Pigeon Feeding.

[pigeon controller]

As rain is forecast for another weekends shooting it reminds me of a comment that one of our Farmers would say every time we saw him. The statement was as follows:- Pigeons can go without food for two days on the third they must eat or die. 

Now we would politely nod in acknowledgment and carry on and shoot the feeding birds. With the past weekends being wet it made me think on what basis this therory has been made or is it an old wives tale.

Has  any body heard this before or is it a one off.

[JDog]

I have seen flocks sit up for two days in very adverse weather not even attempting to feed.

 

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, it does sound plausible?  

Edited February 8, 2018 by oldypigeonpopper

[marsh man]

I would have thought if a pigeon is fit and healthy and carry a reasonable amount of body weight it could go longer than three days without food .

When we had the 62 / 63 winter we had pigeons coming on to the Sprouts and Kale fields while you were in full view , yes , they were very thin but they were still alive , that winter started Boxing day and didn't break till March , alright the Winter did kill a lot off as well as other species , but now they have got O S R to fall back on, and also the hard weather nowadays rarely lasts for more than a week at the most.

[motty]

I reckon pigeons would last a lot longer than 3 days without food, even in cold conditions.

[dead eye alan]

11 hours ago, motty said:

I reckon pigeons would last a lot longer than 3 days without food, even in cold conditions.

 

   Me too, i have seen them sit up for several days in the past.

[old'un]

Pigeons will go for a number of days without feeding, I have witnessed it myself, when pigeons were sat in a wood for 4 days and never moved.

[Clodhopper]

I assume nobody has starved a pigeon to ascertain the exact timescale. But here are my thoughts on the subject. After a pigeon has used up the energy from its last meal, it will use up any fat reserves it has. In winter they will not have huge reserves. Muscle will then begin to diminish, it is at this point that the pigeon needs to feed as its flight capabilities are reduced thus its ability to find food. If food is found energy is expended consuming the food and grinding it up in the gizzard. The calorific value of this food must then outweigh the energy expended obtaining it.  I am not sure 3 days is long enough to use up energy reserves but would guess that by days 5/6 its would do or die time. 

I have no science to back this up and am open to be put right those more knowledgeable.

[silver pigeon69]

I believe racing pigeons do not stop for food?? Some of the races from Spain to the UK take the pigeons a few days to complete and they dont stop. IMO it would take a lot longer than 3 days for a pigeon to starve.

[Shotguneddy]

17 hours ago, old'un said:

Pigeons will go for a number of days without feeding, I have witnessed it myself, when pigeons were sat in a wood for 4 days and never moved.

Did u personally sit there for 4 whole days and watch, didn't think so, pigeons can sit all day and eat 10 mins before going to roost, can't c y birds would starve themselves for that long when being sat next to food 4 days if I went McDonald sat on bench for a day I've b tempted to eat, maybe not mcdonalds

[old'un]

2 hours ago, Shotguneddy said:

Did u personally sit there for 4 whole days and watch, didn't think so, pigeons can sit all day and eat 10 mins before going to roost, can't c y birds would starve themselves for that long when being sat next to food 4 days if I went McDonald sat on bench for a day I've b tempted to eat, maybe not mcdonalds

Do you always answer your own questions? As regards to pigeons not feeding for a number of days, I will bow to your experience of the countryside and knowledge of pigeon habits, I have a lot to learn.

[Shotguneddy]

15 minutes ago, old'un said:

Do you always answer your own questions? As regards to pigeons not feeding for a number of days, I will bow to your experience of the countryside and knowledge of pigeon habits, I have a lot to learn.

Ive been shooting pigeons 1-2 a week every week all weathers and times, for 29 years if I'm not shooting I'm watching the fields, every time I've been doing so I've never seen gangs of pigeons sat from dusk til dawn without feeding, been sat in hides 5 hours without a shot and ended up on 52 in last hour or 2 I'm not saying your wrong I'm just saying in my experience never know it

[old'un]

28 minutes ago, Shotguneddy said:

Ive been shooting pigeons 1-2 a week every week all weathers and times, for 29 years if I'm not shooting I'm watching the fields, every time I've been doing so I've never seen gangs of pigeons sat from dusk til dawn without feeding, been sat in hides 5 hours without a shot and ended up on 52 in last hour or 2 I'm not saying your wrong I'm just saying in my experience never know it

I thought you had 10 years experience in an earlier post, but never mind.

 

You may not have seen it but I have, and in 57 years of being involved with the countryside and shooting I have only seen this twice, going on your time shooting and mine you have another 28 years, so there’s still time.

[motty]

3 hours ago, Shotguneddy said:

Ive been shooting pigeons 1-2 a week every week all weathers and times, for 29 years if I'm not shooting I'm watching the fields, every time I've been doing so I've never seen gangs of pigeons sat from dusk til dawn without feeding, been sat in hides 5 hours without a shot and ended up on 52 in last hour or 2 I'm not saying your wrong I'm just saying in my experience never know it

If you shoot that often, why are you asking for shooting in another section? Do you have 29 years experience or just the 10 that you posted before?

Seems quite odd....

[lakeside1000]

As  I understand it, pigeons through the winter just need to maintain body mass that they build up in the autumn, oil seed rape leaves have very little nutritional value but will sustain the birds until something better comes along, if the birds expend energy searching for feed it will need replacing, but if they just sit in the trees they expend hardly any energy just keeping warm, 

They will leave the roost in the early morning, find a tree and sit for hours, just filling their crops once on rape , then return to the tree to keep out of the wind and maintain body heat.

Berries such as holly or ivy gives them much more nutrition, the same with acorns, but most of these have gone by mid February so its more likely to get large flocks concentrated on any rape available to them, they will feed hard in good weather early morning and again in the afternoon before going back to roost, but if disturbed they will just return to the trees and probably not return that day, 

I have a large area of rape which is getting hammered now by a large flock of pigeons, they have shredded plants all over the fields, not just in one area, constantly moving from one field to another or from one side of a field to another, 

I have tried for the last week to decoy them but with little success, as soon as a shot is fired they retreat to safety and will not return to the same area, but we can see them in the trees so they are not going off to search for other feed options, just preferring not to feed again until they feel safe.

I turn out to keep the farmer happy, keeping the birds moving, but I do not expect to get decent numbers in the bag over rape, once drilling gets going, then peas and eventually all the stubble's we will be out several times a week getting good numbers, but for now its just showing up and collecting those all important brownie points.