Whether you are a breeder, racer, casual fancier, or a combination, nutrition is pivotal in caring for your pigeons. For this purpose, this post gives specific pigeon food groups that are ideal for diet. Whether you’re breeding racing or just general maintenance of your pigeon flock, diet is key.
Food Group #1 Seeds
Seeds are the number 1 pigeon food in supporting a proper diet for your pigeons. A formulated pigeon seed diet, which contains mixed seeds and grains. Now the particular seed diet will depend on the performance of your pigeons, and if you are breeding and racing them. (Look out for a great resource at the end of this post to aid you in obtaining an optimal diet for your flock.)
Food Group #2 Pellets
Pellet diets are highly recommended by veterans, and has been quoted that they should represent as much as 50% of your pigeons diet. Now there are a number of pellets that have come out and developed covering a range of nutritional needs. There are a host of good brands of pelleted pigeon foods on the market. Two that come to mind are RADCO and SUPREME. It is important to remember if your pigeons are used to seeds, this could present a challenge as you attempt to wean them off. Remember to slowly implement pellets into the diet. As you breed, you will see hand raised babies are the easiest to start on a pelleted pigeon food diet.
Food Group#3 Fruits
Fruits should be washed thoroughly to remove chemicals. In addition, fruits should be cut into small manageable pieces for your pigeons. Ideally you should use these particular fruits in your pigeon food diet.
This list is not exclusive but should be a good starting point:
apples,
apricots,
bananas,
grapefruit,
mango,
oranges
and pears.
Food Group# 4 Vegetables
As with fruit, vegetables need to be washed thoroughly to remove chemicals. Remember to treat your pigeon as a small child when you are preparing their vegetables and fruits for consumption. What I mean by that is to cut the portions into tiny pieces, so the food can be easily digested by your pigeons. You should finely chop your vegetables and stay away from AVOCADO, it has been reported as toxic for your pigeons.
Here is a list of vegetables, as with the fruit list, this is a starting point and not meant for exclusivity: lettuce,
broccoli,
cucumbers,
beets,
cabbage,
dandelion leaves
and chick peas.
Food Group#5 Water and Supplements
Water is essential to every living organism, your pigeon is no different. You should have fresh clean water available for your pigeon at all times. Dishes that contain the water need to be clean by soap and water daily to ensure good sanitation, and you may consider bottled water if you are a breeder or racer. Supplements for vitamins, minerals and amino acids should ideally be powdered based or easily dissolvable in food. Powdered supplements like NEKTON AND QUIKO are good brand names to consider in the supplement category.
These 5 groups are the building blocks of pigeon food, and should be used in whatever pigeon capacity you choose. However, I pride myself as a student of people who pave the way, so I can make the most optimal decisions. Here is a resource for you
that is TOTALLY RISK FREE …