On the streets of our cities - a lot of adult pigeons. These are the most common birds on our planet, but not everyone is lucky enough to see their babies. Many of us at least once in life have thought about how small pigeons appear, what they look like, can we see them, where do pigeons live at all.
Where do little pigeons live?
Distant ancestors of pigeons lived in a rocky area near the Mediterranean Sea. Modern pigeons, inheriting this pattern, make their nests in similar places. Pigeons feel comfortable in the city under bridges, on the roofs of houses, can make a nest under the window sill. These places are also replaced by rocks. Outside the city limits, pigeons nest in trees in their hollows. Adult birds care about the safety of their babies.
Important! Pigeons hide their homes from human eyes in hard-to-reach places, because if someone touches a nest or eggs in it, despite their parental instinct, they can leave the nest and eggs without waiting for the chicks to appear. .
What do they look like?
A little later after the birth, the chicks of the pigeons are covered with completely yellow down, they have a large beak. Approximately in a month, feathers appear on the site of yellow down, and by the end of the second month the first young plumage changes to a tougher one.
Many of us love to feed pigeons, but at the same time they can be infected with various diseases.All pigeon chicks look the same: frightened due to the lack of parents eyes, open beak, waiting for food, constantly fluttering wings. Why aren't pigeons so easy to see? First of all, pigeons hide them for safety in hard to reach places; secondly, very young pigeons in a month and a half are not different in size from adult birds.
But they can be distinguished by dull plumage in the first couple of months of life; in adult birds, feathers shine and shimmer slightly. Also, young chicks have a lean build, compared with adult pigeons. And they fly a little awkwardly. So if you try, the pigeon chicks can be seen and determined without much difficulty.
Features of the life cycle of pigeons
In natural conditions, pigeons live for about five years. These are birds, in the way of life and the principles of which people have something to learn.
Did you know? The mass of a newborn chick grows rapidly, on the second day of life it weighs eight times more than at birth.
Nesting and laying eggs
Pigeons, being monogamous, share with their chosen one both the difficulties of building a nest and the problems of raising their offspring. The male chooses a place for the nest, waiting for the dove to appreciate, after approval begins to collect building material.
They build their nest with straw and twigs. The male is engaged in the supply of material, and the female - by the process of building a nest, enclosing grass and branches for themselves. They systematically make the nest bigger and better from year to year.
How do pigeons breed? The reproduction process of these birds occurs mainly in spring, summer and early autumn, when it is warm. The female often lays on a pair of eggs, less often - one by one, and hatches them in turn with the malewho occasionally lets the dove rest and feed, while cooing and calling it back soon. The process of incubation lasts twenty days. 
Did you know? Sometimes the dove may begin to hatch new eggs two weeks after the appearance of chicks. The older offspring then has to deal with the father himself. If the mother dove dies, then the male will raise children alone, but the samochka cannot cope in this situation - the chicks die.
Hatching dove
At the end of the twenty-day period of hatching, the pigeon cubs peck at the eggshell and are completely freed from it within a few hours. Parents throw the shell away. In no case should the chick be lost, fall out of the nest, otherwise he will perish because of his helplessnessand the other pigeons will not care about him.
Hatching from the shell, the little chicks have a helpless look: closed eyes, completely no view, almost bare body covered with a wet, rare fuzz, a large, clumsy and constantly open beak. The weight of the hatched pigeon is about ten grams. The head is rather large compared to the body. There is a certain benefit in all this, because the sight of a little chick does not deceive any predator. 
The process of growing up
The dove of a pigeon develops faster than all other organs and a week after its birth it becomes disproportionately huge, by the twelfth day it reaches the size of the beak of an adult pigeon, and by the thirty-eighth day the formation of the beak completely ends. Over time, it will look quite harmonious.
What do adult pigeons feed their chicks to achieve such amazing results? In the early days, chicks are fed with a special colostrum-like substance, which forms in the female goiter, consists of epithelial cells, rich in trace elements, proteins and fats, and is responsible for the rapid growth and rapid development of the pigeons. This is the so-called goitre milk.
Learn about the most popular species for breeding pigeons.
Kids get it eighteen days, and then gradually get used to solid food. The chick hatched first will be fed in two to three hours, and the second in twenty hours.that can even cause his death. Because of this, the development of two pigeons-relatives is different: the first, having got stronger, can start flying in a month, the second - not earlier than two months.
With careful care of parents, all the same, unnoticed, the chicks grow up, gain strength and weight. Parents almost never leave their chicks, heats and cares for them both the female and the male pigeon. By the end of the first month, the pigeons gently begin to go out of the nest, jumping from place to place to train their wings before flight. 
But until they learn to fly, they do not leave their nests and are completely dependent on their parents, who by all means protect them. The development of pigeon chicks is a rather quick process compared to other birds. And after two months, they almost do not differ in appearance from adult pigeons, they fly and independently feed themselves. Doves have to be born and live in quite difficult conditions, where the strongest survive among them.
Did you know? Pigeons have an acute vision that distinguishes all colors and ultraviolet rays, they can find their way to the house from any corner of the globe, they can fly one thousand kilometers without rest. Scientists assigned them the title of intellectually developed birds, because they remember everything they do with a seven-second delay.
How to feed the little girl found at home?
Sometimes pigeon chicks, barely born, can be left without parents, not always young pigeons understand at the first attempt how to fly, and therefore can fall out of the nest. If it suddenly happened to find a pigeon chick, and it was decided to take him to his home to go out, then you must remember the responsibility for his life and the need to follow the rules of feeding and care.
Nestlings in this situation need warmth, attention, caress and care. First thing need to warm and water. For the good development of your baby, you need to add vitamins purchased in a pharmacy. Small chicks are at risk of getting sick, so for prevention you need to control the purity of the water and drinking equipment. 
What is better to start feeding pigeon chicks at home? In the first week of life, pigeons can be fed through a medical syringe without a needle to a slightly heated but not coagulated chicken yolk. Pigeons twenty days after their birth can already do without parents in the organization of proper nutrition and drinking regime.
Feeding chicks should be balanced.For this, the main feed is mixed in half with the pressed one, and a few drops of fish oil are added. Chicks consume millet, wheat, barley, later peas, everything must first be ground and steamed, later it can be given whole. For weak pigeons, you can prepare a special food from boiled millet porridge and refined milled rice, 5% glucose solution is diluted for drinking.
If you observe all the conditions of care, daily observe and sincerely take care of the chicks, they will quickly get stronger. Healthy doves are active chicks with a wonderful appetite. Also It is recommended that pigeons be given preventive vaccinations.
For the treatment and prevention of diseases of pigeons use the following drugs: "Enrofloks", "Biovit-80", "Lozeval".
The life span of these birds in a domestic environment can be approximately fifteen years. They quickly become accustomed to the person who cares for them, and if he also regularly talks with the pigeon, takes him in his arms, then mutual understanding and warm relationships will last for a long time.
Important! Communication is necessary for chicks living in captivity.
Nature has foreseen in advance that the pigeon chicks as rarely as possible caught the eye of man, therefore, most people do not even guess how they look and where they live. This is facilitated by the inaccessibility of the nests of these birds, their rapid development and the characteristic, inherent nature of caution. It becomes clear why, among their large number, do not see the chicks of pigeons - they are under the parent wing in a safe and secure place. If someone succeeds in noticing the pigeon's nest, then remember that newborn chicks, due to your fault, may become orphans and die, so you need to hurry away and in no case take the pigeons in your hands, no matter how much you want to. We need a more tolerant and kind attitude towards these birds, because they bring a little kindness into our lives.
