If you’re a pigeon owner, or regularly feed backyard pigeons, you may grow tired of feeding these birds birdseed, and because of this, you may want to add variety into their diets. Wanting to feed your backyard pigeons a healthy and nutritious variety of food is wise.

If pigeons aren’t given a good variety of foods they can suffer from malnutrition obesity and disease. You may be considering feeding your bird popcorn in an effort to diversify their diet, but is this good for them? This article explores the question of ‘do pigeons eat popcorn’ 

Pigeons do eat popcorn. This food is not only tasty and enjoyable to these birds but it also delivers nutrients such as potassium, whole grain, zinc, and iron. Only feed your pigeon stovetop popcorn with no seasonings as this is the healthiest choice for them. 

Do pigeons eat popcorn?

Yes, popcorn is a delicious and safe snack for pigeons to eat especially when compared to some of the unhealthy human foods that these animals usually find and eat.

Popcorn is a nutritious snack for pigeons. This food contains a number of minerals and nutrients including iron, whole grain, antioxidants, zinc, copper, vitamin B1, vitamin B3, vitamin B6, magnesium, and potassium 

Fibre is the real star of the show when it comes to popcorn, a 100 gram serving of popcorn contains 15 grams of fibre. This makes popcorn one of the best sources of fiber.

Fibre cannot be digested by pigeons and the fact that it can’t be digested makes it great for digestion. 

Moderation when serving popcorn to pigeons:

Because popcorn is not a nutrient-rich food, rather a fibre rich food, it should not be served as the main part of your pigeon’s diet.

In addition, popcorn may contain nutrients but it is not nutrient-dense, overfeeding your pigeon popcorn will cause the bird to become malnourished.

Only feed this food to your pigeon as an occasional snack. If you want to feed your bird’s popcorn make sure the food is given as a snack as a part of a well-rounded diet containing nutrient-rich foods 

How to serve popcorn to pigeons 

If you’re looking to feed your bird popcorn you need to be very mindful of how you prepare this food. Popcorn kernels may be healthy for birds but how you prepare them affects whether the food will be healthy or unhealthy for your feathered friend.

The varieties of popcorn include microwave popcorn, stovetop popcorn, and movie popcorn:

Stovetop:

The more control you have over your popcorn the better. Stovetop popcorn is the best because you have control over which and how much oil you use when cooking. You also have control over the seasonings you use. 

Microwave popcorn:

This variety may be an easy and delicious popcorn choice for humans but it is not recommended for pigeons or any other animals for that matter.

Microwave popcorn is known to have high amounts of salt, poly saturated and monosaturated fat, none of which are good for pigeons. The high amounts of chemicals present in microwave popcorn are also unhealthy for pigeons 

Movie theatre popcorn:

This is another variety of conventional popcorn that humans love, unfortunately, this variety is not good for pigeons either.

Movie theatre popcorn is known to contain large amounts of calories and sodium. Even a small-sized serving of movie theatre popcorn contains large amounts of calories and sodium.  

Can pigeons eat popcorn kennels

Pigeons can definitely eat popcorn kernels, in fact, serving pigeons corn in the winter months is a sure-fire way to help these animals put on healthy weight in the winter.

These animals need added fat to insulate them during the wintertime and eating corn can help them do that in a healthy and safe way 

What to avoid when feeding popcorn to pigeons 

All the seasonings that we humans add to our popcorn should generally be avoided if you’re wanting to feed pigeons popcorn.

Avoid adding seasonings like butter, salt, sugar, garlic powder, or chocolate. All these additions can have very negative effects on your bird.

If you’d like to add some variety to your bird’s popcorn you can add coconut oil. Pigeons will love the taste of coconut oil and this oil is good for them. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, if you’re considering feeding your pigeon popcorn then you can go right ahead. Popcorn contains a number of vitamins and minerals that will be great for the bird’s body.

Popcorn is rich in fibre and this is great for bird digestion. Avoid adding any types of seasonings when preparing popcorn for your pigeon and always opt for stovetop popcorn over microwave or movie theatre popcorn 

If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other pigeon related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in:  Do pigeons eat bananas?, Do pigeons eat acorns?, Do pigeons eat corn?, Do pigeons eat grass?, Do pigeons eat fish?, Do pigeons eat other birds eggs?, Do pigeons eat mice?