Pigeon Caring & Keeping
Pigeon Caring & Keeping involves providing for all their basic needs and keeping them safe. Pigeons are vulnerable to all kinds of predators, so if you keep them outdoors, make sure the neighborhood wildlife or loose cats and dogs can’t make a meal of them. With good care, your pigeon might live for 20 years.
Pigeon Housing:
If you have just one or two pigeons, you may opt to keep them in a large cage in your house. Keep the cage out of direct sunlight and away from drafts — as well as any cats or dogs who share your household. Your bird’s cage should measure at least 2 feet high by 2 feet wide and 2 feet long, but a larger cage is preferable. Clean the cage daily. Regularly spray Viraclen in pigeon’ cage.
An outdoor pigeon coop or loft is also suitable housing, and that’s where you would keep homing or racing pigeons. If you purchase or build your own coop, make sure the pigeon’s flying area faces south, and keep it away from trees or other buildings. The coop must stay dry — pigeons don’t like wet environments. Lining the floor with straw or shavings, and cleaning it regularly usually keeps it dry and free from molds. Provide plenty of strong perches and avoid overcrowding your birds. Place a shallow bowl of water in the coop a few times a week for pigeons to bathe. Leave it there for a few hours and then remove the dirty water.
Feeding Pigeons :
For a proper Pigeon Caring you need to give your birds a good quality feed . Avoid seed-only diets and should feed pelleted feeds too, if available. Feeding a seed-only diet can cause calcium deficiency. In addition, offer your birds a selection of cleaned and chopped fresh vegetables and fruits daily. Suitable choices include:
Fruit, including apples, pears and cantaloupe greens, including kale and spinach broccoli and carrots and blueberries. Pigeons also enjoy bits of breadcrumbs, mashed eggs and cooked rice. For a special treat, serve your birds meal worms.
Proper Pigeon Caring is incomplete without fresh & clean water .You should always give your pigeon fresh & clean water .You should mix water sanitizer Aquacure in the water. Clean your birds’ food and water containers every day and after cleaning please wash it Viraclean mixed water.
If you have racing or homing pigeons, add supplements to their food. Provide them with grit and/or oyster shells. The latter supplies extra calcium, and isn’t included in standard commercial pigeon feeds. If the pigeon looks exhausted & keeping them energetic you should feed Electrolyte.
If you have fancy or fantail pigeons, add oyster shells or other Calcium Supplements & Amino Acids to their diet, especially if they are pets kept indoors. Such supplements are advisable for any indoor dove or pigeon.
Baby Pigeon Caring:
Pigeons reach sexual maturity at about 6 months. If your pigeon hen lays eggs and hatches chicks, she and her mate can do most of the work themselves regarding care of the offspring. Pigeons — both male and female — actually produce milk in their crops for their young. The crop is part of the digestive tract of many avian species, but few produce milk. The milk is far healthier for squabs, or baby pigeons, than any other type of food.
For a proper baby pigeon caring without the aid of the parents, ask your veterinarian for a suitable pigeon milk recipe. She may recommend a commercial baby bird formula blended to a liquid state for newly hatched chicks and fed via syringe. When placing the syringe into the bird’s mouth, make sure the tip goes all the way into the crop. Place a bit of petroleum jelly on the tip of the syringe for lubrication.
Until the bird is about 5 days old, feed the liquid mixture two or three times a day. After day 5, you can switch to a larger, feeding syringe. At about 3 weeks, leave small numbers of seeds in the baby’s cage, so she can learn to peck. Teach a baby bird to drink by dipping the beak in a small dish of water, also left in the cage. Wean the baby by leaving appropriate food out for her, and hand-feeding just once a day, until it’s obvious she’s eating and drinking heartily. After 2 weeks you should feed Multi –Vitamins to baby Pigeons. Pigeons fledge between the ages of 4 to 6 weeks. By that point, they can consume adult feed.
Healthcare of Pigeons:
The key to good health is prevention. Sick Racing Pigeons can’t produce healthy offspring and sick pigeons in a loft put other lofts at risk of contamination. Keeping our pigeons healthy is everybody’s business.
As our pigeons come into regular contact with other pigeons, they’re exposed to the effect of negligence in other lofts which, in turn, puts their lofts at risk.
This necessitates extra hygiene measures in lofts. Proper housing demands lofts that are draught-free. Ideally, airflow should enter the loft at the bottom front and exists at the highest point at the back. The ideal size of the ventilator depends on the size of the loft, the number of birds in it and the prevailing weather conditions in the area where you live. Always spray Viraclean in Pigeon house and clean their pots with Viracean for preventing disease and making Pigeon house anti-bacterial.
Adjustable louvers can be fitted at strategic positions so that the airflow and loft temperatures can be manipulated as the weather changes. Keep the loft dry at all times. Wood is the best material for loft floors as it helps retain warmth during winter.
Cement floor should be covered with floor dressing or removable wooden sheets. Regular cleaning, scrubbing and dusting is important and yes, some fanciers even vacuum their lofts. Dust, next to water, is one of the main vectors of disease.
Disease Control of Pigeons:
Rats, mice, wild birds, etc. must be kept out of the lofts. On smallholdings, it may be advisable to structure your lofts at knee-height to prevent rats and mice entering. The support pillars on which the lofts stand can be encapsulated below floor-level to stop rats climbing all the way up into the lofts. If you can’t keep wild birds away from the pigeons enjoying open loft sessions outside, keep these outings to a minimum.
Rather allow the pigeons to bathe in an insulated area inside the loft, which should be kept dry and clean. Feeders and water fountains near a pigeon loft are not a good idea. But if you like watching them enjoy the water, you could add a solution of Aquacure to the water in the bird bath and install it as far away from the lofts as possible. You’ll also find you have the healthiest mossies and turtle doves in the neighborhood! Some fanciers administer a liquid dewormer every six weeks. Regularly spray Viraclen in pigeon’ house.
Isolate an ill-looking pigeon in a separately built sick-bay immediately. Consult a vet and test a few of the pigeons housed in the same loft section to prevent an outbreak. Don’t allow a stray to come inside your loft – not even once.
Discipline Your Pigeons:
Few fanciers know that disciplining pigeons is related to their health. Pigeons should be kept off rooftops where they could gain access to gutters that overflow with dirty water in which wild creatures bathe and drink. Certain seeds, leaves and shrubs are also toxic. An undisciplined pigeon that sleeps out because of sheer rebellion must be taught not to do so. One night without food may teach it a lesson, but don’t shut it out of the loft where it can get sick from the cold. Just feed a little to get all the racers inside the loft and then commence proper feeding, excluding the bird you are disciplining.
Feed Only Quality Medicine & Feed Supplements for Pigeon Caring :
Buy quality medication that’s registered for birds and only feed your pigeons food supplied by a reputable dealer. If you mix your own food, make sure that you are using a good-quality nutritional mix that provides an adequate supply of everything your pigeons need.
If you would follow as per instruction given in Pigeon Caring article then apart from your Pigeon you would be also happy. You should also read Pet Birds Nutrition
You can join Dog & Pet Healthcare Facebook group for getting regular guidance of yours bird’s & pet’s health.
