Can pigeons have millet: the benefits and harms of such food, how to give it correctly

The first question when a person acquires a feathered pet is what to feed him. If you release hungry pigeons for a walk, in urban conditions they will find food for themselves in garbage containers and landfills. In rural areas, birds will fly into other people's gardens, harming outsiders. Not every owner wants to put up with this. Is it possible to give pigeons millet? Is this grain enough for bird development?

Can pigeons eat millet?

Millet is millet, peeled. Due to its small size, it is primarily eaten by chicks, gradually expanding their diet.Like any grain, birds feast on it already in the fields, when it is covered with a hard shell. Therefore, there is no doubt that this is an acceptable and even desirable food for pigeons. The only question is whether these grains alone are enough for bird he alth.

The benefits and harms of the product

In nature, pigeons instinctively diversify their menu, stop at one type of food in rare cases when there is no choice. Birds cared for by man can get everything for their best he alth, surpassing wild companions in longevity for whole years.

Including millet in the diet, the poultry breeder should know what benefits he brings to his pets.

This requires studying the composition of the grain element by element. The table shows the components that play an important role in the body of a pigeon and are found in grain in significant quantities in comparison with the needs of a bird.

Proteins11.02 gVitamin B1 (thiamine) Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) Vitamin B9 Vitamin PP Magnesium Phosphorus 283 mgIron 3.01 mg Manganese 1.63mgCopper 0.75mgZinc 1.68mg

Ingredients millet	Amount per 100 g cereals
Carbohydrates	64,35 g
Dietary fiber	8.5g
0.42mg
0.29mg
0.85mg
0.38mg
85 mcg
6.7mg
114mg

100 grams of millet gives the pigeon 378 kcal. There are even more proteins in this type of cereal than, for example, in pearl barley. Millet contains a significant amount of 8 amino acids and a few others. Polyunsaturated fats found in cereals are best absorbed, contributing to rapid growth, rather than deposition in the body of reserves.

The intensity of digestion of vegetable fats in birds is higher than in animals, which is important, for example, before training sports or carrier pigeons.

How to give properly

Millet contains little gluten, which makes it possible to feed boiled cereals without risk to the bird's digestion. However, the quality of food will drop dramatically. Of the vitamins in quantities that have decreased by 5 times, only PP will remain. Of the trace elements, manganese will retain 17%, phosphorus - 39%, magnesium - 25%, copper - 20%. The rest will evaporate. Carbohydrates will decrease 3 times, dietary fiber - more than 6 times, proteins - 3.5 times, fats - 4 times less.Of the amino acids, the remains of isoleucine, leucine, tryptophan and phenylalanine with tyrosine will still be present. As a result, 100 g of the product will give only 119 kcal (3 times the loss).

Even raw millet contains little fat, vitamins A, D, E, K, C, B12. It has no sodium, almost no potassium, calcium, selenium. To maintain the balance of nutrients in the body of a pigeon, it is necessary to give him feed mixtures.

Foods rich in missing chemical elements are shown in the table:

Chalk, dairy products, eggshells, garlic, parsley.SeleniumCorn, onion, cabbage, fish and animal products.

Food ingredient	Name of food it contains
Fats	Vegetable oils, animal fats.
Vitamin A	Whey, fish oil, carrot, pumpkin.
Vitamin B12	Meat and bone meal.
Vitamin D	Fish oil, dairy products, yolk.
Vitamin E	Sunflower seeds, vegetable oils.
Vitamin K	Greens.
Vitamin C	Fruits, tomatoes, onions.
Potassium	Fish meal, pearl barley, tomatoes.
Calcium

For pigeons, compound feeds with a suitable nutrient composition are also selected. Separately, premixes are purchased - mixtures containing elements required for the diet of birds in microscopic doses. But mixing them at home in small amounts of food or water is difficult.

Feeding street pigeons in a park or square with dry millet is ideal, as the birds will pick up every last pea, leaving no garbage behind.

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