# Pigeon food



## Garye (Feb 20, 2005)

What is the best food for feeding feral pigeons? The ones I feed seem to favor bread over anything including seeds. I don't know why but they'll go straight for the bread and leave the seeds for later. They also seem to like sunflower seeds the most. I've read somewhere that pigeons are not supposed to like sunflower seeds. If that's the case, why does my flock seem to pick those seeds to eat first?


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Hi Garye, 

Well, the best thing to feed ferals is pigeon feed, or wild bird seed. Bread is not very healthy for pigeons or any birds really. It's just loaded with empty calories and carbohydrates. This could be a reason the pigeons eat the bread more readily in the first place...for a quick boost of energy from the sugars. Wild animals become very good at knowing what they need to eat to survive another day. Especially if the wild pigeons have been fed a lot or gotten used to this human food waste. Sunflower seeds are indeed a treat for pigeons. They have a high fat content which helps the birds keep warm in the colder months as well. These along with unsalted/uncooked peanuts, corn and safflower seeds are ideal in the cold winter months for pigeons. Get yourself a bag of un-popped pop corn, and some raw, shelled sunflower seeds and your wild flock should be very appreciative, if not, better fed


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

*Ferals and seed*

They probably just aren't used to it, yet. My daughter goes to college in Rome, Italy and she regularly feeds a flock of feral pigeons near the Vatican. She found a place to buy bird seed and that's what she feeds them. The pigeons recognize her and they quickly abandon people who offer them bread and go to her instead because they know she has seed. They have learned that she brings "the good stuff." She says she is in many, many tourist photos because people like to take pictures of the pigeons sitting on her and eating from her hands.  She has now caught about half a dozen pigeons with string tangled in their feet, cut them free and released them again.


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## Garye (Feb 20, 2005)

*pigeon food*

Really? Sometimes when I give them seed, I mix bread with the seed and they still seem to favor the bread. But I will admit that they will leave other people who feed them (yes there are others they have as friends) and come over to me and maybe it is because I feed them seed (the others usually feed the pigeons bread only). Then sometimes they'll leave me over someone who is feeding them sunflower seeds! That's why I was wondering why they liked sunflower seeds so much when I've read that they don't.

In any case, I'm going to give them seed - corn and sunflower seeds. I can tell after the replies I got that they seem to favor these seeds the most and that it's better for them over bread. I might even experiment with peanuts (uncooked of course).

These pigeons have so many friends here, that they've gotten choosy over what they want to eat.


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

If you really want to be their friend for life, take them safflower seed. It's like candy to pigeons. Mine would sell their little pijjie souls for it.


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## Lin Hansen (Jan 9, 2004)

Garye,

It is so heartwarming to hear that "your" pigeons have other friends and benefactors...unfortunately, not all people are pigeon friendly. It is great to know that they don't have to depend on you only...if you need to go away or can't make it to feed them for a day or two, its' nice to know there are others who will take up the slack...I am sure the pigeons think they are in pigeon heaven...lol.
Thanks for caring.

Linda


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## maryco (Apr 1, 2002)

Hello,

Thought I'd post a piece of the original post about "Basic pigeon needs"
Also try to avoid the bread as everyone suggested, as it has no nutritional value and the yeast can cause some harm in the system.
Sunflower seeds are good, either the black oil ones which have a soft peel and are very oily or the opened normal sunflower seed as I give my birds.
But avoid the normal large tiger striped sunflower seeds with thick shell (I think that's what they are called)

Snacks are listed below too, as well as suggestions about veggies.

Hope that helps!

======================
Basic Needs for a Pet Pigeon 

Water:
1. Fresh water (change it twice a day if it gets dirty quickly) 

Feed:
2. A good pigeon mix either from a feed supply or pigeon supply store is best. Bulk stores often carry some grains which can be mixed to make a pigeon mix, make sure they are good quality and not infested with bugs (Wheat weevils are a common problem in the wheat that I have bought from a bulk store) 
A good mix with quality grain should contain most of these seeds: Wheat, barley, whole corn/unpopped pop corn, white/green peas, maple peas, buckwheat, flax, milo, millet, safflower, vetch and others..

