Feeding Stages and Stages Characteristics of Meat Pigeon

The life span of meat pigeons varies with breed and sex. Under normal circumstances, its life span can reach 1015 years, and the life span of male pigeons is slightly higher than that of female pigeons. According to the law of growth and development, the life of meat pigeon can be divided into the following six stages.

Suckling pigeon stage

Usually, the young pigeons leave the nest (4 weeks old) to survive under the parent pigeon feeding, and the pigeon milk fed in the early stage is similar to that of mammals, so this stage is called suckling pigeon stage. This period is not only an important period for squab to gradually adapt to the external environment, but also an important stage for the rapid growth and development of squab.

The young pigeon can not stand when it comes out of its shell, its eyes are closed, it has no ability to feed, its whole body only has partial villi, and its ability to regulate body temperature is very poor. It can only grow and develop under the support and feeding of the parent pigeon. During this period, young pigeons are characterized by large food intake and fast growth. According to the author's determination, the daily feeding amount of 1-day-old young pigeons was 7 grams, that of 3-day-old pigeons reached 18 grams, and that of 4-day-old pigeons was almost twice as much as their body weight; the body weight of newborn pigeons was only about 17 grams, 160 grams at 1 week old, 440 grams at 2 weeks old, and more than 500 grams at 4 weeks old, which was 29.4 times that of newborn pigeons and almost doubled the weight at birth every day.

Child pigeon stage

It is the child pigeon stage before the meat pigeon leaves the nest to the age of 6 weeks. Pigeons in this period are relatively weak, easy to get sick, and have poor ability to fly and feed. Special efforts should be made to strengthen feeding management, feeding 35 times a day and feeding more small pellets.

Green pigeon stage

Usually 7-10 weeks of age is the green pigeon stage, during this period, the pigeon weight does not change much, into the first moulting period, the body resistance decreases and is easy to be infected with epidemic disease. Management should be strengthened to prevent the occurrence of epidemic diseases.

Sexual maturity

Meat pigeons gradually enter the stage of human maturity after 10 weeks of age, which varies with breeds and individuals. The short age of 34 months is paired into the human breeding period, while the long age of 6 months can not be paired to reproduce. During this period, the physique of pigeons increased rapidly and the development of reproductive system accelerated. Start choosing a mate.

Breeding period

This period is the longest and most important period in the life of meat pigeons. From the beginning of pairing to the decline of reproductive ability, it usually lasts for 57 years, and the elderly can last as long as 10 years. During this period, all the organs of the pigeon body have been mature, the physique is strong, and can give full play to the production performance. Therefore, on the basis of keeping pigeon healthy, we should make full use of its breeding value and economic value as much as possible.

Old age period

After the decline of the reproductive capacity of meat pigeons, the metabolic capacity, feed utilization rate and production performance gradually decreased, lost the feeding value, except for a few excellent individuals should be eliminated in time.