Columbiform crop milk and crop milk replacer

Citation

Duerr R. 2007. Columbiform crop milk and crop milk replacer. In Ward A, Hunt A, Maslanka M, Eds. Proceedings of the Seventh Conference on Zoo and Wildlife Nutrition, AZA Nutrition Advisory Group, Knoxville, TN.

Abstract

Altricial chicks undergo an intense period of growth in the first few weeks of life. These chicks’ huge needs for nutrients are usually met by their parents feeding them high protein food items such as insects, other invertebrates, or vertebrate prey. Columbiformes (doves and pigeons) have conquered this nutritional obstacle a different way, by manufacturing the perfect food for their chicks themselves. This “crop milk” is fed to chicks exclusively for approximately the first 3 days of life and then a gradually increasing portion of adult diet is mixed into the food as the chick matures. When captive rearing is necessary, it can sometimes be very frustrating for caregivers to successfully reproduce the fledging rates and weight gains seen in parent-reared birds, and a major contributing factor of this frustration has been dietary issues and finding an effective crop milk replacer.

Duerr – COLUMBTJFORM CROP MTJLK AND CROP MTJLK REPLACERS.pdf     2 MB