There are many mixes out there, here is a good site:
http://purgrain.com/ingredients.htm
http://purgrain.com/products.htm

Grit:
Grit (Not gravel from a pet shop) aids in the digestion of seed and pigeons enjoy picking at it for minerals and other benefits. Red cross grit is most often found at a feed supply store, it contains crushed oyster shells and is a good source of calcium.
Also offering chopped cuttle bone to your pigeon is another good calcium source, this is especially good for hens who are about to lay.

Supplements:
4. Pigeons kept indoors will need a vitamin supplement because they are not exposed to direct sunlight to produce their own vitamin D3. A good Avian Supplement can be found at a pet shop or from a pigeon supply store. Make sure it contains vitamin D3 (Prime, by Hagens is a good product that I recommend)

Snacks:
Some snacks that pigeons enjoy occassionally are, Raw unsalted peanuts (NOT roasted), safflower, sunflower hearts, hemp, sesame seeds (raw) and others..

Fruits and Veggies:
5. Some pigeons enjoy eating veggies and some fruits.
Vegetables to try are fresh spinach leaves, garlic greens, kale, lettuce (Romaine is best and not iceberg) grated carrots, thawed peas and corn from the freezer bags. Sprouts are also very nutritious, you can grow your own as that's safer. Lentil sprouts and mung bean sprouts grow very quickly and pigeons LOVE them!
**Avoid Veggies like Broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.

Fruits: So far I've only tried fresh papaya fruit with my own pigeons, papaya contains enzymes which aid in the digestion. Only small amounts should be given though.
**Avoid Avocado as it's toxic to all birds.


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## Lolita's Mom (Jan 1, 2005)

*Pigeon Food Comparison Charts*

I am grateful for this thread. I have been working on pigeon food comparison charts based on Kaytee Supreme Dove Food. The basic ingredients in 
Kaytee are:

Kaytee Supreme Dove Food
White Millet,
Milo
Wheat, 
Canadian Field Peas
Red Millet
Canary Grass Seed
Popcorn
Safflower
Oat Groats
Ground Yellow Corn
Ground Wheat
Corn Gluten Meal
Wheat Middlings
Dehulled Soybean Meal
And various vitamins.

I took several handsful of the seed and sorted it out on a blue card and shot a photo of it. When Lolita was hungry I placed her near the seeds I sorted and let her eat her fill. When she was saited, I sorted the seeds again and reshot the photo.

I tried to identify the seeds, but wasn't always successful.
(For identification I used grain photos I took off the web and assembled them in another different photo.)

I have uploaded two files:
1.The identifying chart I made from compiling the web seed photos 
and 2. the comparison charts of the Kaytee Dove Food seeds sorted with the seeds Lolita ate, sorted.
As I said, I am not certain about the seed identification that I have made -
so if anyone has corrections, let me know. 
I am trying to find out what seeds Lolita really likes, so I can save money and not throw out as much as I seem to be doing now.

Addendum: My photos were too large to upload here, so I have put them up at my photo site: community.webshots.com/user/gkoehler

Thank you so much for sharing.

Lolita's Mom


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## Lolita's Mom (Jan 1, 2005)

*Seed Identification*

Heck! If I would have just seen the Moyer's seed pictures mentioned
above in Pigeon food, I could have saved myself a lot of grief trying
to identify the food. The only good thing about what I found on the web
(mostly at http://www.lapc.cc.ca.us/faculty/shapirls/animal_nutrition_feed_samples.htm)
(with more pages at samples2.htm, samples3.htm and samples4.htm) was that they made a comparison in size to a dime, which helped a lot.

I found some other interesting stuff that I shall include here -- some
are children's sites.

