calcium

[Corinne]

We have one male and one female one-year old pigeon. They eat their pigeon food (pigeon grains from the feed store), and grit. Someone told us we should give them calcium. Does anyone know if this is necessary? We don't let them fly. They live in a very large outdoor cage.
Thanks - Corinne

[Evan Garris]

Use oyster shells crushed up. They use it in egg and bone production.

[AZWhitefeather]

Hi Corinne,
Yes, calcium is quite necessary. It is vital for the female especially if you plan on raising babies.
As Evan has stated crushed oyster shells mixed with the grit should do fine.
I'm not sure what sources you have available, but most feed stores sell 'oyster shell grit' in bulk. I purchase mine for 35 cents a lb. I usually buy 5 lbs. at a time & that supplies my 6 pigeons for a while.
Cindy

[maryco]

Try some chopped cuttle bone (remove the hard back shell and chop the soft white parts up into little pieces)
My pet pearl will eat this like crazy when she is about to lay an egg.. I also offer her oyster shell grit and a vimtain/mineral supplement in the water.

Mary

[Christina Coughlin]

Will they eat other foods?

Carrots are very high in calcium, just grate them or shred 'em. My birds just go crazy for carrots, but if you have white ones that you don't want to end up peach then you wouldn't want to feed it to often.

[Thunderbird]

They will eat all kinds of stuf! Chopped greens, lettuce. Mine even like cooked pasta when we have left-overs. The stale bread or the heels are good for them too, just crunch it up. I've posted before that occasionally a piece of drywall found in the road is fine for them also. (There's no chemicals involved as it is formed by pressure) I just break it apart & they pick at it until it's gone.

[dano7]

My birds are very fond of carrots as well; and like Thunderbird notes, my wilders eat the dirt on the baseball field where I feed them, they eat the gravel on the road next to it, they eat the soil in the adjacent vegetable garden, and they pick at the fine grit on the pave roads - things fanciers try to incorporate into our birds diet.

[Trees Gray]

Mine eat curly kale, spinach, and some lettuce. I tried the grated carrots for the first time today, but they didn't go for it all. I will try again

Treesa