If you are walking down the street and find a baby bird. You must be disappointed because you don’t know which family it belongs to? Is it a baby pigeon? “But I’ve never seen a baby pigeon before.” This will definitely be on your mind. Why do we never see them? How do they look? How to know their age?
What does a baby pigeon look like?
Baby pigeons look like chicken chicks from behind. They have a long beak, large eyes and yellow body hair. The beak is flat. They almost look like a dinosaur. Baby pigeons are ugly but cute. They have big feet.
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Pigeon growth with days
Baby pigeons show tremendous growth. They turn to adults in almost 6 weeks. Calculating the age of an adult one is hard but it is easy for the baby because of a lot of variations in the body during their growth period.
One day old :
Newly born chick has very thin and fewer hairs on the surface. Pinkish skin color can be easily seen. The color of the hair is yellow. He has a long flat beak. His eyes remain closed in the early days. He is weak and cannot have the energy to move. After the birth, the squab takes a long nap of 12 hours. After that, his father and mother feed him crop milk.
5 Days old pigeon
At this age, the chick opens his eyes. He is bigger and more energetic. His hairs show more growth but the pinkish skin can be seen still.
10 days old :
On the 10th day weight of the baby, the pigeon is about 200 grams. Original Hairs start growing. His color can be white brown, or black depending upon the breed. Color will be more prominent on the feathers.
19 Days old
He can easily stand on his feet. His eyes can be red, brown, or black depending upon the breed. His weight is round about 275 grams. His body is covered with hairs fully. But still, you can see the yellow hairs on his head.
25 days old :
He is almost an adult now. You can easily identify him. He weighs about 350 grams (equals to adult pigeon weight).
Weight chart of pigeons
| Age of baby pigeon | Weight (grams) |
| 1st day | 40 approx. |
| 4-5 days | 75-80 |
| 8 day | 175 approx. |
| 12 day | 230 approx. |
| 18 day | 275 approx. |
| 20-24 day | 300-350 |
You can easily calculate the age of the young squab by knowing his weight. Although hair color and size of the body also explain the age.
Why do we never see baby pigeons?
Pigeons are everywhere in the cities. Pooping on us. Eating food on the streets. But where are their babies? How do they feed? Don’t they get hungry? Or they are the government spies?
Pigeons are the birds that lay eggs after 8-12 days of mating. After mating, they make their nest. You may have seen that they make nests
- under the bridges
- On the roofs
- Under the solar panels
- Top of the buildings
- Abandoned buildings and housings
- In trees
They do so to prevent the predators from approaching them and where they get the optimum temperature for the baby pigeon.
After laying an egg, a chick enters this world in 18-21 days. Squab is too weak to feed himself. He even doesn’t have enough energy to move. Parents look after him and feed him crop milk. That’s why he remains in the nest for almost 30 days. That’s the reason we don’t baby pigeons in the cities.
These Nesting pigeons show instant growth that they resemble the adults in just 24-30 days. When they are enough healthy to feed themselves, they leave the nest. Now they are called fledgling pigeons. This process takes place within just 4-6 weeks.
When they reach the city for food, you can not differentiate between the adults and the fledgling ones. They are almost the same in size and shape. It is too difficult for a normal person to do so.
You can read pigeon’s life cycle here,
Related stuff
This question may come to your mind, Are baby pigeons rare? Baby pigeons are not rare. They are abundant in number. Females can lay two or sometimes 3 eggs per breed. On average 16 new pigeons come to this world every year with one pair.
Baby pigeon is also called squab. This squab feed on crop milk. This milk is so nutritious that chicks don’t survive if they don’t get it. But there are some formulas out there and tips for saving his life. We have some tips for you if you find a squab left on your balcony.
When do baby pigeons start to fly? They start flying at the age of 28-42 days. Squabs will not leave the nest until then. At that time their feathers got strength and have enough power to take flight. They don’t rely on their parents now.
Summary
Baby pigeons can’t feed themselves so they stay in the nest where their parents give them crop milk. The fledgling pigeons leave the nest when they are able to self feed themselves. But it is very difficult to differentiate between adults and them. They are always in front of our eyes.
Have you ever seen a baby pigeon? Comment to share your experience