VITAMIN D AND PIGEONS

Last year, 2004, as usual I started training the old birds in the second week of April. After a couple of tosses I realized that the hens were coming home after the cocks. Some as much as an hour after the cocks were home. Thinking about it I came to the conclusion that something was missing from their diet. Other than the lagging behind the cocks they appeared normal.

The early spring had been mostly overcast with very few sunny days. Thinking about that and remembering an article read several years ago titled “Hen Down” where the cause was determined to be a vitamin D deficiency and something a friend posted at the Alberta Classic discussion group, The major source of vitamin D other than supplements for all living things is the sun. How often have we all seen the birds lying in the sun with their wing open as they soak up the sun?

I asked at the discussion site what others thought the problem could be and was surprised when an Ontario flyer said he had the same problem. The suggestions from the discussion group were either a calcium or vitamin D deficiency.

"Without a balanced source of light, the oculoendocrine cycle (light to the pituitary and pineal gland) is affected. This affects every aspect of a bird's life. Skewed lighting can result in agitation, picking behaviours, weakness, breeding problems and metabolic disorders.

Many species can synthesize vitamin D3 from sunlight through their skin. Specifically, it is the UVB light within the spectrum that enables D3 synthesis.

As birds are covered in feathers, they are unable to use their skin in this way. In most birds, the preen gland collects the precursor D3 from the bloodstream, and concentrates it in the gland oils. These are then exposed to UVB light by the bird spreading the gland oils on to its feathers during preening. The bird then ingests the UV exposed material when it preens itself again, and oil enters the body as previtamin D. The liver and kidney then convert this to vitamin D3.”

Why only the hens only appeared to have the deficiency I don’t know. But as soon as I purchased D3   Capsules  and gave one to each of the hens the problem was solved. What this experience highlighted for me was that the dietary requirements of hens are somewhat different than for cocks. As example the eggs develop within their body so more calcium is certainly would be required and giving them a multi vitamin with D3 weekly would be a good pratice.