Education World - all about PopCorn for children
http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson082.shtml

Identifying Seeds with a game (needs Flash) University of MN.
http://webhome.crk.umn.edu/~dlim/itc/Flash/Seeds-Game.swf
http://webhome.crk.umn.edu/~dlim/itc/Flash/Seeds2-Game.swf
http://webhome.crk.umn.edu/~dlim/itc/Flash/Seeds3-Game.swf
http://webhome.crk.umn.edu/~dlim/itc/Flash/Seeds4-Game.swf


Which Seeds Go to Waste?
http://nature.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bird/msg0201101813947.html

"Milo is defintely not worth buying - it's generally reddish and larger than millet. Red millet is also not preferred. My sparrows, juncos and doves love white millet, which I buy by itself. BOSS or sunflower chips are the single best seeds for the widest variety of birds and thistle is also good for finches."

Poisonous Plants (Always good to know)
http://www.lapc.cc.ca.us/faculty/shapirls/Poisonous Plants.html

Lolita's Mom


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## Garye (Feb 20, 2005)

*Lolita's album*

Loved your photo album! I thank you for identifying the seeds for me. I now have an idea of what is what when I buy seed for the feral pigeons. The ferals seem to like that red millet seed along with the corn and sunflower seeds. I always wondered what that red seed was.

Loved the photos of Lolita! She's cute!


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## re lee (Jan 4, 2003)

For the ferals I would get a poultry mixe or wild bird seed mix. Regular piogeon grain. can very in price. say 10 to 22 dollars a bag. 50 lbs. And that many birds. thats not going far. Not that ferals deserve less. But they will be happy with most any grain. And there numbers will increase.


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## Rockie (Jan 18, 2005)

maryco said:


> Hello,
> 
> Sunflower seeds are good, either the black oil ones which have a soft peel and are very oily or the opened normal sunflower seed as I give my birds.


Wow! Thanks for all that info...I have been wanting to research what other foods I can give my rescued pij's.

Right now I mainly feed a wild see mix that has lots of blk oil sunflower. The rehabber that I speak with has told me a dozen times that I shouldn't be feeding them much sunflower because it causes fatty liver disease. She says they tend to eat them first because it is like candy and too much is no good. I find that my flock picks out all the sunflower and leaves the rest to the sparrows. Have you heard about the fatty liver disease?


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## Garye (Feb 20, 2005)

*sunflower seeds harmful?*

What seed does your rehabber suggest for pigeons if sunflower seeds cause this disease? I want to try and do the right thing for them.


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## Rockie (Jan 18, 2005)

She suggests the pigeon mix (which doesn't have sunflr) or just millet and other grains. She specifically has said to limit the sunflower and peanuts. I have always wanted to verify this, but never have. She sounds certain of the dangers.

My pij's don't seem to enjoy the pigeon mix...and they don't eat the peas and corn in the mix. However, I remember feeding straight cracked corn last winter and they did eat it. I think they know that if they hold out and don't eat what they don't want, that I will give them the candy aka sunflower seeds. I guess instead of giving in to them, like a parent who cares, I should really enforce what is healthier.


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## maryco (Apr 1, 2002)

Sunflower seeds are ok but as a snack or lightly in the seed mix.. just like with everything else and the peanuts..etc.
Too much is not good and those things are fatty, so everything in moderation.

Then it should be just fine..


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## Victor (Dec 18, 2004)

*picky eater*

It has been interesting reading about the recommended pigeon food here the last couple of months. I too made the switch from the wildseed bird variety found at the supermarket, to the supreme dove and pigeon food.I cut down on the black sunflower seeds also and only put in a 3 finger pinch and mix it up. Of course he attacks the black sunflower seeds first then takes a feeding break and wraps up his meal with the rest of the seeds during several hours. He does not like the larger seeds found in the dove~pigeon mix.I believe in is the chickpea seed.He also does not care for the grain corn .As far as the $3.00 bag of unsalted raw peanuts, well the outdoor blackbirds and squirrels seem to appreciate them! Maybe my pigeon is just a spoiled brat?  I suppose birds are somewhat like people with different personalities and taste differences?


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