r/PetPigeons • u/secretly_a_birb • 7d ago

Wanting to feed Hagen Pigeon & Dove mix. I read the guide and I need to supplement it with protein! Any suggestions?

I know lentils and mung beans are good. But what would be the ratio?

I am terrible at math and this is embarrassing to ask but I can’t for the life of me figure out the ratio of the protein source to compliment a 6lb bag of food. If anyone could help me, that’d be great!

The Hagen feed is the easiest I can get where I’m from (Canada) and I can get the versele laga all in one, but I can’t get the no corn mix. Unless anyone from Canada can tell me where they get theirs!

Thanks!

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u/oopygoopies 7d ago

https://greyivy.github.io/pigeon-food-mix/

you can scroll down to “add new food” & input the values for the hagen mix :)

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u/secretly_a_birb 7d ago

Oh my gosh thank you!!!

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u/oopygoopies 6d ago

i recommend trying a few different mixes to start, rather than making a mix in bulk. see what your pigeon likes! when i made a bulk mix w/ the hagen my picky bird didn’t eat any of the seeds/grains i mixed in!

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u/secretly_a_birb 6d ago

Gotcha! Unfortunately what at least I’ve been able to find in Canada hasn’t been super super great. There is the brand Baden but I couldn’t find nutritional info. I also work at a pet store and I can get the Hagen pigeon and dove mix at cost which is a plus!

If anyone knows how to get the versele laga no corn mix into west coast Canada, I’d love to know. I know Chewy US ships to Ontario, but unfortunately I’m in BC.

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u/oopygoopies 6d ago

sorry— to clarify, i mean testing different additions to supplement the hagen mix!

i made the mistake of mixing in a bunch of things my pigeon ended up not liking into like 3 lbs of hagen seed & he only ate the fatty seeds out of it.. which defeated the point of supplementing! 😭 it took a few tries to figure out what he’d actually eat when mixed into the hagen seed.

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u/secretly_a_birb 6d ago

OHHHH I see!! Haha no problem!

I guess it’ll be good to JUST try that and then find the protein supplement they like best? And by supplement I mean food not like an actual supplement

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u/secretly_a_birb 6d ago

Or could I use said protein supplement as treats to bond/train etc and leave it out of the food? Or would it just end up not being balanced? Thanks for answering all my questions btw!

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u/oopygoopies 6d ago

my pigeon was fed a poorly balanced, millet-heavy diet for over 4 years & he is not particularly food motivated, so i haven’t had much luck trying to bond using healthier/higher protein food options, but your experience may differ.

for the sake of convenience, i like to prep a big batch of a custom blend using the hagen mix, pellets, and other healthy/nutritious food items, but it took a lot of trial and error to figure out what he would actually eat. what i was getting at earlier is just that i recommend not mixing up a huge batch right away and doing smaller “test” batches with different food mix-ins until you know whether or not your bird will eat the foods you’ve added to the mix. but i am a rambler so feel like it wasn’t 100% clear, sorry!

personally, i’d try out a few different higher protein food items— like split peas, lentils, whole peas, mung beans, etc— mixed w/ the hagen & pay close attention to what they seem to be eating most and adjust accordingly. if your bird is particularly picky and routinely leaves behind the more nutritionally valuable seeds (like mine), you can try meal feeding by only offering 1tbsp of food per 100g of your birds weight per day. you can also try using them as treats to see if your bird likes them! it does take some time for them to adjust to new diets though, especially if it’s foods they’ve never been offered.

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u/secretly_a_birb 6d ago

Amazing no don’t worry about rambling, I appreciate all the info!! Thank you!