Are you wondering why do baby pigeons die? If you’re looking for an answer to that question, then there are two possible reasons why you’re interested in the answer.
1. It means you have had some experience of breeding pigeons as a beginner in the field
2. You’ve seen some pigeons build their nest in your backyard or balcony or garden, but then you found their babies are dead
In my opinion, there can be various reasons why baby pigeons die. Interestingly, most beginners don’t figure out what’s happening in the pigeons’ cage. Therefore, they end up losing so many precious baby pigeons, which could become amazing pigeons otherwise. Furthermore, you must figure out why your baby pigeons are dying. Maybe, this blog post would help you understand what’s going on.
Before we move on, if you have a baby pigeon, have you ever named it? No? Do you know what do we call baby pigeons? In other words, what is the scientific name of the baby pigeon? If you don’t know that here is your answer:
Baby pigeons are called squeakers or squabs. But, this is what we call them scientifically. If you have a baby pigeon as a pet, you can name it Coaster, Booby, Ron, Leon, Stella, Frankie, or Gracie.
Now, let’s discuss why baby pigeons die and how can you take care of them!
Four reasons why baby pigeons die:
#1. Parent pigeons are careless
It’s a normal phenomenon among pigeons, but surprisingly, most pigeons are quite good at parenting and raising baby pigeons. However, if you have been breeding pigeons for a decade or so, you must have seen some pigeon pairs aren’t excellent parents or bad at raising baby pigeons. Their eggs got rotten, or babies get abandon or starve to death.
So it happens sometimes, but there is a solution to this problem that I learned from my uncle. He told me that when pigeons aren’t good at parenting, we switch their eggs with other breeds to get in a safe zone. Thus, we get able to get their babies.
#2. Worms and bugs attack the cage
One of the biggest threats to baby pigeons is these worms and bugs that attack the pigeon cage. They usually come after the pigeons or baby pigeons. Instead, these tiny worms come in to feed on pigeons’ food at night and end up biting pigeons. The grown-up pigeons try to switch places or somehow make it to the night, but baby pigeons get in trouble. These bugs end up killing baby pigeons because they’re small and can’t defend themselves.
#3. Baby pigeons drop off the nest
I’ve seen this a million times with sparrows and doves. Since our house is home to many birds, which is quite nice, we get to know many things that happen in the birds’ world. One of the reasons baby pigeons die is that they drop off the nest or push away from their box (if they’re in the cage). The survival is tough if the baby pigeon has dropped off the nest from a height like a window or a pillar or tree.
Moreover, when baby pigeons get a week older, they could move in the nest and often end up getting out of the nest or box, which could result in getting crushed by the pigeons’ stampede. What happens is that when you put the pigeon food in a cage, they rushed to the food, and that’s where baby pigeons get hurt.
#4. Predators take them away
If you’re a pigeons owner, you’d know that predators are a massive threat to pigeons, especially the baby pigeons. What makes this worst is that different predators could attack your pigeons. Stray cats are on top of the list, and rats could kill baby pigeons too. On the other hand, hawks, shikra, and eagles could also attack pigeons. I’ve heard that a crow once entered our pigeons’ cage and took away a baby pigeon. So many predators come after baby pigeons.
Final Thoughts
I’ve shared four reasons why baby pigeons could die. I’ve either seen it or heard these things at home, but one thing is sure that all these things are legit, which means you have to be extra cautious if you have pigeons.
The purpose of sharing these things was to answer the question that a lot of pigeon lovers ask: Why do baby pigeons die?
So now you’ve got four reasons why baby pigeons die. If you’ve known more reasons that could kill pigeons or baby pigeons, do let me know in the comments section.
It’d not only help me, but it’d also help a lot of pigeon lovers reading this blog post.
