Detailed Explanation of Key Points for Pigeon Breeding: Essential Tips Every Pigeon Keeper Must Know

Pigeons are a common poultry species in our country, and pigeon farming has a long history in our country, with its development expanding even more in recent years. So, what are the key points to note in pigeon breeding? Let's take a look together!

1. Prevent early mating

Pigeons sometimes reach sexual maturity without their bodies being fully mature. Therefore, to prevent early mating in pigeons, we should complete the grouping work when the pigeons are 4 months old, raising males and females separately. Usually, only when the pigeons' bodies have gradually matured at around half a year can breeding take place. Otherwise, if mating occurs too early, the female pigeon's body has not yet reached the standard for breeding, making soft eggs, rotten eggs and similar problems likely to occur, and it will also harm the female pigeon's body.

2. Egg-laying management

Usually, under normal feeding and management, a female pigeon can lay two eggs each time, though this will last about 3 days. Generally, after laying the first egg on the first day, the second egg is laid only on the third day. Therefore, good feeding and management must be carried out when the female pigeon is laying eggs, because the laying times differ by 1-2 days. During this stage, the female pigeon must be given supplemental nutrition to improve the quality of the pigeon eggs, ensure normal hatching later on, and prevent young pigeons from failing to hatch due to insufficient nutrition.

3. Incubation management

Unlike chicken incubation, after the female pigeon finishes laying two eggs, the male and female pigeons will incubate them continuously, and the incubation period is about 3 weeks. During incubation, after about 5 days, artificial candling must be carried out once. If the blood vessels inside the egg are normal in color and evenly distributed, showing a network pattern, this indicates normal incubation. Then after another 5 days, candle the eggs again. If one side inside the egg is dark and the other side is empty, this indicates normal incubation, and the chick will break out of the shell after about one more week.

4. Carry out disease prevention properly

During pigeon breeding, the nesting bowls where pigeons incubate should be checked frequently, and attention should be paid to the bedding straw. If there is no bedding straw, the breeding eggs are extremely likely to break and fail to hatch, reducing the hatching rate. In addition, the position of the nesting bowl must be fixed to prevent it from swaying unsteadily. If the nesting bowl is not fixed, young pigeons can easily fall out of the bowl and die, and the breeding pigeons will fight, seriously affecting the incubation of breeding eggs and reducing the survival rate of young pigeons.

5. Feed management

During incubation, the protein content in the feed must be increased, especially crude protein, which should reach about 19%, so as to provide enough pigeon milk for the young pigeons after they break out of the shell and prevent insufficient pigeon milk from affecting the growth of the young pigeons. If the female pigeon lays only one egg and soft-shelled or sand-shelled eggs appear, this indicates improper feed or low-quality health grit. At this time, the nutritional value of the feed should be increased and high-quality health grit should be replaced, so as to improve the productivity of the pigeons.

The above are the key points to note in pigeon breeding. I hope they can help all breeders!