Pigeon's Milk

Pigeon's Milk

This is what is produced by the crop of both cock and hen pigeons from the time their young hatch on the eighteenth day for about a week. It looks rather like fairly dry curds of milk (it only contains about 70% to 75% water, while cow's milk contains 92% water) and reminds one of bread crumbs, with which of course it has nothing in common. But this still does not stop fanciers from giving stale bread at the end of the incubation period "to bring on the milk"!! This is only one aspect of the problem.


The milk is a specific product of glands in the crops of male and female pigeons, just as cow's milk is the product of the udder. This implies a number of laws: firstly, the milk is produced at a specific period in the normal reproducion cycle (and cannot be "induced", as we shall see later); secondly, the chemical composition of this milk, which is relatively fixed, has no direct relationship with the feed given to the breeders. It is the organism itself which draws what is required from its own resources. After the eighth day of incubation, the wall of the crop starts to thicken and become congested, and the glands covering the sides of the crop gradually develop until they are ready to secrete the milk at the end of incubation. The volume of the glandular system in the crop increases by a factor of twenty between the laying of the eggs and the hatching of the squeakers. This is directly influenced by the genital glands and the pituitary gland which controls them. From the start of incubation, the cock's testicles will regain their size and fertility a few days after hatching. A similar phenomenon occurs with the hen's ovaries. So there is a definite correlation; the development of the glands in the crop leads to a physiological rest for the genital glands. This phenomenon is directly influenced by the pituitary gland.

Incubation triggers the production of a pituitary hormone, prolactin, which is essential for the development of the glands in the crop. These glands are capable of producing "pigeon's milk" from the sixteenth day of incubation. But that alone is not enough. As with a motor, a spark is needed for the whole to start functioning. The trigger for the production of milk is of a nervous nature: the sitters must feel the squab moving in the egg and pecking at the shell. If you give a pair at the end of incubation a newly-hatched youngster, it will only be fed milk at least twelve to eighteen hours later. So you must prepare in advance for giving them such a young pigeon.


Pigeons given other eggs for incubation will not have any milk when the "adopted" eggs hatch unless they have sat for at least sixteen days, and the new young pigeons, fed only on water and a few very rare seeds, will die very quickly.

On the other hand, if the sitters have to extend thier incubation because they are sitting on " adopted" eggs laid two or three days after their own, they will have milk normally when the young hatch. But extended incubation usually does not exceed three days. So changing the eggs demands the most careful attention if you want to avoid disappointments of every kind during the early days of rearing.


Pigeon's milk has the following composition, on average, according to L. Binet: water76.5 %, proteins 14%, fats 8%, minerals 1.5% and sugar 0%. This will of course vary from pigeon to pigeon, but only slightly. In comparison, however, cow's milk contains 4% of proteins and 3.5% fats. On the other hand, it contains about 4.5% of sugars (lactose). It is curious to note that those milks which ensure the most rapid growth are, of course, rich in proteins, fats and minerals (pigeon, rabbit) but are also very poor in sugars. It is well known that there are more or less successful rearers. The quality of their milk is naturally directly in question. According to analyses, its richness may vary by 10% to 12% from one pigeon to another. You must be convinced by the facts. A pigeon rearing young eats its ration of seeds. But it draws on its body reserves for the production of the milk. If its feed does not enable it to replace what has been taken to make the milk, the pigeon becomes thin and deficient, and if it continues, this will affect its racing or breeding performance in the future (delayed growth of the young, lateness of the following lay, fertility problems with the eggs, etc.). Of course, after the eighth day, when the milk has almost completely disappeared, it is the feed which is quickly regurgitated for the young.

The quantity of milk produced is also directly affected by the state of health of the parents. Anything affecting this also influences the milk, both in quantity and in quality. This is why, in an extreme case, newly-hatched young of parents severely parasitised by capillary worms can die within 48 hours, thin and with empty crops because their parents have no milk. They have died of hunger. The milk can also carry trichomonas, which proliferates in the upper digestive tract, so the young pigeon is afflicted by the parasite from the time of its first feed, if its parents are. This illustrates the need for anti-parasite treatments during incubation, shortlly before hatching, so that the parents have no time to become recontaminated.

Source : The Natural Winning Ways vol.10