Important Pigeon Vitamins

Vitamins are chemical compounds that are natural components of food. Found in minute quantities, feeding

vitamins to the pigeon are essential for normal metabolism and health. The vitamins necessary for the performing pigeon are divided into six groups (A, B, C, D, E and K). Within these six main groups are several different sub-types. Each group of vitamins has its own set of functions for the pigeon and when severely deficient in the diet, display their own set of characteristic deficiency symptoms. The effect on metabolism is proportional to the level of deficiency so that when deficiency is mild, the symptoms are vague and non-specific, such as poor performance or compromised health.

Vitamins are generally not made in the pigeon’s body in sufficient amounts to meet requirements and so must be taken in as a dietary source.

The six groups of vitamins are divided into two basic types. The water-soluble vitamins (B and C) are not stored in the body of the pigeon and so any deficiency in these tends quickly to have an effect. The fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) are well stored in the pigeon’s liver and so daily intake is less critical.

Champion Pigeon Breeding Revealed

The only way to attain real longevity in the sport of pigeon racing is to breed your own champions.By mastering the practice of breeding, you’ll have the ability to control quality, quantity, and most importantly, performance. Whether you want to establish a solid reputation as a top breeder or you are looking to sell your pigeons and generate huge profits, you need to know all the facts.    Champion Pigeon Breeding Revealed takes you through a straightforward, outlined explanation of everything you need to launch your winning team. No more guessing or trial and error. Just powerful methods that are designed to unleash the champions in your lines and set them on a course to non-stop success!

Each vitamin has its own set of functions:

Vitamin A:
is necessary for healthy skin and mucus membranes, ie the lining of the mouth, sinus and cloaca, etc.

Vitamin B:
is actually a large group of 12 or more different compounds, eg thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), choline (B4), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6), etc. These vitamins perform many vital functions for the pigeon. Being water-soluble, deficiency quickly develops if the birds are not eating.

Vitamin C:
is a metabolic regulator. In most species of seed-eating birds, including pigeons, vitamin C is synthesised in the liver and there is no advantage in supplementation unless the bird becomes debilitated and is no longer able to make enough vitamin C, especially if the liver is damaged.

Vitamin D:
is necessary for the absorption of calcium from the bowel into the body the pigeon. Birds can make their own vitamin C if they have access to light.

Vitamin E:
regulates many of the normal metabolic processes within the cell.

Vitamin K:
is necessary for blood coagulation. These vitamins are found in green plants and can be produced by the normal bacteria in the pigeon’s bowel. It is in fact quite difficult to produce a vitamin K deficiency unless antibiotics have been overused and have killed all of the bacteria in the bowel or birds are prevented from eating their own droppings or probiotics are not used.

Read more »

Pigeon Supplements

Confined birds such as stock birds are not given the opportunity to forage. Foraging allows a bird to feed

selectively and to supplement its diet in the event of the nutritional balance of the diet being inadequate. The birds is therefore dependent on its owner to provide a complete and balanced diet. This places heavy responsibility on the provided diet to supply adequate vitamins for the pigeon in the correct balance with each other. All seeds vary in the level and variety of vitamins they contain. It is therefore inconceivable that a dry seed diet based on a small number of seed types would supply all of the pigeon’s vitamin requirements. In the stock loft, it is important to remember that micronutrients and vitamins such as riboflavin, carry over into the pigeon’s egg. This is necessary for maximum hatchability and chick vitality. Of interest, the age of the stock bird appears to have an influence on the efficiency of carry over of vitamins into the pigeon egg and this might be part of the reason why some fanciers notice that most of their successful race birds are bred from their younger stock birds.

Race birds in many lofts are given the opportunity to forage, however, are in fact more prone to not only vitamin, but also general nutritional deficiency because of the increased vitamin requirements associated with exertion, tissue repair and disease resistance. In addition to this, the racing pigeon spend considerable time during the season away from the loft in race baskets where feeding patterns are disrupted, being different from those in the home loft. Sometimes meals are missed altogether such as in all-day races and in ‘late arrival birds’.

In addition to routine maintenance, birds in a number of disease situations benefit from additional supplementation. These include:

• Diseases that damage the bowels, such as coccidiosis, reduce the absorption of nutrients.
• Damage to any tissues may increase requirements because of the need for healing.
• Activation of the immune response mechanism may also increase requirements, something of particular importance in recently weaned young birds.
• Some vitamins are stored in the pigeon’s liver and damage to this organ can reduce its ability to store and mobilise vitamins.
• Reduced feed intake due to disease tends to reduce the availability of vitamins at a time when the pigeon’s demand is increasing.
• The need for vitamins increases generally through growth, breeding, stress, disease and old age.

Supplement choice
Water-soluble vitamins are a convenient and effective way of improving the pigeon’s intake of important vitamins at particular times of increased demand. Different species require different levels of nutrients. Because of the problems associated with over- or underdosing and the need for all nutrients to be in the correct balance, it is most unwise to give pigeons a product made for another species or to not follow the manufacturer’s dosing instructions. To do so is simply playing with fire and quite frankly makes no sense. To use a product designed for a horse or dog on a pigeon implies that these animals’ metabolism is the same. This is plainly not true and to give a dog product to a bird immediately results in giving too much or too little of that nutrient. However, with the multivitamin / mineral supplements now available specifically for birds, their correct use can only help the birds, protecting them from a nutrient deficiency that may compromise their health and as a result their race performance. I usually recommend adding a complete multivitamin / mineral supplement to the water once or twice weekly as a matter of routine.

Read more »