Pigeon keeping can be a little overwhelming, if you don’t know what to do, that's why In this guide you are going to learn some beginners tips for pigeon keeping
pigeon keeping for beginners
Taking care of pigeons involves providing all their basic needs and keeping them safe. Pigeons are susceptible to all kinds of predators, so if you keep them outdoors, make sure that local wildlife or loose cats and dogs can't make them dinner. Pigeons can live for as long as 20 years with good care.
Housing for pigeons:
One or two pigeons may be kept in a large cage in your house if you have just one or two. You should keep the cage out of direct sunlight and away from drafts, as well as any cats or dogs who live in your home. A cage for your bird should be at least 2 feet high by 2 feet wide and 2 feet long, but a larger cage is preferable. Clean the cage every day. Spray Viraclen regularly in the pigeon's cage.
You can also keep racing or homing pigeons in an outdoor pigeon coop or loft. Make sure the pigeons' flying area faces south if you purchase or build your own coop. Keep it away from trees or other buildings. Birds don't like wet environments, so the coop must stay dry. Maintaining a dry and mold-free floor by lining it with straw or shavings and cleaning it regularly. Make sure your birds have plenty of strong perches and avoid overcrowding. For pigeons to bathe, place a shallow bowl of water in the coop a few times a week. Let it sit for a few hours, then remove the dirty water.
Feeding Pigeons :
Pigeons need a good quality feed for proper care. When possible, avoid seed-only diets and feed pelleted feeds. A seed-only diet can cause calcium deficiency. Moreover, provide your birds with a daily selection of cleaned and chopped fresh vegetables and fruits. These include:
Fruits, such as apples, pears, and cantaloupe greens, such as kale and spinach broccoli, carrots, and blueberries. In addition to breadcrumbs, mashed eggs, and cooked rice, pigeons also enjoy bits of bread. You can also offer them mealworms as a special treat.
Pigeon care is incomplete without fresh & clean water. Always give your pigeon fresh & clean water. Mix water sanitizer Aquacure in the water. Clean your birds' food and water containers every day, and wash them with Viraclean mixed water afterward.
You must add supplements to the food of racing and homing pigeons. Grit and oyster shells are recommended. The latter provides extra calcium, which isn't present in standard commercial pigeon feed. It's important to feed Electrolyte if the pigeon looks exhausted and to keep them energetic.
You should feed fancy or fantail pigeons oyster shells or other calcium supplements and amino acids, especially if they are kept indoors. Supplements like these are recommended for any indoor dove or pigeon.
Baby Pigeon Caring:
Pigeons reach sexual maturity at about six months of age. In the event your pigeon hen lays eggs and hatches chicks, she and her mate will do most of the work themselves. Male and female pigeons actually produce milk. Their young eat the crops theSeveral species of birds consume the crop, but few produce milk from it.duce milk. The Milk is far healthier than any other type of food for squabs, or baby pigeons.
If you want to provide your baby pigeon with proper care without the assistance of its parents, ask your veterinarian for a pigeon milk recipe. Newly hatched chicks should be fed a commercial baby bird formula blended into a liquid state and administered via syringe. Make sure the syringe tip goes all the way into the crop when you place it into the bird's mouth. Lubricate the tip of the syringe with petroleum jelly.
Feed the liquid mixture twice or three times a day for the first five days of the bird's life. By day 5, you can switch to a larger, feeding syringe. At about 3 weeks, leave small amounts of seeds in the baby's cage so she can learn to peck. By dipping the beak in a small dish of water, also left in the cage, you can teach a baby bird to drink. Wean the baby by leaving food out for her, and hand-feeding her just once a day until she is eating and drinking well. Pigeons should be fed Multi-Vitamins after two weeks. Pigeons fledge between the ages of 4 and 6 weeks. They can then consume adult feed.
Healthcare of Pigeons:
Prevention is the key to good health. Racing Pigeons with ailments cannot produce healthy offspring, and sick pigeons in a loft can spread disease to other lofts. Pigeon health is everyone's responsibility.
Having regular contact with other pigeons, our pigeons are exposed to the effects of negligence in other lofts, which puts their lofts at risk.
As a result, lofts must take extra hygiene measures. Proper housing requires draught-free lofts. Airflow should enter the loft at the bottom front and exist at the highest point at the back. A ventilator should be as large as possible. It varies according to the size of the loft, how many birds are in it, and the weather conditions in the area where you live. Spray Viraclean in Pigeon Houses and clean their pots with Viracean to prevent disease and make Pigeon Houses antibacterial.
Louvers can be fitted at strategic positions so that airflow and loft temperatures can be controlled as the weather changes. This will keep the loft dry at all times. As wood retains warmth during the winter, it is the best material for loft floors.
Cover cement floors with floor dressing or removable wooden sheets. Keeping your loft clean, dusting, and scrubbing regularly is important. Some fanciers even vacuum their lofts. In addition to water, dust is one of the main vectors of disease.
Disease Control of Pigeons:
In the lofts, rats, mice, wild birds, etc. should not be allowed. For smallholdings, it may be a good idea to structure your lofts at knee-height in order to prevent rats and Support pillars can be encapsulated below floor level to prevent rats from encapsulated below floor-level to stop rats climbing all the way You should keep pigeons enjoying open loft sessions outside to a minimum if you can't keep wild birds away from them. outings to a minimum.
The pigeons should bathe in an insulated area inside the loft, which should be kept dry and clean. Feeders and water fountains near a pigeon loft are a good idea. However, if you like watching them enjoy the water, you might add a solution of Aquacure to the water in the birdbath and place the birdbath as far away from the lofts You'll also have the healthiest turtle doves and mossies in the neighborhood. he neighborhood! Some fancier pigeon houses with Viraclen. a liquid dewormer administers a liquid dewormer every six weeks. Regularly spray Viraclean in pigeon’ house.
Isolate an ill-looking pigeon immediately in a separate sick bay. Test a few of the pigeons housed in the same loft section with a veterinarian to prevent an outbreak. Never let a stray into your loft - not even once.
Discipline Your Pigeons:
Pigeon fanciers are unaware that disciplining them is important to their health. We need to keep pigeons away from rooftops where they can access gutters that overflow with dirty water where wild creatures bathe and drink. Some seeds, leaves, and shrubs are also toxic. It is important to teach an untrained pigeon not to sleep out of rebellion. Don't shut it out of the loft where it might get sick from the cold if it goes without food one night. Once all the racers are inside the loft, you should begin proper feeding, excluding the bird you are disciplining.