How to Feed Young Pigeons

Baby pigeons rely on their mother's milk to grow and survive, but it's very possible for humans to hand-feed babies with commercial baby bird food and have them grow and thrive. However, feeding young babies has to be done several times a day and you may not get it right the first time. You can start feedings with a baby as young as a day or two old.

Things You'll Need

  • 1-cc syringe
  • Plastic tube
  • Baby bird food
  • 6-cc syringe
  • 60-cc syringe
  • Seeds
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Place a plastic tube over the needle part of the 1-cc syringe. Liquify commercial baby bird food so it is very thin. Fill the syringe with the liquified food.

    • 2

      Wet the tube with water to make it easier to put into the bird's mouth and throat. Grasp the bird's neck to keep it up and straight. Open the bird's beak wide enough to carefully insert the tube over the tongue and down to the crop area of its throat. It might be easier to have someone hold and push the syringe of food into its throat while you hold the bird steady. If food starts to come out of the mouth, the tube is not down the bird's throat far enough. This process should be repeated three times during the day, each day, until the bird is five days old.

    • 3

      Use a 6-cc syringe with a plastic tube over the needle part after the bird is five days old. Follow the manufacturer's directions to make the baby food thicker. The thicker food might not go through the syringe smoothly; be careful when feeding it to the bird. Feed the bird a few times during the day until it is about three weeks old.

    • 4

      Use a 60-cc syringe with plastic tube over the needle part when the bird is about three weeks old. The baby will now eat 35 to 50 cc of the baby food mixture. The amount varies because at this stage, some birds eat more at a time than others.

    • 5

      Set out a few smaller seeds and a small cup of water at this age. Let the bird experiment with eating seeds and drinking on its own. It can be a slow process, though, so maintain the regular baby food feedings. As it starts to get better at eating seeds and drinking, cut out one feeding at a time until the bird eats and drinks by itself.