At What Age Do Young Pigeons Begin to Molt? A Detailed Guide to Raising Young Pigeons

The pigeon is a fairly common bird in daily life, and it has high food value, so it is deeply loved by consumers. Young pigeons refer to pigeons that have just hatched, and in the process of raising them there are certain differences from adult pigeons, so what are the specific steps? Let us learn about them together below!

At what age do young pigeons molt

Young pigeons generally begin to replace the first primary feather from the inside out at around 50 days of age, and afterward replace one about every 15 days, and by 6-7 months of age they can replace all their feathers.

How to raise young pigeons

1. Nutrition must be sufficient: newly hatched squabs, first, cannot walk or feed themselves and rely entirely on their parent pigeons to feed them; second, they grow and develop rapidly and gain weight quickly. For this reason, the parent pigeons must be given nutrient-rich feed, especially more protein feed, and the number of feedings must be increased.

2. The temperature must be suitable: newly hatched squabs have very short feathers and poor cold resistance, so in cold winter it is necessary to do a good job of cold protection and warmth, and when the coop temperature is below 6°C, warming facilities must be added; in hot summer it is necessary to prevent heatstroke, and when the coop temperature is above 26°C, heatstroke prevention work must be done well.

3. Swap the positions of the squabs: to avoid one squab in a clutch being large and one small, with a big difference in individual development, the method of swapping positions and balancing care must be adopted. The specific practice is, before the 6-7 day old squabs can stand, swap the positions of the two squabs in the same clutch once every 2-3 days, so that they get balanced care from the parent pigeons.

4. Merge squabs: if only one squab hatches in a clutch, or only one remains of a pair of squabs because the other died midway, it can be merged into another nest of a single squab or double squabs of the same or similar age. Doing this can avoid the phenomenon of crop impaction caused by the remaining single squab often being overfed by the parent pigeons. When first merging nests, pay attention to observing whether the parent pigeons refuse to feed or peck at the newly merged squab.

Preparation of feed for brooding young pigeons

1. When squabs are 1-3 days old, fresh sterilized milk, glucose, vitamin B10 water and digestive enzymes can be used to make a fully thick feed for feeding.

2. At 4-6 days of age, fresh milk or milk powder can be used, with cooked egg yolk, glucose, multivitamins and digestive enzymes, etc. added, to make a fully thick feed for feeding.

3. At 7-10 days of age, rice powder, glucose, milk powder, flour, peas, protein digestive enzymes and yeast tablets can be added to congee to make a semi-thick liquid feed.

4. At 11-14 days of age, rice porridge, bean powder, glucose, oatmeal, milk powder and yeast tablets, etc. are mixed into a liquid feed for feeding.

5. At 15-20 days of age, corn, sorghum, wheat, peas, mung beans, broad beans, etc. can be ground and mixed with milk powder and yeast tablets to make a semi-liquid feed for feeding.

6. At 20-30 days of age, the above raw materials can be used in larger granules, then mixed with boiled water into a slurry for feeding.

7. After 30 days of age, raw materials such as corn, sorghum and peas can be put out for the pigeons to peck at slowly, and after 1-3 days the pigeons will feed according to their own needs.

Pigeon diseases and prevention

1. Pigeon plague is a common disease of pigeons, caused by pigeon type I paramyxovirus; this disease has a relatively high mortality rate, showing neurological symptoms, head shaking, and often diarrhea. Drug treatment is ineffective.

2. Necropsy: there are hemorrhagic spots in the proventriculus, intestinal mucosa hemorrhage, and encephalitis.

3. Prevention:

1. Use 0.3% peracetic acid for spray disinfection with the pigeons, and 0.5% concentration peracetic acid for disinfection of the coop and environment. Iodine-type disinfectants can also be used.

2. Use inactivated pigeon type I paramyxovirus vaccine for preventive injection, injected into the breast muscle; when injecting, it should be slow rather than fast, 0.5 ml per bird, usually injected after squabs are 30 days old, healthy pigeons first and sick pigeons after. Once pigeon plague is confirmed, especially in pigeons showing neurological symptoms, kill one as soon as one is found. After injection of inactivated pigeon type I paramyxovirus vaccine, immunity generally develops in 15 days, and the immune period is 6 months.

Young pigeons generally begin molting at nearly two months, and finish molting completely at around half a year. When raising young pigeons, be sure to pay attention to temperature and nutrition. The ratio of feed is also very important, and the food fed at different ages is also particular; this has been introduced in detail above, and we hope it can be of some help to everyone.