Key Technical Points and Management Methods for Ornamental Pigeon Breeding
Ornamental pigeon breeding is divided into three stages: squab breeding, young pigeon breeding and breeder pigeon breeding. Among them, young ornamental pigeons are all fed by their parent pigeons, and at this time the parent pigeons must be given sufficient nutrition; young pigeons need enhanced nutrition and should be appropriately kept separately; breeder pigeons begin rearing at 5-6 months of age, and work such as mating and egg laying must be done well.
Points to note in ornamental pigeon breeding:
1. Feeding
Pigeons have stronger activity and digestive capacity than other animals, so their energy consumption is also greater. To adapt to flight, pigeons cannot store a large amount of feed in their bodies to digest slowly, so their eating habits differ from other animals. They cannot eat only once or twice a day like other animals; pigeons must eat continuously, and especially ornamental pigeons, which are mostly small breeds, must not be left without food. Although caged pigeons have less activity and energy expenditure than those in the wild, the food bowls holding feed in the cage are relatively small and cannot store much feed. Therefore, a slight lapse of attention can lead to a break in feeding and leave the pigeons hungry.
2. Squabs
Observe carefully and take care to avoid them being trampled or frozen to death by breeder pigeons. If newly hatched squabs still cannot get pigeon milk after 5-6 hours, find out the cause in time (if necessary, feed the squabs artificial pigeon milk). If the parent pigeons are found not to be nursing, foster them with breeder pigeons from the same period, which can also avoid some parent pigeons feeding only a single squab and improve production capacity.
3. Breeding
Be sure to feed in the same place, with the same keepers and the same feed unchanged, as this can promote normal growth and development of the squabs. Squabs within 2 months of age are difficult to raise because they transition from being fed by parent pigeons to living independently, so rearing management must be strengthened, with attention to warmth retention and ventilation, and enhanced supply of health grit and nutritious feed.
At present, there are more than 600 ornamental pigeon breeds in the world, and pigeon enthusiasts can choose breeds to raise according to their own preferences.