then, it will probably be better the other way around.
We don't have any youngsters, so I've been putting him in the hen loft for awhile.


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## Grant2 (Dec 28, 2006)

Pigeonpal2002 said:


> Hi Grant & welcome to the forum,
> 
> How old is this youngster exactly...sounds like he/she is at least 35 days old. In my opinion and from what I know about weaning spoiled pigeons, the only way to go is by "tough love". If the bird is pecking at seeds then he knows what they are but isn't hungry enough to really try to eat them.
> 
> I would suggest encouraging the bird to peck by showing him with your fingers. "Peck" at the seeds with your fingers in front of him and pick them up but stop feeding him manually altogether. They have to be hungry enough to really try to eat but don't worry because they can survive for a number of days without food. His pigeon parents would do the same and simply cut him off from feedings leaving him to fend for himself. Patience, persistance and with-holding hand feeding should pay off soon


Yes, It is about the age she or he is. Hatched about 11/28.
I'll try the tough love tomorrow, and by then maybe hunger will win out. I was just a little afraid that he or she would get weak, but that is how
the parents would do it.
Thanks for responding. First time raising one like this, so it's all new to me.


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Hi Grant and everyone, 

The reason I'm such a supporter of the "tough love" approach is because my hand raised pigeons weren't eating on their own until they were nearly 2 months old and they weren't eating properly either at 3 months. These pigeons were very spoiled 

If you have a hen coop to put the baby in with, this is a great idea and he will learn from them. Just stop feeding him and if you can wait it out for a full day or two, he should start eating by himself for sure I would think.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Hi Grant and welcome to the forum.

The best way to monitor this little guy while you're trying to wean him is weigh him with a gram scale in the mornings before he starts eating. That way, you can be sure he doesn't have a drastic drop in weight. Personally, I like to feed ours at least one time a day (at night) until they decide to really start eating on their own. They are very vulnerable at his age so you want to make sure he has the nutrition he needs. He'll discover how to do it very soon and not want to be hand fed any more.


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## dovegirl (Apr 15, 2006)

We had the same problem with Comet - a hand-raised pigeon. 

The only way we got him to wean was to send him back to the pigeon breeder. Comet spent 1 weekend with other pigeons his own age. 

He came back a fully weaned pigeon.

Regards
Peter and Ellie


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