Babies of all types are generally very helpless and need to be taken care of by their parents to survive. This includes animals like pigeons well. So how do pigeons feed their babies?
Pigeons feed their newly hatched babies crop milk. This milk is produced by both the mother and father in the crop which is located at the base of the pigeon’s neck. This is not true milk but rather a milky like substance that contains all that the baby pigeon needs to grow.
In the animal kingdom, some creatures care for their offspring after they are born, and some don’t leaving their young to fend for themselves.
Birds in general, belong to the class of animals that fend for their young until they are old enough to leave the nest. Bird parents protect their offspring and go out in turns to search for food with which to feed their young.
In this article, we will be discussing how pigeons feed their babies in the wild. We hope this article provides answers to all your questions.
Table of Contents
How do pigeons feed their babies?
Pigeons are one of the many birds that live among us. These fascinating creatures can be found in all parts of the world except the Sahara desert and Antarctica.
When a female pigeon reaches seven months of age, she is sexually mature and can start producing babies. The incubation period for these birds is usually around 18 to 21 days.
After the egg hatches, both parents share parental duties. The father pigeon doesn’t leave the job of nursing its young to the mother pigeon alone as most mammals do.
Adult pigeons start to produce a secretion called crop milk a few days before their eggs hatch.
This milk has a strong resemblance to mammalian milk. It is with this secretion that male and female pigeons are able to feed their babies or squabs as they are also called.
The crop is located at the base of an adult pigeon’s neck. It is primarily used to store and moisten food before it is digested. But two days before their eggs hatch, the crop of both parents becomes filled with a milk-like liquid.
As soon as the babies emerge, both parents take turns to spew the crop milk into the mouth of their newborns.
Nutritional information on crop milk
Crop milk is a secretion that forms within the crops of only a few parent birds. Apart from pigeons, the three birds also discovered to produce crop milk are male emperor penguins, flamingos and mourning doves.
The crop milk is so rich in proteins and fats that when it was fed to young chickens in a 1952 study, they grew faster and larger than chickens that weren’t fed the substance.
The crop milk produced by pigeons is highly nutritious. It contains protein (60%), carbohydrate (1-3%), fat (32-36%) and essential minerals (potassium, calcium, phosphorus, and sodium).
It doesn’t end there, this crop milk also contains powerful antioxidants and immune building properties that help to strengthen the immune system of the developing babies.
Crop milk plays an essential role in the survival of baby pigeons that, if fed something other than this milk from their parents, they may die in infancy.
When do parents stop feeding babies?
Baby pigeons are usually fed crop milk by their parents for about 14 days. At the end of the two weeks, they are able to eat the same type of food their parents eat.
Even after they stop taking crop milk, these baby birds still rely on their parents for food as they aren’t strong enough to fend for themselves.
A young pigeon will remain dependent on its parents for solid food for another 10 days or more before it finally leaves the nest at 25 to 40 days of age.
Why do we never see baby pigeons?
Pigeons tend to build their nests on rooftops and in other secret places. They build in secluded places to hide from humans and other potential predators.
Another reason for this is that baby pigeons never leave the nest until they reach around three weeks old. By the time they get out of their parent’s nest, they already look like full-grown adult pigeons.
The only difference being their smaller size and fluffiness of their feathers.
What other birds feed their babies crop milk?
Flamingos: Flamingos are one of the few birds that feed their young with a liquid secretion from their crop. The milk produced in the digestive tracts of flamingos is red in colour and spewed into the mouth of their babies. Like the crop milk of pigeons, the flamingos crop milk is also extremely high in protein and fat.
Mourning doves: Pigeons and mourning doves share a lot of similarities, one of which is how they feed their babies. Mourning doves produce and feed their young with crop milk just like pigeons.
Male emperor penguins: In the case of emperor penguins, only the males produce crop milk. The secretion comes from the lining of the penguin’s crop and is fed to their babies in the same manner as pigeons, mourning doves, and flamingos.
Conclusion
Pigeons are in no way mammals, but they feed their newborn infants with a similar type of food as mammals – crop milk. This milk-like product is produced in the crop of pigeons
However, pigeons are not the only birds that feed their babies crop milk. The offspring of mourning doves, flamingos, and emperor penguins have also been discovered to feed on the milk-like secretion from their parent’s throat.
If you’re interested in pigeons you may also be interested in these articles: Why do pigeons fly in circles? How do pigeons sleep? Why do pigeons make noise? How do pigeons see? How do pigeons know where to deliver messages? Click the links to read more.
