Pet Pigeons in Focus

Many people say that raising pet pigeons is both a satisfying and interesting activity. A lot of people keep this domestic bird as a source of income or just a hobby. In general, the most usage of this pet is for meat source or as a pet. For a successful raising of pet pigeons at your home, you need to know the best practices to carry our different activities. It does not really matter if you keep or plan to sell the pet. The following practices would give you the best returns whether it is feral rock or even homing. There are around 300 pet pigeons breed, in case you did not know. This pet is categorized into three major things: fancy, utility, and sporting.

If you do the correct practices when you raise birds, you can be assured that you will get the best results from your pet pigeons. Read on here to understand how to raise our feathered friends inside your home, these practices are best to be employed to get the best benefits from your birds.

Raise Pigeons in Pairs

Your pigeon likes to live by pairs, one male and one female. If you plan to buy them, make sure that you get the two of them. Your birds would like to pair themselves, but, if they can’t pair, make sure to lock them in a nest box over the next few days and you will see that your pet pigeons will be bonded. Remember, your pet would only pair if they found out that they have the same behaviors and characteristics.

Provide Healthy Foods

Your pet pigeon likes eating seeds and grains. You need to provide them with dry grains. Simple grains would have a high moisture content that could potentially lead to diarrhea and vomiting. The grains that you can feed your pet are the following: barley, wheat, sorghum, and corn. You can also find ready-made commercial feeds that you can easily buy to improve the diet of your pet.

With the matter of the seeds, your bird really loves to eat legume seeds, peas, peanuts, as well as soybeans. You need to break up the seeds into smaller pieces to make sure that the younger ones feed on them without any difficulty. You could also combine two or more different kinds of seeds to make sure that your pet has complete nutrients. The baby birds are usually fed by adult birds, you should not worry about this problem.

A great addition to the feed is the grit. Oyster shell, limestone, salt, bone powder, and charcoal are some of the things. It contains sulfur, calcium, iron, iodine, and some more essential minerals.

Place the food in a location that they can easily access at any time of the day. One of the recommended places to put this is near their houses. You need to put the food in clean trays or troughs and should clean these containers regularly to avoid any contamination. You should not put the food insider their lofts because there is a big possibility for them to mix it with feces and other wastes.

Provide Comfortable Housing

We recommended that you install more than one piece of coop/loft, a pigeon house if you have more than one pair of birds. Just like humans, your pet pigeon might not get along well with others, some might become aggressive, in this way, you should shelter them in separate coops.

Other than this, you should provide a secure coop for your pets, mainly because your pet pigeon are preys of some other birds as well as some other wild animals. To ensure security, you should make sure that the loft is made of wood, metal sheets, or even wire mesh. Its doors should be very strong and well-fixed to keep away the predators.

The materials, as well as the design of your loft, should not be a burden for your pet pigeon in any way. The metal wires and sheets should be securely fixed to make sure that they do not pierce, scratch, or injure your birds. You could also give some soft linings materials to ensure the improvement of the comfortableness of the coops. There should be landing trap or board to help your bird access it house without any difficulties.

We recommend that you clean the lofts daily. Feathers and feces will accumulate faster in their houses, so you need to have a regular clean up. You can control and prevent many diseases as well as parasites if you keep their coops very clean and dirt-free.

Control the Living Environment

Weather condition is one element that truly affects your pigeons. Your pet could not really tolerate these problems when it reaches an extreme period. However, remember that all creatures can’t really survive at extreme temperatures, rain, or wind, it is important to give a livable environment for your birds.

You need to get the necessary heating system that would help your pet to cope up with the cold weather during the winter season. During the hotter months, you should reduce the bedding and increase the ventilation of the loft. If your place has a strong wind current, you need to have wind barriers n your house.

Prevent and Control Parasites

Parasites are a great enemy of our beloved pet pigeon. They could greatly interfere with your bird’s attractiveness as well as the reduction of their productivity. Mites, fleas, lice, ticks, worms, and mosquitos are some of the most common parasites for your pet pigeon. The number one way to prevent these things is keeping the bird habitat very clean. You need to ensure that the food and water troughs, coops, perches, flypen, as well as the nest boxes remain sanitized as well as clean.

If you see any sign or symptom of a parasite attack, you should use a suitable insecticide or pesticide in order to control these things. You should also quarantine your affected birds in order to stop the spread of any parasites. You  should see the help of your veterinarian if your parasite attack becomes very severe.

Provide Well – Designed Nest Boxes

There are certain things that are used to becoming laying eggs as well as raising the young ones, and these are nest boxes that are designed to be lofts. Your normal nest box has the following dimensions, 24 inches long, 14 inches deep, and 12 inches wide. 1/3 of this box should be opened and then covered with a wire mesh to help your birds get fresh air while maintaining security. Aside from that, the interior should be lined with a good nesting material.

Provide Clean Water

Your pet pigeon should have enough access to fresh water all day. We recommend that you place the water near the food troughs. Make use of specially designed water containers that would help them drink water with no difficulties. You need to make use of this water troughs to fully ensure that your pet pigeon can drink enough water every day. Cleaning the troughs daily or even regularly would help prevent the occurrence of different diseases.