Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Don't get me wrong, I love these two pair of Giant runts I have just started out with, but wow do they love to fling their food around! They rifle through the dish like, "No, don't eat that, no don't like that, no just had that for breakfast, not on my diet, where's my favorite!!!" So, okay, I shall accept that this is their chosen hobby, but can someone please tell me whether I need to keep putting food into their dishes when the floor is covered with corn, peas, etc. In one cage where they spill their water dish hourly, the feed seed has started to grow! (Makes cleaning the cage a little easier - pulling out a block of turf! lol)

Something needs to change, I suspect either a different feeder system or different feed.
I am sure @ross will have a brilliant solution

LOL, their feeding habits sound similar to how quail deal with their feed. I have found that the best feeder for our quail is the "shoebox" style feeder. I have no pigeon experience, but maybe that style will work for your giant runts as well.

O pigeons are notorious for selecting what food they want & very wasteful . If want to feed mixed grain feed what they will eat in 15 minutes once a day only or 10 min twice a day . take what’s left even what they throw out or if you want to leave feed in 24/7 Feed pellets I feed turkey finisher pellet . Has all vitamins & minerals in it & no waste . Takes some awhile to catch on but they won’t starve in transition . Left over grain on floor will mold & cause sour crop . Luck

O pigeons are notorious for selecting what food they want & very wasteful . If want to feed mixed grain feed what they will eat in 15 minutes twice a day only take what’s left even what they throw out or if you want to leave feed in 24/7 Feed pellets I feed turkey finisher pellet . Has all vitamins & minerals in it & no waste . Takes some awhile to catch on but they won’t starve in transition . Left over grain on floor will mold & cause sour crop . Luck

Being new to pig-eons (harhar) it figures I was doing something wrong, Was hoping Ross would weigh in with some tips and I like the shoebox idea. For my quail there's a yogurt container with holes in the sides. Works great til they dump it over and take a dust bath in their feed.... We are currently 'urban farming' in a tiny space, so the birds are all slightly cramped. Was hoping that using wall-mounted feeders and waterers would give them more footprint. Which they use for dust baths in their feed.

Ontario Chick wrote: ↑

Mon May 25, 2020 8:28 am

Something needs to change, I suspect either a different feeder system or different feed.
I am sure @ross will have a brilliant solution

Yes, I am pecking Ross' brains!

ross wrote: ↑

Mon May 25, 2020 9:32 am

O pigeons are notorious for selecting what food they want & very wasteful . If want to feed mixed grain feed what they will eat in 15 minutes once a day only or 10 min twice a day . take what’s left even what they throw out or if you want to leave feed in 24/7 Feed pellets I feed turkey finisher pellet . Has all vitamins & minerals in it & no waste . Takes some awhile to catch on but they won’t starve in transition . Left over grain on floor will mold & cause sour crop . Luck

Thanks, Ross! Good tip about the sour crop. I will get right on that! Now what to do with this unopened bag of mixed grain....grrr.

BTW what is the protein content of the turkey finisher? My birds are for squab. You raise show birds? Racers?

Sux about the Harrow Fair this year...Was hoping to meet some pigeon peeps!

Jaye wrote: ↑

Mon May 25, 2020 9:17 am

LOL, their feeding habits sound similar to how quail deal with their feed. I have found that the best feeder for our quail is the "shoebox" style feeder. I have no pigeon experience, but maybe that style will work for your giant runts as well.

I sorta knew about shoebox and sorta forgot.... Ima go try it. Thanks!

@spuddog59 , since your birds are somewhat cramped in their housing, maybe you could try modifying a J-feeder, so that your feeder hangs outside the pen/cage, like this "youtuber" did for his quail cages:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l48tOIdRkLo