What Do Pigeons Eat After a Night Out

These days with there being so many scraps of food around it's not hard for a Pigeon to find some tasty scraps that have been thrown away by the millions of people that frequent the city centres of the the UK all year round. In fact, anywhere that people gather, and anywhere in which there are rubbish bins (Everywhere) food can be found. Even without the bins (How many of us even use them) there's no shortage of citizens who, after a night on the sauce, chuck their half eaten bag of chips all over the floor while in a drunken slumber.

Tea for one please

An eye sore for us, a dream come true for our feathered friends! Think about it, there is food everywhere. These birds are smart. They know what time it is. How many of them do you see hanging around in town..Or are they smart? All this junk food isn't good for them, but yet they'll eat as much as they can. If they were more fussy with their food intake it would be better for them overall as a species. Read "What not to feed" below.

 So what do they eat?

Anything really. Cold chips, burgers, bits of kebab, and anything else they can get their beaks around. They're not fussy. Of course, these foods are not very healthy for us or for birds, so if you're wondering what you can feed a Pigeon that is more natural and won't give the poor little fella a pudgy Pigeon chest here is a quick list. Seeds mixes are high on the list. Most seeds that we eat can be fed to Pigeons.

Other foods include grains (feed grains), cereals, fruits (berries) and vegetables (mostly of the green variety), mixed corn, dried peas, brown rice, barely, raw peanuts, Lentils, sunflower seeds, millet, carrots (not too much), lentils and pulses. They need a varied diet, so don't just think, I've got access to thousands of lentils and I'm gonna turn these birds into flying lentils. Mix it up a bit. And don't forget a drink for afterwards (Water).

They also love to eat wild crab apples, Blackberries and Elderberries. I have an Elderberry tree / bush in my garden and the Pigeons always come in the summer and have a small feast when the berries are nice and ripe. They also eat worms and small insects at times.


What not to feed Pigeons

It may come as a surprise but bread isn't actually that good for our wild feathered friends. I know thousands, even millions of people feed bread to Pigeons the world over but its not really that good for them. Also, apart from the obvious, vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprout should not be fed to them. Don't give them any meat products as this can open the door to pathogens (disease) that these birds cannot shake off, leading to their demise.

Their diets have now become so bad from all the scraps, and from people feeding them the wrong foods that pigeons are in terrible trouble in terms of the death and disease rate. That's not the only reason they are in trouble, driven out of their natural environments and too many being killed are also culprits, but make sure you do your bit to help and feed them the right stuff!