Is milk alright for them?

[BrianNAmy]

This morning I left my cereal bowl for a few minutes, and my two birdies were drinking the milk left in the bottom. They really seemed to like it...will it hurt them? Is it alright to give them once in a while as a treat? They like to play with whatever food we are eating, but they rarely eat any of it (like cheerios and cheese doodles and such.) They were definitely drinking the milk though...so...will it be ok?

[Reti]

I wouldn't recommend milk for pigeons. If they had some by accident, that would probably be alright, no harm to them, but surely I would avoid it in the future.
I don't think they can tolerate the lactose in the milk, they probalby don't have the necessary enzymes to process it.

Reti

[BrianNAmy]

Thanks I won't give it to them then

[bigbird]

Yes, water would be best, be sure they are getting fresh water at all times.
Carl

[maryco]

I agree with Snowbird and Carl.. Once my pet homer Pearl ate a little grated piece of cheese and she was sick for the whole day.
Pearl is very strong and she never was sick since I had her in the winter of 2003 but after eating the cheese she started to just open her mouth and vomit green slime and sat puffed up the whole day.

She got over it (Thank God) but I was quite worried and she will never get cheese/milk again..

Giving small amounts of yogurt (Organic) as probiotics is ok and many people do this.. But for myself I prefer to just give a capsule , coat the seeds with probitoic powder or add it to the formula and give by tube for a sick bird.