# Is feeding Wheat "Chapati" to pigeons ok?



## needo19 (Sep 16, 2012)

I am originally from Pakistan and I did breed pigeons there. For years and years i have been feeding them bread , Wheat chapatis and they always been fine , they always bred fine successful breeding. No health issues.
When I have moved to UK and gathered information of keeping pigeons, I have always come across people strictly stopping people not to feed bread to pigeon why??????
I have bought pigeon mix and they do not like it as it has corns in it ans other big stuff they would only eat it if they are starving . I previously fed them wild bird food , which they loved but since i have started proper pigeon mix they force them selves to eat .

I am worried and why can i not feed bread to my pigeons


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

feeding it as a treat would be fine, but not for their regular diet in which they need better nutrition, which that are in seeds and legumes raw and whole, calcium does need to be supplimented with an all grain diet.


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## Pijlover (May 5, 2010)

Wheat chapati is fine for a day or two in a week, i use to do that and thats with their other seeds not seperatley, my rollers and high flyers love it but homers dont, people here mostly feed their pigeons these, if you are familiar with the language that is called "Basi Chapati"

In winter chapati half cooked mixed with desi ghee and that is given as treat first thing in the morning, i never did that but i know people practise it on regular basis but only in cold days not in summer


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## needo19 (Sep 16, 2012)

thanks pjlover 

but why can we feed chapati to pigeons as I have been feeding chapati for years to my pigeon daily , they never had nay issues .

do u know exact reason why people are against it


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## Pijlover (May 5, 2010)

Chapati is made of wheat only, even humans dont take it all the time, we need fruits vegetables and other grains 

Our body requires it for the nutrition similarly pigeons need other seed and grains for better nutrition


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## Ross Howard (Nov 26, 2009)

If it worked for you before why change it? Who's paying the bills anyway. If you have health issues because of it change.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Wheat chapatis are not a birds natural diet., if they did well on it then they would do even better with grains and legumes with the Wheat chapatis as a treat, or part of their diet. pigeons are resilent..look at the ferals living on who knows what..but their life expectancey is half or less of a domestic well fed pigeon.


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## tjc1 (Aug 22, 2012)

Also depends on the bread. Regular white bread is not better than a whole grain. Even for humans. Probably a bread with lots of grains in it would be good as food for a pigeon. But not all the time . Make them fat like us eating lots of bread. LOL


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

breads (esp white) also get build up in the crop as it turns sticky in there.


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## tjc1 (Aug 22, 2012)

That makes sense, but my dad saved a feral a long time ago wetting whole grain bread and hand feed it to it to fatten it up. But this was 30 odd years ago. Ferals in NYC survive on breads people throw away. Not much grain in the concrete jungles of NY


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## Quazar (Jul 27, 2010)

Normal white bread is not good for ANY birds. 
Firstly it does not contain enough nutrition to keep them in prime condition and secondly it has more impurities like starch which is not healthy in large quantities. (Its the starch that causes it to go sticky)
In most waterfowl, feeding white bread causes their wings to grow too fast creating an angelwing effect meaning they cannot fly properly and fast enough to avoid predators.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

tjc1 said:


> That makes sense, but my dad saved a feral a long time ago wetting whole grain bread and hand feed it to it to fatten it up. But this was 30 odd years ago. Ferals in NYC survive on breads people throw away. Not much grain in the concrete jungles of NY


hand feeding what you have 30 years ago to save a feral bird is not feeding domestic pigeons you have in loft everyday in 2012. so there really is not a "but" there..lol..


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## Quazar (Jul 27, 2010)

tjc1 said:


> That makes sense, but my dad saved a feral a long time ago wetting whole grain bread and hand feed it to it to fatten it up. But this was 30 odd years ago. Ferals in NYC survive on breads people throw away. Not much grain in the concrete jungles of NY


Wholegrain bread is a bit better than ordinary white bread.
you'd be surprised just where they find grain lol
If there was not enough food for them, they wouldnt be there.


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

Has anyone tried raising an infant pigeon with multigrain chapati???
Here,people feed chapatis to pigeons once daily. And they claim it has made their pigeons healthy compared to when fed grains. Many add dry fruits to chapatis too.
I've never tried it. Has anyone something practical or scientific to share about feeding chapatis(with ghee)

One thing I do know for sure chapatis do get mouldy in crop... How come people claim they never had no issues


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