How do you get pigeons to eat healthier?

3 full grown pigeons and yet not one will take a second look at anything but seed. this includes carrots peas corn celery. all of them seem to have a vitamin A deficiency which carrots would help fix.. how do you get stubborn birds to widen their minds? and even with their seed they pick out 1 or 2 different kinds and dump out all the rest, so much waste! i tried nutrient pellets which are all of the nutrients they need in each pellet, but they wont eat those either

Maybe feed them the stuff they don't want to eat in the morning, and give them the other stuff later? That's what I do with my bearded dragon to get him to eat his salad. He won't touch it if he has the option of something else, but if it's the only thing there he'll eat it.

Good suggestion Luna, to help them to get used to the different things. That should work. What I have done, when my birds used to be so picky, is pick up the leftovers at the end of the day, and that is what they would get the next day, with a bit more added to it.

As far as the vegetables, I just chop them very small and put them out there. Some like them, and some don't. Eventually, they will usually try them when they see the other birds eating them. Of course, that's harder to do with Scooter, our house pij, as she is the only one. The younger they start getting used to them, the more they will take to them. They get set in their ways, much like us. So they are more likely to try different things when they are younger.

Why do you feel that they have a vit. A deficiency? You could give them vitamins. They should be getting those anyway, where they are inside birds, and don't get sunshine.

Some of my guys don't eat the healthy stuff either. Now I mix Harrison's pellets with their seeds and won't fill up their bowls until they finish eating everything. So far it's working.

Reti

Good idea. And I now add a little bit of the small round pellets to the seed mix. They seem to like them okay. They eat them. If they are hungry enough, they'll eat.

Luna Wolf wrote:

Maybe feed them the stuff they don't want to eat in the morning, and give them the other stuff later?

That's what I do with my bearded dragon to get him to eat his salad. He won't touch it if he has the option of something else, but if it's the only thing there he'll eat it.

That's a good analogy.

muffins and foofies cere lost its white color and are now soft and pink, but muffins has a yellow scab thing on it and her feathers look poor. these are all symptoms of vit a deficiency. i give them vitamins in their water but it doesnt have vit a

what vitamins are you giving them? Maybe you need to change.

its a liquid multivitamin you put into their water. i actually just read it and it says it has 5,000,000 iu of vitamin A weird

zomg fishies wrote:

muffins and foofies cere lost its white color and are now soft and pink, but muffins has a yellow scab thing on it and her feathers look poor. these are all symptoms of vit a deficiency. i give them vitamins in their water but it doesnt have vit a

Would it be possible to post a photo of Muffin, Ann Marie?

zomg fishies wrote:

its a liquid multivitamin you put into their water. i actually just read it and it says it has 5,000,000 iu of vitamin A weird

Yes, a picture might help. Maybe not a Vit. A deficiency. Maybe something else.

i dont know if you can really see it here, its bad quality because i used my cell and she kept moving her head

How long have they been getting the vitamins?

Thanks for posting the photo, AnnMarie.
I know what you mean about them moving around, especially when we want to get a photo.

The photo actually isn't bad. I think it might be just a little too close to Muffin's beak to be able to see it clearly.
Maybe someone could help you by holding her and then you could get a picture a little further away.

Yes, I think maybe just a bit too close for the camera to focus.

Although the picture is a little blurry, it definitely shows there is something amiss with Muffin's beak.
If you are able to get another picture that's a little more clear, that would be great, AnnMarie.

ive been giving them the vitamins for the past month. and ill try to get a picture tomorrow ive been kind of busy

OK THIS IS MY THIRD TIME WRITING THIS geez Lexxi keeps stepping on my keyboard shes too cute. well before she comes back... we do have hawks but they dont like being anywhere near humans and i figured out if i let her out while my other pijjies are in the chicken run shell stay right in my back yard even if something spooks her she doesnt fly more than 10 feet. and as for the pfv65r66666666666666666666r6666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666r5` ok that was from Lexxi... but anyways as for the picture of her on my hand while i type, that wont be too hard shes stalking my hand now.

Oh AnnMArie, those are two of the cutest pictures. Thank you for sharing them with us.
Lexxi is quite the little helper.

Those are cute pics. But as far as the hawks are concerned, it takes 2 seconds for a hawk to grab a bird and take off with it. You're right in that they don't like humans, but they have swooped down and grabbed pigeons off of peoples shoulders. I had one land on a pigeon next to me, and he not only totally ignored my presence, but kept hitting my foot with his wing as he tried to hang on to the pigeon he had landed on. If you let your bird out in the back yard, not in some sort of aviary or something safe, you are putting her in jeopardy.

Okay i wont let her fly free anymore.. my parents are going to be very mad i promised that i would release her they dont like me haveing 3 pigeons. they dont understand the whole shes imprinted and has no experience with the wild thing. they said "shell find a mate and her instincts will take over" but they also said "A raccoon wont come on our back porch" and "the pigeons and chickens are safe in the chicken coupe at night" well, a raccoon DID go on my back porch and ate my baby right through the cage bars (luckily muffins was on a wooden nest safe or she would be dead too) and all 6 chickens and my one pigeon jackie all got their heads eaten off in the chicken coupe (my paranoia led me to bring muffins and foofie in at night, which kept them alive). i think this time i wont listen to my parents because the life of a friend is worth more than being yelled at for a couple days.

AND i posted the pictures on the wrong thread, tera asked for pictures and as i was trying to do it she kept hitting a button that made the page change. how do i get that over to the thread i wanted it on?

zomg fishies wrote:

Okay i wont let her fly free anymore.. my parents are going to be very mad i promised that i would release her they dont like me haveing 3 pigeons. they dont understand the whole shes imprinted and has no experience with the wild thing. they said "shell find a mate and her instincts will take over" but they also said "A raccoon wont come on our back porch" and "the pigeons and chickens are safe in the chicken coupe at night" well, a raccoon DID go on my back porch and ate my baby right through the cage bars (luckily muffins was on a wooden nest safe or she would be dead too) and all 6 chickens and my one pigeon jackie all got their heads eaten off in the chicken coupe (my paranoia led me to bring muffins and foofie in at night, which kept them alive). i think this time i wont listen to my parents because the life of a friend is worth more than being yelled at for a couple days.

AND i posted the pictures on the wrong thread, tera asked for pictures and as i was trying to do it she kept hitting a button that made the page change. how do i get that over to the thread i wanted it on?

You can delete the post with the pictures, and repost it where you wanted it. Or Cindy can change it for you. The pictures are really cute, and I have had pigeons that were just as pesky about the computer. LOL. Why not just leave it there and repost it again where you meant to.

haha okay!

Hi AnnMarie,
Under normal circumstances, your parents are correct when they said "shell find a mate and her instincts will take over". However, this is not the case when a pigeon has become imprinted on a human. They aren't 'street smart', if you will, when they have been raised by a human.

I try to pass along a lesson that I learned from our local rehabber many years ago regarding raising a rescued baby.
As cute as they are, don't interact with them. Make sure they are safe, have clean living quarters and fresh food and water each day. That's it.

The more they are handled, cuddled ahd loved, the harder it will be to try and release them.