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Information about Crop Milk

Crop milk, also known as pigeon's milk, is a secretion from the lining of the crop of pigeons and doves with which the parents feed their young by regurgitation. Similar crop milk is also produced by flamingos.

The milk of pigeons & mammals

Crop milk bears little resemblance to mammalian milk, being a semi-solid substance somewhat like pale yellow cottage cheese. It is extremely high in protein and fat and is considered to be one of the richest nutritive substances known. Both male and female adult birds produce crop milk and share in the feeding and care of the young.

Feeding nestlings

Pigeon's milk begins to be produced a couple of days before the eggs are due to hatch. The parents may cease to eat at this point in order to be able to provide the chicks with milk uncontaminated by seeds, which the very young chicks would be unable to digest. The chicks are fed on pure crop milk for the first week or so of life. After this the parents begin to introduce a proportion of adult food, softened by spending time in the moist conditions of the adult crop, into the mix fed to the chicks, until by the end of the second week they are being fed entirely on softened adult food.

Pigeons normally lay two eggs. If one egg fails to hatch, the surviving chick gets the advantage of a supply of crop milk sufficient for two chicks, and by the end of the first week it is almost as big as two "normal" chicks would be.

Hand-rearing pigeon chicks

The very high nutrient concentration of pigeon's milk makes it difficult to devise an artificial substitute for hand-rearing chicks. Various proprietary mixes are available. A good home-made mix can be made from equal quantities of dehydrated dried pure Soya protein (with no added salt, flavourings, preservatives etc.) and Soya-based dairy-free butter-substitute (ordinary dairy butter is not suitable, as young pigeons' digestive systems cannot cope with dairy products). This is made into a runny paste with a little water, a tiny crumb of a multivitamin tablet and a tiny pinch of chalk (which is necessary for bone development to avoid splay-leg). The crop should be allowed to empty completely between feedings. With care and gentleness, it is possible to raise a pigeon on this mix from the moment of hatching.

Cultural references

  • Referenced in for the Nintendo DS video game system. A character named Brewster uses it as an ingredient when serving coffee to long-time customers.
  • Referenced in the Flavor of Love Season 2. The father of Deelishis requests a crate of pigeon milk at dinner.

External links

A crop is a thin-walled expanded portion of the alimentary tract used for the storage of food prior to digestion that is found in many animals, including gastropods, earthworms[1], leeches[2], insects, and birds.
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Columbidae

Subfamilies

see article text

Pigeons and doves constitute the family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerine birds.
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Regurgitation is the controlled flow of stomach contents back into the esophagus and mouth.

Regurgitation is used by a number of species to feed their young. This is typically in circumstances where the young is at a fixed location and a parent must forage or hunt for food,
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Mammalia
Linnaeus, 1758

Subclasses & Infraclasses
  • Subclass †Allotheria*
  • Subclass Prototheria
  • Subclass Theria

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Milk is an opaque white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals (including monotremes). Mammary glands are highly specialized sweat glands. The female ability to produce milk is one of the defining characteristics of mammals.
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Cottage cheese is a cheese curd product with a mild flavor. It is drained, but not pressed so some whey remains. The curd is usually washed to remove acidity giving sweet curd cheese. It is not aged or colored.
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Proteins are large organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid residues.
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Fat

Fat may refer to:
  • Fat, a group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and largely insoluble in water
  • Adipose tissue, an anatomical term for loose connective tissue composed of adipocytes

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In most birds and reptiles, an egg (Latin ovum) is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. To enable incubation the egg is usually kept within a favourable temperature range as it nourishes and protects the growing embryo.
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G. max

Binomial name
Glycine max
(L.) Merr.

The soybean (U.S.) or soya bean (UK) (Glycine max) is a species of legume native to East Asia.
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Butter is a dairy product, made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. Butter is used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications such as baking, sauce making, and frying.
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A multivitamin is any preparation containing more than a single vitamin. Tablets and injectable forms (for example Vitaped and Hospira) are available. In common usage, "multivitamin" refers to tablets that contain various vitamins usually along with dietary minerals and,
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Chalk (IPA: /ˈtʃɔːk/) is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite.
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Nintendo DS (sometimes abbreviated NDS or DS) is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in 2004 in Canada, U.S., and Japan.
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Coffee is a widely consumed beverage prepared from roasted seeds, commonly called beans, of the coffee plant. Coffee was first consumed in the 9th century, when it was discovered in the highlands of Ethiopia.
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Flavor of Love is an American reality television dating game show starring Flavor Flav of the rap group Public Enemy. While not a direct spin-off, the show was a result of Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav's failed relationship on Strange Love.
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